Lombard North Central Formula Three Championship

Silverstone, 18 Mar 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. Royale RP11 [3] (John Sheldon): New to The Chequered Flag for Ian Ashley in British F3 in 1972. The team were a frequent non-arrival from July onwards, even when Brian McGuire replaced Ian Ashley as the nominated driver. Sold to John Sheldon (Surbiton, Surrey) for 1973 and raced in the British F3 series. Last seen at Mallory Park in August 1973. Subsequent history unknown.
3. March 713M [11] (Matt Spitzley): New to Matt Spitzley (Aspen, CO) and used in British F3 late 1971 and through 1972. Reappeared in 1973 for Spitzley after he rolled his new 733 at Silverstone while testing. This car may have been effectively consumed into his 733/74B over the next two years.
4. Royale RP11 [2] (Val Musetti): New for Val Musetti (Twickenham) and raced in British F3 in 1972. Retained for 1973 until "written off" in an accident the week before the race at Oulton Park 20 April 1973. Musetti then took over the Reystan Racing Royale RP11A from Andy Sutcliffe, and future references to an ex-Musetti Royale would be to that car.
5. Royale RP11A [6] (Andy Sutcliffe): 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.
6. Lenham LM1 [March 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.
7. 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.

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.