OldRacingCars.com

Grand Prix d'Albi

Albi, 20 Oct 1968

ResultsLapsTime/Speed
1 Henri Pescarolo Matra MS7 [06?] - Cosworth FVA
#10 Matra Sports
85
2 Peter Gethin Brabham BT23C [2] - Cosworth FVA
#32 Frank Lythgoe Racing (see note 1)
85
3 Piers Courage Brabham BT23C [1] - Cosworth FVA
#18 Frank Williams Racing Cars (see note 2)
85
4 Jo Siffert Lola T102 [F268/1] - BMW M12
#26 Bayerische Motoren Werke (see note 3)
85
5 Jackie Oliver Lotus 48 [R1] - Cosworth FVA
#8 Gold Leaf Team Lotus (see note 4)
85
6 Johnny Servoz-Gavin Matra MS7 [01?] - Cosworth FVA
#16 Matra International
84
7 Kurt Ahrens Brabham BT23C [8] - Cosworth FVA
#34 Kurt Ahrens (see note 5)
84
8 Brian Hart Brabham BT23C [9] - Cosworth FVA
#36 Church Farm Racing Team (see note 6)
84
9 Robin Widdows Lola T100 [SL100/4] - Cosworth FVA
#30 David Bridges Racing (see note 7)
83
10 Jochen Rindt Brabham BT23C [5-2] - Cosworth FVA
#2 Roy Winkelmann Racing (see note 8)
77
11 Jean-Pierre Beltoise Matra MS7 [05?] - Cosworth FVA
#12 Matra Sports
76
12 Silvio Moser Tecno 68/F2 [T00 286] - Cosworth FVA
#38 Silvio Moser (see note 9)
76
13 Richard Attwood Tecno 68/F2 [T00 290?] - Cosworth FVA
#22 Ron Harris Racing (see note 10)
77 retired
14 Graham Hill Lotus 48 [R2] - Cosworth FVA
#6 Gold Leaf Team Lotus (see note 11)
65 retired
15 Jackie Stewart Matra MS7 [04?] - Cosworth FVA
#14 Matra International
39 retired
16 Pedro Rodriguez Tecno 68/F2 [T00 288?] - Cosworth FVA
#24 Ron Harris Racing (see note 12)
31 retired
17 Jonathan Williams Tecno 68/F2 [T00 296] - Cosworth FVA
#28 Ron Harris Racing (see note 13)
10 retired
DNS Clay Regazzoni Tecno 68/F2 [T00 284?] - Cosworth FVA
#20 Tecno Racing Team (see note 14)
Did not start

All cars are 1.6-litre F2 unless noted.

Qualifying
1 Jochen Rindt (F2) 1.6-litre Brabham BT23C [5-2] - Cosworth FVA
2 Jean-Pierre Beltoise (F2) 1.6-litre Matra MS7 [05?] - Cosworth FVA
3 Henri Pescarolo (F2) 1.6-litre Matra MS7 [06?] - Cosworth FVA
4 Jackie Stewart (F2) 1.6-litre Matra MS7 [04?] - Cosworth FVA
5 Graham Hill (F2) 1.6-litre Lotus 48 [R2] - Cosworth FVA
6 Clay Regazzoni * (F2) 1.6-litre Tecno 68/F2 [T00 284?] - Cosworth FVA
7 Piers Courage (F2) 1.6-litre Brabham BT23C [1] - Cosworth FVA
8 Peter Gethin (F2) 1.6-litre Brabham BT23C [2] - Cosworth FVA
9 Jackie Oliver (F2) 1.6-litre Lotus 48 [R1] - Cosworth FVA
10 Johnny Servoz-Gavin (F2) 1.6-litre Matra MS7 [01?] - Cosworth FVA
11 Kurt Ahrens (F2) 1.6-litre Brabham BT23C [8] - Cosworth FVA
12 Jo Siffert (F2) 1.6-litre Lola T102 [F268/1] - BMW M12
13 Pedro Rodriguez (F2) 1.6-litre Tecno 68/F2 [T00 288?] - Cosworth FVA
14 Silvio Moser (F2) 1.6-litre Tecno 68/F2 [T00 286] - Cosworth FVA
15 Brian Hart (F2) 1.6-litre Brabham BT23C [9] - Cosworth FVA
16 Robin Widdows (F2) 1.6-litre Lola T100 [SL100/4] - Cosworth FVA
17 Jonathan Williams (F2) 1.6-litre Tecno 68/F2 [T00 296] - Cosworth FVA
18 Richard Attwood (F2) 1.6-litre Tecno 68/F2 [T00 290?] - Cosworth FVA
 
* Did not start

Notes on the cars:

  1. Brabham BT23C [2] (Peter Gethin): Early history unknown and possibly built for intended works team. Sold to Frank Lythgoe Racing in June 1968 for Peter Gethin to race in F2, replacing a Chevron B10. Reported to have gone to George Pitt in November 1968 but quickly found its way to John Whitmore and entered by Alan Mann Racing for Don Godden to drive in F2 in 1969, but his season was soon abandoned. Presumably the car advertised by Alan Mann Racing in 1970. Then unknown until raced by Maurice Ogier in sprints in 1972 when it had a Vegantune twin cam engine. Sold to Low Cost Racing at the end of 1972 and advertised by them in March 1973. Next seen when run by Vic Durman in Monosposto racing in 1974 and advertised from a London number at the end of that year. Advertised by Bobby Howlings' Cheshire Sports Cars in July 1976. To Dave Bishop (Suckley, Worcestershire) and raced in sprints later in 1976, and later in Monoposto in 1979 when it was loaned to Tim Cameron. Next seen when owned by Ian Webb of Northdown Racing (Ripley, Surrey) in 1982, and loaned to Mike Hartley for the Gates-Varley Monoposto Series. Then via Keith Norman (Slough, Berkshire) 1985, Hugo Studer (Berne, Switzerland) 1987, Sepp Mayer (Germany) 1997 and John Counsell (Coleby, Lincolnshire) 2005 to Andrew Fellowes (Benowa, Queensland, Australia) 2009. Sold by Fellowes to Garry Hancock April 2011 and raced by his son Damon from 2011 onwards.
  2. Brabham BT23C [1] (Piers Courage): The prototype BT23C was used at the end of the 1967 season by Jack Brabham and Frank Gardner and then sold to Frank Williams for Picko Troberg to drive, but not start, at Hockenheim in April 1968. It was then used briefly in F3 by Harry Stiller but wasn't seen again until October 1968 when Piers Courage took it over for the Albi F2 race, his regular BT23C/07 having been "sold to Tasmania" (Autosport 25 Oct 1968 p14). Then to Laurence Brownlie (Kelso, South Island, New Zealand), possibly leased by Williams, and raced in the 1969 Tasman series before returning to Europe for Graham McRae to drive in the 1969 F2 series, entered by Williams again. Last raced in July 1969, then advertised by Alan Grant (Winkfield Row, Berkshire) in August and reappeared in April 1970 when advertised by Bobby Howlings. Sold to Rodney Seow in Singapore but never raced. Traded together with Seow's Brabham BT9 to Mike Truter by 1980 and sold on to Brian Wilson (Australia) about 1983. Wilson imported the cars to Australia, had the BT23C restored and raced it in historic racing for more than 20 years. Sold to Chad Parrish (Sydney, NSW, Australia) early 2014.
  3. Lola T102 [F268/1] (Jo Siffert): New for Jo Siffert to race in BMW's F2 team in 1968, first appearing in the Preis von Baden-Wurttemberg at Hockenheim in October. Raced by Siffert in the early races of 1969, until the team's new Dornier-built cars were ready. Retained by BMW's heritage division, first as BMW Mobile Tradition and later BMW Classic Collection.
  4. Lotus 48 [R1] (Jackie Oliver): The prototype Lotus 48 was taken out to Australia for Graham Hill to drive in the Australian Grand Prix at Warwick Farm in February 1967, when he retired. It was then the Team Lotus spare car at the start of the F2 season, first racing at the Nürburgring in April. Jim Clark then used the car in nine F2 races from May onwards, including his wins at Jarama and Keimola. Driven by Alex Solor-Roig at the Spanish GP in November, but his deal to race the car fell through. Retained for 1968, when it was Jackie Oliver's regular entry supported by Roger Frogley's Herts & Essex Aero Club and maintained by Derek Wilde. It was sold to Gerry Kinnane at the end of the European F2 season, and raced for him by Oliver in the Argentine Temporada in December. Then raced by John Watson at the opening F2 race of 1969, at Thruxton, but crashed and badly damaged. Repaired in Belfast with a new outer skin created by Fred Smith using the workshop of Belfast Corporation Bus Company on the Falls Road, and raced by John L'Amie for Kinnane later in the year. To Alan Fowler for 1970, and driven by Barrie Smith at the Thruxton F2 race in March 1970, but did not start. Reportedly sold by Fowler's D&A Shells to a collector in Nuneaton, and retained by him until 1997, when it was sold via John Harper to Bob Tabor (Llanrothal, Herefordshire). The car was restored by Tabor by Simon Hadfield, and the monocoque was rebuilt by Competition Fabrications (Attleborough, Norfolk) who carefully replaced the single-curvature Belfast-made outer skin with a correct double-curvature skin. A stronger rollhoop structure was also fitted. The rebuilt car was raced by Hadfield in the Goodwood Glover Trophy in September 1999.
  5. Brabham BT23C [8] (Kurt Ahrens): New to Kurt Ahrens (Braunschweig, Germany) and raced by him in F2 in 1968 under the Caltex Racing banner. Sold to Bernd Terbeck (Hiltrup, Germany) and run as part of the Montan Racing Team in F2 in 1969 and 1970. Then unknown in 1971 and 1972. Former Mini racer Graham Cooper (Sedgley, Worcestershire) raced his "newly acquired Brabham BT23C" in a sprint at Curborough in March 1973. This car was sold by Cooper to Richard Churchley (Hampton-in-Arden, Warwickshire) and run by him in sprints in 1975 with a Ford twin cam and then in 1976 with a 1600cc Hart BDA. From Churchley to Bill Morris who wanted the engine for his Ensign and sold the rest of the car to Robin Darlington (Ruabon, Wales) in early 1977. Then to Les Aylott (Oakham, Rutland) and David Knowles, fitted with Aylott's turbcharged 1600cc BDA engine by by June 1977, and raced in 1977 and 1978. Advertised from Oakham in April 1981. Then unknown until raced by Peter Rogers (High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) in the HSCC Bradburn & Wedge Pre-71 series in 1984 with a BDA engine. (Possibly the car raced by Jon Bradburn in late 1983.) Raced by Rogers until 1987. Sold by Rogers' father Sir John Rogers to David Brown (Ashford, Kent) in 1999 and raced by him in the HSCC Classic Racing Cars Championship. Raced regularly by David Brown (Ashford, Kent) in HSCC events until sold to Graham Adelman (Free Union, VA) in 2014.
  6. Brabham BT23C [9] (Brian Hart): New to Church Farm Racing Team (Pagham, Sussex) for Derek Bell to race in F2 in 1968. Bell moved to the Ferrari F2 team in June 1968 and the car was raced by Jonathan Williams at Hockenheim, by Peter Westbury and Monza and then by Brian Hart for the rest of the season. Advertised in December 1968 and March 1969. Subsequent history unknown.
  7. Lola T100 [SL100/4] (Robin Widdows): Believed to be the works Lola T100 entered by Lola Racing for John Surtees to drive in Formula 2 at the start of 1967. Fitted with a Cosworth FVA engine and raced by Surtees at Snetterton and Silverstone in March 1967, then by Chris Irwin at the Nürburgring in April. Sold in May to David Bridges for Brian Redman to drive in F2 for the rest of that season. Retained by Bridges for F2 in 1968, when it was driven by Redman, Chris Williams, Mike Beckwith, David Hobbs and Robin Widdows. Sold to Robin Darlington (Ruaben, Wales) late 1969, and used in libre racing in 1970. He advertised it in January 1971 when it had a twin cam and was prepared for the new 1971 Formula Atlantic category. Robin cannot recall where it went, but it was next seen in Sprints in late 1973, when it was driven by Richard Lester (Yoxall, Staffordshire). The car was run by Lester in the 1600cc class in Sprints and occasional hillclimbs from 1974 to 1977. Lester then acquired a March 73B, and advertised the T100 in January 1978 as "ex-Redman" with an all-steel twin cam and Hewland FT200 gearbox. This is likely to be the red/white 1600cc Lola T100 that Kenneth Brill (Redditch, Worcestershire) raced in libre at Croft in 1978. Subsequent history unknown.
  8. Brabham BT23C [5-2] (Jochen Rindt): New to Winkelmann Racing for Jochen Rindt to race in F2 in 1968, winning four of his first seven races. Driven by Vic Elford at at Monza in June and crashed. The car was rebuilt on a new chassis and Rindt won two more races later that year. To Ecurie Ecosse and raced by Graham Birrell in F2 in 1969. Ecurie Ecosse and Birrell had a BT30 for 1970 but the BT23C was raced in a libre at Ingliston in May when it was crashed. Sold in July to Stanley Robinson who fitted the engine, gearbox and suspension to the Unipower GT Group 6 car he raced with John Blanckley. The BT23C chassis was repaired some time around 1972 and sold to Joe Applegarth (Houghton-le-Spring, County Durham) who built it up using parts from BT23C/16 and fitted a pushrod Ford engine for Monoposto racing. Raced by Applegarth from 1973 until the end of 1977, competing in around 130 events, and then retained after Applegarth retired. Sold by him to Joe Willenpart (Scheibbs, Austria) in 2010.
  9. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 286] (Silvio Moser): New to Silvio Moser (Lugano, Switzerland) and raced in European F2 and Swiss Championship events in 1968, entered by Charles Vögele. Also taken to the Argentine Temporada at the end that year. Sold to Roland Binder (Esslingen, Germany) for F2 in 1969, but crashed badly at Hockenheim in June. Binder then acquired the sister car T00 284 from Tecno and raced that in F2 in late 1969, and then in 1970 and 1971. According to later owner Oliver Heschl-Gillespie, the ex-Moser Tecno went to Bernd Burger (Rüsselsheim, Germany) and was converted to a Group 7 sports car using a KMW body as the "Burger P3", still with its 1600cc Cosworth FVA. Burger ran a "Burger-Eigenbau" in 1970 and 1971, but that may have been based on a Lotus. He raced the "P3" in German national racing 1973 and 1974 after which the rolling chassis was sold to Karl Langjahr (Darmstadt, Germany) who fitted a Porsche engine and raced it in Interserie and national events as a Tecno-Porsche until 1980. Then to Bernd Becker (Idar-Oberstein, Germany) who only wanted the engine. The car continued via Kurt Henn (Idar-Oberstein, Germany) to Christina Berthold (Nürnberg, Germany) who raced it briefly with a new Porsche engine at which point it was sold to the Rosso Bianco Collection (Aschaffenburg, Germany). Sold by the museum in 1999, it passed via an Viennese Porsche dealer to Olivier Heschl-Gillespie (Vienna, Austria) who had it restored by Karl Langjahr to its 1974 specification.
  10. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 290?] (Richard Attwood): After the failure of the Protos F2 project, Ron Harris Racing bought a pair of Tecnos with the first of these debuting at Crystal Palace 3 Jun 1968 where it was raced by Pedro Rodriguez. Used later in the season by team drivers Richard Attwood, Eric Offenstadt and Jonathan Williams. Taken to the Argentine Temporada at the end that year where it was allocated to Carlos Marincovich. Subsequent history unknown but if it is correct that T00 288 went to Britain for libre racing and that T00 296 went to Daniel Rouveyran for French hillclimbs, then T00 290 must be the "ex-Harris" car that went to Patrick Champin for 1969 and then to Max Bonnin for 1970.
  11. Lotus 48 [R2] (Graham Hill): Graham Hill's regular Team Lotus entry in Formula 2 in 1967, raced by him in 16 of that season's races. Retained for 1968, when it was entered by Gold Leaf Team Lotus for Hill in a further eight F2 races. Sold to Gerry Kinnane's Team Ireland for 1969, and raced by John Pollock in the Thruxton F2 race in April and then in Irish 1600cc racing. Sold to Kevin Murphy in 1970 for Frank Keane to drive in Irish libre racing, primarily at Mondello Park, and in hillclimbs. Traded to Bobby Howlings for a Brabham BT30 in September 1970, and advertised by him the following month. Then evidently to Beric Ewin (Finchley, London) and fitted with a Ford twin cam engine for the new Formula Atlantic category in 1971 and 1972. Then unknown until acquired by a private collector in the late 1970s.
  12. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 288?] (Pedro Rodriguez): One of a pair of Tecnos run by Ron Harris Racing from June 1968 onwards, replacing the team's unsuccessful Protos-FVAs. Used by team drivers Pedro Rodriguez, Richard Attwood, Eric Offenstadt and Jonathan Williams. Taken to the Argentine Temporada at the end that year where it was allocated to Carlos Reutemann. When Reutemann moved to race a Brabham BT23C at the last round, the Tecno was taken over by Oscar Franco. The "ex-Reutemann" Temporada car was later used by John Rae in libre with an Atlantic spec BRM Ford twin-cam. Subsequent history unknown.
  13. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 296] (Jonathan Williams): In September 1968, Ron Harris Racing bought a third Tecno to expand the team of cars they had been running since June. This third car debuted at Albi and was the taken to the Argentine Temporada at the end that year where it was raced by Pedro Rodriguez. Subsequent history unknown but possibly the car driven by Daniel Rouveyran in French hillclimbs in 1969, a car described by Autosport in early 1970 as "ex-Harris/Williams". Rouveyran raced his Tecno with great success in 1969 and 1970, after which it went to Jean Lapierre who raced it extensively in 1971, still with its 1600cc FVA engine.
  14. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 284?] (Clay Regazzoni): When the Tecno team took three cars to the Argentine Temporada at the end of 1968, Motoring News noted that Clay Regazzoni's car, 'T00 284', was "his regular car". Presumed to have been his car from Pau (April 1968) onwards. To Roland Binder (Esslingen, Germany) in mid-1969, to replace the Tecno he had wrecked at Hockenheim in June. Binder continued to race this car in F2 in 1970 and 1971. 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.