John Player Formula 3 International Championship

Brands Hatch, 21 Oct 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 involevd in a fire during private testing at Oran Park after the Lakeside race in December 1974 and was completely burnt to the ground.
2. Brabham BT41 [16] (Randy Lewis): New to Randy Lewis in 1973.
3. 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.
4. Brabham BT41 [14] (Ulf Svensson): New to Ulf Svensson in 1973.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. March 733 [713M-6] (Roger Hurst): New to John Bisignano (Denver, CO) and raced in British F3 in 1971 with support from Liggett & Myers L&M tobacco brand. Sold in October 1971 to Roger Hurst (Folkestone, Kent) of Lenham Hurst and raced in F3 in 1972 and 1973. By 1973 the car was being described on occasion as a 723, a 733, a March Falconer, and even as a Lenham LM1. Last raced by Hurst in November 1973. In March 1974, the car was advertised by Low Cost Racing who mentioned that it had Falconer bodywork and was fitted with a Holbay R70 engine for Formula 4. Its history over the next five years is unknown, but in 1979 and 1980, Tony Harris and Colin Brook raced 713M-6 in F4. Subsequent history unknown. A car with this identity was advertised in Italy in 2012.
8. Royale RP11A [6] (Val Musetti): New factory car for Tom Pryce to drive, replacing the one wrecked at the 1972 Monaco GP F3 race. To Reystan Racing for 1973 for Andy Sutcliffe to drive, but Sutcliffe left the team in April, and his seat was taken over by Val Musetti, who had written off his own RP11 in testing. Raced by Musetti through to the end of the season. Converted to Formula Atlantic specification for 1974 and raced by Musetti in the British championship up to May. Sold later in the year to Mike Franey and raced in libre racing. Raced by Franey in a couple of British Formula Atlantic races in 1975. Subsequent history unknown.

Sources

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' original results.

These British Formula 3 results have been compiled by Chris Townsend using the main British magazines Autosport and Motoring News but also the US magazine On Track which carried surprisingly good coverage of the British series.

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.