In front of an invited group of famous former racers, the 1-litre Historic Formula 3movement took its biggest step forward to date when 27 cars lined up to race atBrands Hatch during the HSCC’s Historic Superprix meeting on Saturday 4 July.The re-birth of historic racing for the 1-litre ‘screamers’ of the late 1960s and early1970s has been gathering momentum through the Peter Hanson Trophy mini-series aswell as races in Europe, and has been further boosted by confi rmation of a race at theMonaco Historic GP in 2010.
Chris Craft, John Miles, Bev Bond, Tony Trimmer, Barrie Smith, Dave Morgan and HarryStiller were all at Brands and Stiller presented a trophy to the leading F3 racer in theClassic Racing Car event, Frenchman Francois Derossi. 27 cars went out for qualifyingon Saturday morning, although qualifying dramas reduced the total to 23 starters forthe race.
As well as the race, a fi ne array of cars were on display in the paddock and a total of24 cars took part in a lunchtime grid line-up and parade lap around the Brands HatchGrand Prix circuit.
On show and running in the display was the unique Spyder, built in Sweden in 1965,which new owner Mark Woodhouse hopes to race at Oulton Park. “It is very much aone-off and we found it for sale on the internet. It was complete, but it has never beenraced outside Scandinavia. “It hasn’t run since the late 1960s,” said Woodhouse.The car was designed and built by Sven Harry Akesson, who later designed theKoenigsegg super car, and has been in his private collection since he stopped racing itin the 1960s.
Attracting a lot of interest was the rare long wheel-base Tecno from 1967, which cancount Clay Regazzoni, Boley Pittard and Carlo Facetti as former drivers. Other starexhibits included the ex-Francois Cevert Tecno and the rare Jomo Mk3 built by KeithVickery in 1665/66. Current owner Colin Cummings is hoping to trace the car’s historyand return it to racing.
From the special guests, Chris Craft and John Miles were happy to share their memoriesof the 1-litre F3 days. Craft was a works driver for the Italian BWA team and thenraced a Tecno in Britain. “You learned so much from F3 about how to drive on thelimit,” said Craft. “They were fabulous little cars and it is great to see them out racingagain.”
Miles raced for the works Lotus team in 1967 and 1968 on his way to a place in theLotus Grand Prix team, but had not been to Brands Hatch for 20 years. “The1-litre F3 cars taught me all I know about racing other people at very closequarters,” said Miles. “My fi rst F3 race at Silverstone was a terrifyingexperience. I came tenth and I was eight-tenths of a second behindthe winner. Seeing them here brings back a lot of memories; particularlythe noise and the atmosphere of these cars.”
Miles raced for the works Lotus team in 1967 and 1968 on his way to a place in theLotus Grand Prix team, but had not been to Brands Hatch for 20 years. “The1-litre F3 cars taught me all I know about racing other people at very closequarters,” said Miles. “My fi rst F3 race at Silverstone was a terrifyingexperience. I came tenth and I was eight-tenths of a second behindthe winner. Seeing them here brings back a lot of memories; particularlythe noise and the atmosphere of these cars.”
The Brands Hatch raceAs one of the people to have put a great deal of work into getting the 1-litreF3 movement into its current state of good health, it was entirely appropriatethat Francois Derossi took victory at Brands in his Chevron B17. Notonly did Francois go clear of all his 1-litre F3 rivals, but he also finished thirdoverall in the race behind the F2 Brabhams of Geoff Farmer and Ian Gray.There was drama on the opening lap as Baba Yuzaburo (Chevron B9) endedhis race in the gravel at Paddock and Juerg Tobler (Chevron B17) ran widethrough the gravel at Druids. Despite losing a lot of time, he then startedan impressive fight back to eventually take second place behind the flyingDerossi.
However, Tobler’s come back was hard work as first Chris Holland (BrabhamBT21) and then Nigel Bancroft (Chevron B17) tried to keep him at bay.Tobler finally battled through to second from Bancroft and Holland as PaulMcMorran (Crossle 17F) and Michel Renavand (Tecno) completed the topsix among the Peter Hanson Trophy runners.
In briefRacing veteran Peter St Barbe raced on the Brands Hatch GP circuit foronly the second time in 42 years of racing when he ran his 1-litre F3 Tecnofor the first time at the HSCC meeting. Despite blowing a core plug in testing,St Barbe finished ninth among the 1-litre cars in the car that runs in thelivery used by Ronnie Peterson in 1968.
Geoffrey Laycock attempted to for the first time after a long rebuild onthe 1968 ex-Tony Lanfranchi Merlyn MK14. The Health and Safety advisorhas worked with F1 and Le Mans teams, but qualifying dramas at Brandsthwarted his bid to race the 1-litre F3 car, which Lanfranchi took to sixthplace at Monaco in 1968.
A rare Lotus 41 has come back to racing after more than a decade asGrant Williams contests the Peter Hanson Trophy races. When new in 1966it was sold to Swiss racer Jean Blanc and was restored during the 1990s byPeter Studer. It is not thought to have raced since 1998 and Williams hasowned it for a couple of years. He has now put it into the colours used bythe ‘66 works Lotus team.
Former F3 ace Bev Bond, now 71 years old, hopes to end a 35-year breakfrom racing by returning to 1-litre F3 racing next season. Bond was one ofBritain’s leading drivers in the 1-litre F3 era of the late 1960s. After quittingracing at the end of 1974, Bond’s interest was re-kindled when he wasinvited to Race Retro in March to be re-united with the works Lotus 59 heraced in 1970. “I’ve got a race licence again now,” said Bond. “I’ve really gotthe bug again now and I’d love the chance to race one of the cars.
With interest in the Monaco F3 race in 2010 already running high, Monacoresident and Historic F1 and F5000 racer Peter Dunn has bought a 1-litreDe Sanctis F3 car, with a view to having it rebuilt for next year’s race. Dunnhas never raced in F3 before.
