Swedish Formula 3 Championship Race

Karlskoga, 11 Sep 1977

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Ralt RT1/77 [56] (Anders Olofsson): New to Anders Olofsson for 1977 according to Ralt records, and raced by him in European and Swedish F3 with backing from Puss o Kram Jeans. Retained by Olofsson for 1978, now as Strike Up Racing Team. To Pomeroy Racing Team for 1979, when it was raced by Olofsson and by Björn Ohlsson. Raced by Hans Edvinsson in 1980.
2. 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.
3. Merlyn Mk 21 [328/F3/72] (Kjell Andersson): 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.
4. Chevron B38 [38.77.16] (Jørgen Ørsum): New to Texaco Racing Denmark for Henrik Spellerberg to race in European and Swedish F3 in 1977. Spellerberg replaced the car with a Ralt in mid-season. To Søren Aggerholm for a few races later in 1977. To Jørgen Ørsum in late 1977, and retained for 1978 and 1979.
5. Brabham BT38C [14] (Kaal Wirgin): New to Ulf Svensson for European F3 in 1972, using Holbay engines and sponsored by Team Mum for Men. According to Magnus Haggstam, this car went to Lasse Karlsson for 1973 and raced by him in F3 until at least 1975. Then to Kaal Wirgin in 1976, and raced by him Swedish Formula 3 Championship races in 1977 and 1978, before he acquired a newer Argo. The car was next seen in 2000, when it was acquired by Carsten Frimodt (Denmark). It was restored to F2 specification with an 1860cc engine and was raced by Frimodt in Sweden in 2006 and 2007. Frimodt sold it to another Dane who sold it to Dr Sami Hamid (Vienna, Austria) in 2010. It was restored for him by Marcel Biehl of Biehl Racing (Moenchengladbach, Germany) to proper F3 specification. It was sold to John Albiston (Elgin, Scotland) in 2018, who modified it to Formula Atlantic specification and used to win the Scottish Historic Hillclimb and Sprint Championship in 2019 and 2020.
6. GRD 372 [010-F3] (Dick Berg): 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.
7. Merlyn Mk 22 [440/F3/73] (Thorbjörn Bäck): 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.

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.