Swedish Formula 3 Championship Race

Knutstorp, 25 Apr 1976

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT38C [18] (Thorbjörn Carlsson): New to Allan McCully and raced as part of the Australian International Racing Organisation (AIRO) in British F3 and some European events in 1972. The car was owned by Larry Sevitt's Tiran Auto Centre, which ran the AIRO F3 operation in the UK. Badly damaged on its debut at Silverstone in April but presumably repaired and the car driven by McCully at Monaco in mid-May. Then raced by Bill McGovern at Brands Hatch two weeks later, and crashed again, after which AIRO split up and McCully flew back to New Zealand. Irishman Damien Magee took over the drive, now entered by Tiran Auto Centre, and finished second at Brands Hatch and third at Thruxton in August. Sevitt was planning to test Ian Taylor and Barrie Maskell in August, but Magee retained the drive until the end of October. The "ex-Magee" car was advertised with Novamotor engine from a Tunbridge Wells number in January 1973. This would presumably be the "ex Magee" BT38C of Leif Spalding in Swedish F3 in 1973. Then with Thorbjörn Carlsson in 1975 and 1976. Subsequent history unknown.
2. Merlyn Mk 22 [440/F3/73] (Thomas Gunnarsson): New to Håkan Dahlqvist for British and European F3 in 1973, and described as a "Mk 22". Dahlqvist won the Swedish F3 title in this car. Retained by Dahlqvist for Swedish F3 in 1974, when it was also driven at one race by Matts Nygren. To Lars-Åke Olsson for Swedish F3 in 1975. To Thomas Gunnarsson for Swedish F3 in 1976. To Thorbjörn Bäck for Swedish F3 in 1977. Subsequent history unknown, but in about 1987 or 1988, Richard Parkin located the car in Sweden and brought it back to England. He sold it to Anthony Taylor about a year later, and Taylor restored it to Formula B specification, using it briefly in HSCC historic racing. Taylor's understanding was that it was Dahlqvist's Swedish F3 championship winning car. The car was later sold via Chris Alford about 1994 or 1995. Richard Taylor, Anthony's son, recalls that it might have gone to Canada.
3. Brabham BT41 [14] (Lars Svensson): New to Ulf Svensson in 1973.
4. GRD 372 [010-F3] (Jan Ridell): Raced by Canadian David McConnell in the 1972 Tasman series, using 2-litre Hart BDA engines. McConnell had a new B72 on order, and his plan was to sell the prototype to Jacques Couture. When that fell through, 010 was converted to F3 and sold to Mo Harness. Harness had won the 1971 Formula Ford Johnsons Wax Euro Trophy but turned down the test drive that had been offered as a prize with Ken Tyrrell and an F2 March. After a brief relationship with GRD, he then used an old BT28 F3 car in the first half of 1972 before acquiring sponsorship from Revolution Wheels and returning to GRD mid-season. Harness raced the GRD in British Formula 3 using Leabro engines. He then sold it to Jac Nellemann for Swedish F3 in 1973. In 1974, the car went to Jan Ridell, who raced it in Swedish 3, now using 2-litre Vegantune engines. Retained by Ridell for 1975, when he used Billgren BMW engines. Retained again by Ridell for 1976. To Dick Berg for Swedish F3 in 1977 and 1978, again with the Billgren BMW engines. Next seen in 1980, when it was raced by Mats Karlsson, now using Vegantune twin cams. Retained by Karlsson for 1981.
5. Brabham BT28 [43] (Mats Peterson Paninder): A new car for Gustaf Dieden which first appeared at Karlskoga in August 1970 and raced in Scandinavian F3. Then hired by Torsten Palm, who had previously raced a BT28 for Picko Troberg's Mennen Racing Team, and used as a private entry in the Torneio Brasileiro de Formula 3. Retained by Palm in 1000cc form for the start of the 1971 Swedish F3 series as his new 1600cc BT35 was not yet ready. To Leif Engström 1972-1975 then Mats Peterson Paninder 1976 and 1977. Subsequent history unknown.
6. Brabham BT38C [21?] (Bonde Hallenmark): Bonde Hallenmark raced a Brabham BT38C in Swedish Formula 3 in 1976, 1977 and 1978. As Ulf Svensson's BT38C/14 and Thorbjörn Carlsson's "ex Magee" BT38C/18 can be traced into 1976 or 1977, this is likely to have been the ex-Conny Andersson BT38C/21. Subsequent history unknown.

Sources

Note that the identification of individual cars in these results is based on the material presented elsewhere in this site and may in some cases contradict the organisers' published results.

All comments, clarifications, corrections and additions are most welcome. Please email Allen (allen@oldracingcars.com) if you can help in any way with our research.