Vandervell British Formula 3 Championship Race

Brands Hatch, 7 May 1979

All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.

Notes on the cars:

1. Chevron B47 [47.79.02] (Michael Roe): New to Michael Roe and entered by David Clark Team Riva Watches for Roe to race in British F3 in 1979. Unknown in 1980. To Patrick Lecompte and raced in French F3 in 1981 and 1982. Later to Bernard Pourchet, and raced by him in the 1600cc class of French hillclimbs in 1984. Subsequent history unknown.
2. March 773 [U1] (John Bright): March works records show this as Mario Ferraris' works car for 1977 built on tub AM773-14 and rebuilt after Ferraris' Monaco accident on tub AM773-65. Sold in March 1978 to Neasrader Film Production for Richard Morgan according to the works records. Motoring News 30 Mar 1978 p11 says that Morgan's car is ex King, but we know from reports and the works records that King's main car was 773-U2. However, that car was damaged in the 1977 season and it is possible that King used 773-U1 after its rebuild as Ferraris' damaged wrist took longer to recover than the car did. Sold to John Bright in 1979 to replace his wrecked 773-13 and its identity eventually perhaps blurred with that car in a rebuild after a heavy accident.
3. Ralt RT1/76 [29] (Osamu Hatagawa): Ralt records show as sold to Geoff Brabham in 1976, probably being delivered in early June. Used by him until the end of 1978 then sold to Ken Thorogood's Hub of the Universe Racing for Osamu Hatagawa to use in British races.
4. March 773 [3] (Ken Eady): March build records show sold to Unipart, 23 December 1976. Only one 773 is consigned to Unipart in the build records. Assumed that Taylor as senior driver would take the new car, a fact borne out by occasional references in 1977 to Needell being in a 763, the team's original car.
5. Chevron B43 [43.78.07] (Barry Green): New to Chevron Racing Team for Patrick Gaillard to race in the European F3 championship in 1978. Sold to Barry Green for British F3 in 1979, and rented by Fred Opert Racing for Manuel Tolama to drive at the Monaco GP F3 event that year. To Rick Whyman for British F3 in 1980, then driven by Trevor Wigglesworth from August onwards after Whyman bought a March 793. Raced again by Wigglesworth for Rick Whyman Racing in 1981.
6. Chevron B38 (Benoît Morand): Benoît Morand raced a Chevron B38 in Swiss F3 events in 1978, and then in British F3 in 1979. His car was nearly always described as a B38, and the few ocassions it was described as a B43 probably referred to it having been updated.

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.

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.