We are in the midst of an almost 2-month break for UK Classic Formula 3, after the Legends of Brands Super Prix at the beginning of July, to the next race at Brands Indy on the weekend of September 22/23rd. Nevertheless, there is plenty of opportunity for owners of Classic Formula 3 cars to race them before the Indy Meeting.

This weekend the, 11th/12th August the Nurburgring Old Timers meeting will support a Formula 3 race and several of our members are making the trip to Germany. Following last year’s initial race a second race, albeit run by the FIA, will take place at Zandvoort on the 1st/2nd of September and again several UK runners are on the entry list.

The French then have their bi-annual meeting at the Le Mans Bugatti circuit on the 8th/ 9th of September and this is followed by an Italian Formula 3 race at Imola on the 15th/16th of September, the week before Brands Indy. A veritable feast of opportunities for owners of the cars to join very healthy good sized grids at international circuits alongside our French, Italian and German F3 colleagues. It is too late now for the Old Timers but there may still be time to get entries in for the others.

After our seasonal opener at Donington, we moved to Silverstone for the International meeting on the 16th/17th June. A marvellous entry of 33 cars made up of 17 Formula 3 and 16 URS FF2000’s graced the Grand Prix circuit. Andy Smith a very accomplished Formula Atlantic racer in his March 79B had acquired a Formula 3 March 783 from Italy and was having his first outing with us. It was also nice to see Anthony Hancock out in the SDC Lola T670, the very car that Ben Barker had won the Formula 3 race at Monaco in 2012. Lee Cunningham, the double Donington winner was out again in his Nick Edgington prepared Dallara and Paul Dibden and Paul Smith, who both had engine problems at Donington, were also in the entry list.

David Shaw grabbed pole in the Ralt RT1 by 100th second from Richard Trott who always goes well at Silverstone. Keith White was third from newcomer Andy Smith, Anthony Hancock and Paul Dibden. Donington winner Lee Cunningham was not going quite so well this time , down in 9th place.

In Race 1 Richard Trott made a fantastic start from the second row and led the first lap. Hancock passed him on lap 2 and pulled out a 1 or 2 second gap, with David Shaw holding 3rd behind Trotty and Andy Smith in close company in the March. On lap 7 David Shaw found a way past Richard Trott and started to close the gap to Anthony Hancock. He managed to get this down to less than a second at the flag, but couldn’t quite find a way past Anthony the winner. Richard got pipped on the line coming out of the last corner by Andy Smith and they finished 3rd and 4th respectively. The front 4 were some 20 secs ahead of the next bunch, which comprised of Lee Cunningham, Keith White, Pat Gormley and Paul Dibden. Paul Smith had been going well in his Ralt RT3 until lap 9, when he too had to pull off with mechanical problems. The URS category was won by Ian Pearson, who finished 9th overall in his Royal RP30.

Race 2 turned out to be real cracker, Anthony Hancock lead away from the start, but with David Shaw this time pushing him hard for all he was worth. Andy Smith unfortunately didn’t complete the 1st lap when his clutch lever broke at Luffield, leaving Richard Trott to hold a lonely 3rd place ahead of a flying Paul Dibden and Pat Gormley. On lap 6 David Shaw managed to find a way past Anthony Hancock as they lapped a back-marker with David Shaw going one side and Anthony the other, he took the lead and was never to look back, pulling out a 2.5 sec gap by the flag. On the penultimate lap he threw everything at it and did a 2 min 7 sec lap, which is a pretty sensational time for a Formula 3 car around the Historic Grand Prix circuit Richard Trott finished 3rd ahead of Pat Gormley and Keith White. Paul Dibden, who had been going so well, had a rose joint break on lap 9 ending what would have been an excellent result for him.

There were mixed feelings about having qualifying and two races all on the Sunday at Silverstone, which was due to timetable constraints and followed the same situation as at the previous meeting at Donington. We have little control over the timetable, but I have made representation to the HSCC for our qualifying and two races to be spread over the 2 days of a meeting, especially where testing is involved on the Friday. All was ok at the next meeting at Brands and hopefully will be at the two meetings after that.

Two weeks after Silverstone we moved on to Brands Hatch for the Legends Super Prix meeting and were joined by 13 members of the French Formula 3 Classic Association. Along with our 20 UK entries, we had another stunning 33 car grid, and this time, all Formula 3 cars.

Cameron Jackson was out in his Alfa Romeo engined Euro racing 101 and Graham Kiddy and Mathew Sturmer also graced the entry list for the first time in the 2018 season. Hugh Price, Paul Smith and Paul Dibden had all rectified various mechanical woes, experienced at Donington or Silverstone and Tom Bradshaw in the ex-Thierry Tassin Argo JM6 was out for the first time since winning at Zandvoort in 2017, and he duly showed the way in qualifying, by putting the Argo JM6 on pole by over 0.5 sec from Frederick Rouvier’s Martini MK 31.

Andy Smith was 3rd in the March, having fixed his clutch problems, Cameron Jackson 5th, David Shaw 6th and Keith White 7th. Richard Trott’s engine was not performing as he would have liked so he was down in 11th place and Simon Jackson our 2015 Champion, who is doing the French series this year, was unusually well back in 13th place.

As race 1 got underway, there was chaos at Paddock Hill; Fredrick Rouvier spun his Martini into the gravel on the outside of the corner and Andy Smith, unable to select any gears, inadvertently baulked the following cars. David Shaw, up from 6th place on the grid, amazingly found himself in the lead at Druids but behind him there was more chaos. Valerie Leoni tried to pass several cars going in to Druids far too fast and after clipping the wheel of Keith White, flew through the air taking his son, Davide out at the same time. Tom Bradshaw had a recurrence of his qualifying electrical failure coming down the hill from Druids and also had to pull out after nearly being hit up the back by Richard Trott and all of this excitement duly brought out the safety car whilst they cleared up the Leone cars in the gravel.

A great race then ensued at the front between David Shaw, Ian Jacobs, Simon Jackson and Keith White, who all finished closely in that respective order. Richard Trott, who had been running well, had pulled off with engine problems on lap 7. David Thorburn’s ex-Brundle Ralt lost all its water on lap 9 and spun on his own fluid at bottom bend.

In all, 9 of the 33 starters didn’t complete the race, but hopefully most would be ok for race 2 on the Sunday. Front runners Tom Bradshaw, Richard Trott and Andrew Smith would all have to start from the back, along with Valerie and David Leoni after their incident at Druids in race 1.

Italian engine guru, Elleghi, was present at the Brands meeting, and was able to sort out Richard Trott’s fuel metering problems and took away David Thorburn and Cameron Jacksons’ engines after their unfortunate demise in qualifying and the first race. They would be non-starters for race 2.

Tom Bradshaw, who having located his electrical problem at the starter motor, stormed from the back of the season’s strongest international Formula 3 field, hitting the front with a decisive lunge into Surtees on lap 8. It was indeed a storming drive and he was followed home by Simon Jackson, Ian Jacobs and Frederick Rouvier, all from the French series. Next up was Keith White who put in a strong performance in his RT1, but was a further 8 seconds behind. Paul Smith, Paul Dibden; Pat Gormley and Richard Trott, also up from the back of the grid, were in a close bunch and finished within a second or two of each other.

We thoroughly enjoyed the presence of our French friends once again at Brands and it made for what was undoubtedly the best grid and race of the Brands weekend. After two strong grids at Silverstone and Brands we are hoping that numbers for the Brands Indy and Silverstone Final meetings will be just as good. Entries for Brands have opened, so if you haven’t yet sent one in, then please do so in good time. Let’s hope that the sunny weather we had at Brands at the beginning of July can continue well into September!

At Silverstone and Brands we carried out some scrutineering tests in conjunction with the MSA scrutineers on air boxes, weights and ride heights. Neither the MSA nor CF3 want to immediately punish competitors who fail these tests preferring to give them time to rectify problems discovered between meetings. Three cars failed the air box test at Silverstone but all subsequently passed at Brands. Had one of these cars failed again, it would at that time be fair to impose some sort of discretionary penalty. It is important that we keep the spirit of the series, amateur racers having fun in wonderful historic cars intact, so please appreciate that what CF3 and the MSA are doing is no more than making sure the playing field is level for everyone. The air box gauge is available at every meeting with Richard Ranson for any competitor to use.

Hugh Price
9th August 2018