Championnat de France de Formule 3

Paul Ricard, 1 Jul 1973

All cars are 1.6-litre F3 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Brabham BT41 [11] (Johnny Gerber): Initially a Motor Racing Developments entry for Tony Trimmer in 1973, then becoming an Ippokampos Racing entry for Johnny Gerber until August 1973. Not seen again.
2. March 733 [3] (Russell Wood): New to Russell Wood and run for him in the British F3 series by Peter Bloore Racing with backing from The Chequered Flag. Wood won three early round of the championship but had a heavy accident at Zandvoort in May and did not win again. Sold to Australian Ian Douglass for 1974 and rebuilt for Australian F2, using various 742 bits. The car was involved in a fire during private testing at Oran Park after the Lakeside race in December 1974 and was completely burnt to the ground.
3. Merlyn Mk 22 [440/F3/73] (Håkan Dahlqvist): 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.
4. Brabham BT41 [16] (Randy Lewis): New to Randy Lewis in 1973.
5. Merlyn Mk 21 [328/F3/72] (Conny Ljungfeldt): New to Håkan Dahlqvist for Formula 3 in Sweden and England. Dahlqvist won at Mantorp Park in June and Knutstorp in September. Retained by Dahlqvist's Karlssons Klister Racing Team as a second car in 1973 and driven by Stig Blomqvist and Conny Ljungfeldt. It was then sold to Mats Byström for 1974. To Kjell Andersson for 1975. Retained by Andersson for 1976 and 1977. Subsequent history unknown.
6. Brabham BT41 [14] (Ulf Svensson): New to Ulf Svensson in 1973.
7. GRD 373 (Rudolf Dötsch): Rudolf Dötsch (Mülheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) raced a GRD 373 in F3 in early 1973 as part of Team Europa Möbel as teammate to Wolfgang Bülow. After the first few races, his entrant changed to Jörg Obermoser Eurorace, but it is presumed here that Dötsch owned his car and moved it from one team to the other. His last appearance was at Brands Hatch in July where he "destroyed" the car when he possibly missed a gear change and hit the bank at Kidney. He was taken to hospital with a broken leg. When he returned to F3 in F4, it was in his old March 723, so the GRD was presumably not repaired.
8. Lotus 69 [71/69.9.F3] (Günter Kölmel): New to Freddy Kottulinsky and raced extensively in European F3 in 1971, using Schnitzer BMW engines and entered by Haj-Haj Racing Team. Raced by Günter Kölmel (Achern-Ohnsbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) in European F3 in 1972 and 1973, again with BMW engines and entered by Haj-Haj Racing Team. Kölmel raced the car again in F3 in 1974, now using 2-litre BMW engines. Subsequent history unknown.
9. GRD 372 [032-F3] (Larry Perkins): Entered by GRS International for Keiichi Tahara at two races in June and July 1972. To Team Cowangie for Larry Perkins to drive in British and French F3 in 1973 but although the car was identified as chassis 032, it was once referred to as "ex-Jones" [his own chassis 033-F3 or the ex-Sutcliffe GRS car] and also once as ex-Rousselot [the GRS chassis 021]. Jones had retained 033 for the start of 1973 and the ex-Rousselot 021-F3 was driven in 1973 by Pedro Passadore, so neither are likely. Perkins badly damaged the car in practice at Paul Ricard on 1 July 1973. When he returned to racing, he first borrowed the works Ensign and then acquired a Brabham BT41, indicating that the GRD was not repaired.

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

Additional information from Pascal Katabian of the International Race Results and Data Association.