Championnat de France de Formule 3

Paul Ricard, 2 Sep 1973

All cars are 1.6-litre F3 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. 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.
2. March 733 (Bruno Pescia): Bruno Pescia drove a March 733 in the 1973 Italian Formula 3 season, entered (at least from June onwards) by Trivellato Racing Team. Nothing more known.
3. March 733 [26] (Mike Wilds): New to Dempster International Racing Team for Mike Wilds to drive in F3 from July 1973 onwards, replacing the 1972/73 Ensign with which he had started the season. It was then sold to Graham Watts (Faringham) for hillclimbs, appearing at Prescott in March 1974, when the car had a 1600cc Holbay engine. During 1975, the car was bought by Terry Smith (Felton, Somerset) to replace his highly successful 1-litre Vixen Imp. Smith raced the March in sprints and hillclimbs through the rest of 1975 and through 1976, using a 1600cc Holbay Ford twin cam engine, but in the summer of 1976, bought the ex-F1 McLaren M14D. The March was sold to Geoff Hunt (Andover, Hampshire), again with the Holbay twin cam, and used in sprints for quite a few years. Eventually traded to Richard Speakman for the ex-F3 Pilbeam MP51. Subsequent history unknown.
4. March 733 (Paolo Bozzetto): Paolo Bozzetto raced a March 733 in the 1973 Italian F3 series, starting from Casale at the end of April and running up to the end of the season. He was entered by Trivellato Racing Team.
5. March 733 (Carlo Giorgio): Carlo Giorgio raced a March 733 in the 1973 Italian F3 series, entered by Scuderia Jolly Club in the first three races, and then by Trivellato Racing Team up to the end of the season.
6. 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.
7. GRD 372 [017-F3] (Hans-Peter Hoffmann): New to Hans-Peter Hoffmann (Burgdorf, Switzerland) and raced in Swiss, German and French F3 races in 1972. Retained for 1973, when he raced it in F3 events in Germany, Britain, Italy and France. Subsequent history unknown.
8. March 723 (Bruno Eggel): Bruno Eggel ran a March in Formula 3 from 1973 onwards, having previously raced a Tecno in the 1000cc class of German and Swiss hillclimbs. In 1973 and 1974, he ran a car that looked like a 723, and he entered it at Mainz-Finthen in September 1974 as being chassis "72-5", indicating it was one of the cars number for the Eifelland team in 1972. In 1975, photographs show that Eggel had a 1973 or 1974 car, most likely a 743, which had a side-radiator conversion and blanked-off nose. His car was described as a 713M, 723, 733, 743, 753 and 763 between 1973 and 1978, and exactly how many separate cars he had is unknown.
9. March 733 (Max Bonnin): New to Max Bonnin at some point during the 1973 Formula 3 season. Sold during 1974 to Luis Maria de Almenara Juandò (Barcelona, Spain), who raced it at Magione in September 1974. Then rebuilt as a March 732 for Formula 2 in 1975, using an ex-Alpine Hart BDA engine. De Almenara raced the car at five races in Formula 2 in 1975, but failed to qualify for four of them. He also ran it at the Carrera en Cuesta a la Rabassada hillclimb in Spain in October 1975, finishing second. A photograph of the car at Rabassada shows it wearing works-style 742 bodywork with side radiators, and the rollhoop casing cut down as happened to the 752s early in the 1975 season. Subsequent history unknown.
10. March 733 (Piergiovanni Tenani): Piergiovanni Tenani drove a Trivellato Racing Team March 733 with Novamotor engine in almost all races of the 1973 Italian Formula 3 series up to August, after which he missed the last few races. He retained his car for 1974, when it was updated to a 2000cc Novamotor twin cam. Subsequent history unknown.
11. 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.
12. March 733 [13] (Leonel Friedrich): New to Brazilian driver Leonel Friedrich (Porto Alegre, Brazil) and run for him by Peter Bloore Racing in the 1973 British Formula 3 season. Friedrich had not sat in a single-seater racing car before, but was the 1972 1600cc class Brazilian Touring Car Champion. For a novice, he was impressively quick straight away, eighth fastest in practice at his first race, and finishing second four times in his first dozen F3 races. His March was fitted with Holbay engines except for a brief mid-season flirtation with Novamotors. The car was then hired to another young Brazilian Alex Dias Ribeiro, and run for him by Angeleri March Racing Brazil in two races at the very end of the season. Subsequent history unknown.
13. Brabham BT38C [19] (Jimmy Fuller): New to Canadian driver Chris O'Brien and raced in British F3 in 1972 using Holbay engines. To Jimmy Fuller for 1973, again in British F3 and again using Holbay engines. Advertised by Fuller from Sunbury-on-Thames as a "BT38/41" with two rebuilt Novamotor twin-cams, a spare monocoque and bodywork for £2,250 in November 1973. Formula 3 changed to 2000cc for 1974, and the BT38C was sold to David Taylor (Formy, Lancashire, later Merseyside) for Kim Mather to race in British Formula Atlantic in 1974. When the car first appeared, it had a RES BDA engine and still used F3 wheels, Mather recalling that he "just dropped a BDA in it". By the end of May it had a Richardson BDA and wider wheels, but it was still far off the pace of the leading cars, and this turned out to be its last Atlantic race. Taylor also used the car in sprints at Longridge, and Mather won two libre races at Aintree. Taylor advertised the car in September, complete with Richardson BDA, for £2,200 and sold it to Ted Payne (Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham). Payne had raced a BT38 earlier in the season with a Vegantune engine, but it appears he had sold that car and had bought Taylor's very similar one with its Richardson engine. Payne continued to race the car in 1975, and entry lists show that it was black with a Richardson engine, and generally entered as a BT38-40. It was advertised by Payne in November 1975 as a BT38/40 with a recently rebuilt Cosworth BDA engine, and with a spare monocoque. It was bought by Andrew Wareing (Kirkham, Fylde, Lancashire), whose recollection is that it came from Joe Applegarth, but Applegarth says he never owned a BT38. Wareing used it in sprints and libre in 1976. He advertised it in September 1976 as a BT38/40 with BDA engine, 10" and 14" wheels and a spare tub, and recalls that it went to a family of hillclimbers, father and sons. This must be John Hart (East Dulwich, London), who after hillclimbing a Brabham BT18 in 1976, transferred its Cosworth FVA engine into a Brabham BT38 for 1977. Hart recalls buying the BT38 in the Isle of Man, but it is quite plausible that the car had acquired an Isle of Man event sticker if Wareing had competed in one of the Longton & DCC events on the island. Hart raced this car in hillclimbs and sprints through 1977, being joined by his son Greg later that season. The pair retained the BT38 for 1978 but Greg wrecked it in a major accident at Shelsley Walsh in August, which he was lucky to escape. The car was briskly rebuilt using a BT40 monocoque acquired from MRD and raced again at Gurston Down just two weeks later. The car was renamed 'Hart JG79' for 1979, fitted with a 1600cc Richardson FVA and raced by Greg and John in 1979 and 1980. Doug Hart recalls that the BT40 was sold to Paul Squires, "who sadly died at a young age and before he finished the car". 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.