Grand Prix d'Albi

Albi, 14 Sep 1969

All cars are 1.6-litre F2 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Lotus 59B [59-F2-20] (Graham Hill): One of three Lotus 59Bs built for Roy Winkelmann Racing in F2 in 1969. This was Graham Hill's usual car, winning at Albi in September, but was driven at other races by Roy Pike, John Miles, Hans Herrmann, and Andrea de Adamich. According to Richard Spelberg's research, this car was converted to Lotus 69 specification for 1970, as F2.69.5.
2. Lotus 59B [59-F2-19] (Jochen Rindt): New for 1969, and entered by Roy Winkelmann Racing for Jochen Rindt at Thruxton in April 1969, which the Austrian won. Driven by Alan Rollinson at Hockenheim, and then by Rindt again at Pau, which he also won. Rindt also won at Zolder and Tulln-Langenlebarn, and the car was driven at other races in 1969 by Rollinson, Roy Pike, Rolf Stommelen, and John Miles. According to Richard Spelberg's research, this car was converted to Lotus 69 specification for 1970, as F2.69.4.
3. Lotus 59B [59-F2-21] (Ronnie Peterson): New to Max Mosley for Formula 2 in 1969. It was prepared and entered by Len Street Engineering, a successful west London Lotus dealership. The car was first seen at the Jarama F1/F5000 race where it was ballasted and entered in the F1 class. At its next race, the F2 race at the Nürburgring, Mosley went off the road during practice when a bolt worked lose in the front suspension, and the Lotus was severely damaged. It returned to Lotus for repairs, but then remained unused during the summer as Mosley retired from driving. In September it was loaned to Roy Winkelmann Racing so that Ronnie Peterson could drive it at Albi, a precursor to Mosley and Winkelmann team manager Alan Rees signing Peterson to drive the new March F3 car two weeks later. The 59B was also raced by John Miles at Vallelunga. Then sold to Johnny Blades (Whitley Bay, Northumberland) for F2 in 1970, appearing at four early-season F2 races before being returned to Lotus to be converted to 69 specification. After a few libre races, it returned to F2 at Mantorp Park in August, where Autosport said "the only parts remaining of his ex-Mosley 59B being the wheels, gearbox and engine". Despite this surgery, the car was often described as a 59 or a 59B during Blades' ownership. Retained by Blades for F2 in 1971, when it was also raced by Carlos Pace at Crystal Palace. Blades retained the car again for 1972, when it was fitted with a BDA and used in the British Formula Atlantic series. Then sold to Ton Strous (Netherlands) for 1973, and fitted with a F2 engine, but Strous withdrew after wrecking his engine before his first race. Converted by Strous to F3 specification, but then unknown Strous reportedly sold it in 1991 to Richard Spelberg (Dusseldorf, Germany), who converted back to Lotus 59B spec for historic F2.
4. Brabham BT23C [12] (Robin Widdows): New to Frank Williams' customer Corrado Manfredini and raced as a Scuderia Picchio Rosso entry in F2 from June onwards. Returned to Williams and entered by Frank Williams Racing Cars for Malcolm Guthrie in F2 in early 1969 but sold to Bob Gerard (Leicester) in May and entered for his drivers Robin Widdows and Brian Hart, each of who won a race that summer in the car. Advertised by Gerard Racing as a rolling chassis in August 1970. Sold to drag racer Gerry Tyack (Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire) in 1970 and used to set four national speed records at Elvington, and also to win the Brighton Speed Trials. Advertised by Tyack in November 1971. Its history thereafter is unclear but it reappeared in 1986 being raced by Adrian Thomas in HSCC events, then with Kelvin Lambeth (London) in 1988-89 and with Monte Shalett (Metairie, LA) in 1990. Advertised by Mark Leonard of Grand Prix Classics (La Jolla, CA) in 1998 and sold by him to Peter Ball who did not use it much, preferring his FJ. From Bull to Harindra de Silva (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) February 2008 and raced in 2008 and 2009. Then stored until run in the F1 Support Race at COTA in November 2013.
5. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 306] (François Cevert): New at the December 1968 Argentine Temporada as a works car for Jo Siffert but likely to have been the "brand new" spare car available for Clay Regazzoni at Vallelunga in October. Then a works entry for François Cévert in F2 in 1969, winning at Reims in June. Entered by Jolly Club for Giancarlo Gagliardi at two F2 races early in 1970 and then to Hervé Bayard for hillclimbs later in 1970. Bayard's car was described as "ex-Regazzoni" and a 1969 car, but identified by later owner Fred Marquet as chassis T00 306. Used in the 1971 French hillclimb series by Bayard with 1600cc FVA and 1800cc FVC engines. Then to Daniel Gache for 1972 and raced in the 1600cc G9 class. Unknown after the end of 1972 until acquired by Marquet from a M. Rabanel (Toulon, France) in 1987. Retained by Marquet in 2009.
6. Brabham BT30 [3] (Peter Westbury): New to Peter Westbury and used for a full season of European F2 in 1969, winning at Neubiberg in October. Sold to John Wingfield (London NW11) and used in libre and in selected F2 events in 1970 and 1971. In August 1971, Wingfield acquired a new BT36 and the BT30, still with its Felday-tuned FVA engine, was sold to Jim Charnock (Liverpool) for Formule Libre, starting at Rufforth in early September. Charnock won five races in the closing weeks of the 1971 season, then won three more in 1972, when he was a regular runner at Aintree. He continued with the car in 1973, when he competed at Aintree and in the BRDC Jaybrand Racewear Formule Libre series, and in 1974 and 1975 when he was mainly seen at Aintree. The car is then unknown until it was advertised by dealer Brian Classic (Bucklow Hill, Cheshire) as "chassis number 3" in June 1984. Sold to Chris Mann (UK) 1985 and then sold via Frank Sytner to Ray Delaney (Melbourne, Australia) in 1987. Raced by Delaney in east coast Australian historic events the next six years at Calder Raceway (Vic), Sandown Park (Vic), Oran Park (NSW), Amaroo Park (NSW), Winton Raceway (Vic) and the support races at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide (SA) in 1988 and 1989. Sold to Dick James in 1993. To Mike Carmody 2003 and sold by him to Tom Lee (Puyallup, WA) October 2005. Restored for 2007 to its original livery.
7. Brabham BT30 [5] (Piers Courage): Sold to Frank Williams Racing Cars and entered for Piers Courage and Richard Attwood in F2 in 1969. Then sold to Albert Poon (Hong Kong) and raced by him at the Macau GP in November 1969. Retained by Poon for South East Asian racing in 1970, 1971 and 1972. Reported to have been scrapped.
8. Brabham BT23 [2] (Enzo Corti): Motor Racing Developments entry for Denny Hulme in 1967 and probably the car used by Jack Brabham for a few races in July and August after his usual car was sold to Mick Mooney. Then raced by Frank Gardner in September. It was then taken to the Tasman series for Denny Hulme to drive after he had wrecked BT23-5 at Pukekohe. The BT23 was then advertised by Frank Williams in early April and sold by him to Ernesto 'Tino' Brambilla in Italy. Brambilla raced it as a Scuderia Picchio Rosso entry at Tulln-Langenlebarn in July 1968, but was then recruited by Ferrari to drive the F2 Dino 166, and his BT23 was only seen once more that season, when driven by Enzo Corti at Vallelunga in October. Corti drove the car for Scuderia Picchio Rosso right through the 1969 season, and it was then raced a few times in early 1970 by Vittorio Brambilla, Tino's younger brother. In 1970, the car had BT30 sidepods and wings. Its last appearance was in July 1970, after which the brothers bought new Brabham BT30s. The next steps in the car's life remains unclear, but it is said to have been acquired by Antonio Bernardo (Lugano, Switzerland) some time in the early 1970s. An original claim that Bernardo acquired it directly from the Winkelmann Racing at the end of the 1967 season appears to have been a misunderstanding. He stored it unused "for over 30 years". It was bought from Bernardo in 2006, and restored between 2006 and 2010. Paint layers on the bodywork match the colours used by MRD and Corti, and the double-rollhoop also matches Corti's car, but some questions remain unanswered about this car as of February 2023.
9. Pygmée MDB12 [169] (Patrick Dal Bo): New for Patrick Dal Bo in Formula 2 in 1969. To Jean Lachaud (Sainte-Colombe, Rhône, France) for hillclimbs in 1970, still with its 1600cc Cosworth FVA engine. To Marc Pozet (Trévoux, Lyon, Ain) for hillclimbs in 1971. To Georges Détalante (Dijon, Burgundy) for 1972, fitted with a 1600cc Cosworth BDA and used in mainly regional hillclimbs in 1972 and 1973. Advertised by him in October 1974. Also advertised as "ex-Pozet" in May 1975. Identified by Gérard Gamand as the car of Bruno Sotty (Dijon, Burgundy) at Mont Dore in 1974. As Sotty and Détalante both lived in Dijon, Sotty may have borrowed the car. According to Gérard Gamand and Didier Martin's research, this is the car later owned by Etienne Maire and Thierry Parriaux, which was last in 1985 when it was advertised by Noël Faillace (Bastia, Corsica), when it was fitted with a 1300cc Renault Gordini engine. Subsequent history unknown, but in the late 1990s, a MDB12 with a Renault engine was acquired by Stephan Kupka of Mec Auto in Belgium, who initially thought it was a F/Renault. It was still with him, unrestored, in 2009.
10. Tecno 68/F2 [T00 304] (Clay Regazzoni): A brand new Tecno-FVA taken to the Argentine Temporada in December 1968 for local driver Andrea Vianini. Brought back into the factory Tecno team for 1969 and driven by Nanni Galli in the 1969 F2 series. Taken over by Clay Regazzoni at the Albi GP in September 1969 and crashed into the Armco on the opening lap of the race. Not seen again.

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.

Individual sources for this event

Autosport (18 Sep 1969 pp36-38) reported that Peterson was in the Lotus 59B last driven by Max Mosley and Regazzoni was in Nanni Galli's usual T00.304 alongside Cevert in 306. Regular Lotus 59B and Matra MS7 numbers were also given.