BP British Formula 3 Championship Race
Thruxton, 27 Mar 1978
| Results | Laps | Time/Speed | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Derek Warwick | Ralt RT1/77 [86] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #1 Warwick Trailers |
15 | 19m 49.73s 108.94 mph |
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| 2 | Nelson Piquet | Ralt RT1/78 [112] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #25 Brastemp/Armo/Hobby |
15 | 19m 57.79s |
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| 3 | Chico Serra | March 783 [9] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #13 Sadia Racing with Project Four |
15 | 19m 58.60s |
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| 4 | Philip Bullman | Chevron B38 [38.77.24] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #32 Docking Racing (see note 1) |
15 | 20m 19.22s |
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| 5 | Stefan Johansson | Argo JM1 [003-F3] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #53 Anglia Cars Ltd |
15 | 20m 26.02s |
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| 6 | Ian Flux | March 773 [U2] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #14 Cloud Engineering (see note 2) |
15 | 20m 31.92s |
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| 7 | Nigel Mansell | March 783 [21] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #36 March Racing Ltd (see note 3) |
15 | 20m 31.94s |
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| 8 | Rob Wilson | Ralt RT1/78 [98] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #31 International Computers Ltd-Royal Grafton China |
15 | 20m 37.76s |
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| 9 | Gary Scott | Ralt RT1/78 [116] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #20 |
15 | 20m 38.21s |
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| 10 | Richard Morgan | March 773 [U1] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #33 (see note 4) |
15 | 20m 45.39s |
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| 11 | Paul Bernasconi | Ralt RT1/76 [22] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #3 |
15 | 21m 09.23s |
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| 12 | Steve Malins | Chevron B38 [38.77.07] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #22 Malins (Mamod) Ltd (see note 5) |
14 | ||||||
| 13 | Phil Silverstone | Ralt RT1/77 [54] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #16 Cloud Engineering |
13 | ||||||
| 14 | Pierre Dieudonné | Ehrlich RP4 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #56 Dr Joseph Ehrlich |
13 | ||||||
| 15 | Barry Green | Chevron B38 [38.77.02] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #26 Valvoline Fred Opert Racing (see note 6) |
13 | ||||||
| R | Andrea de Cesaris | Ralt RT1/76 [16] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #4 Marlboro Team Tiga |
14 | ||||||
| R | John Bright | March 773 [13] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #51 (see note 7) |
10 | Ignition | |||||
| R | Jim Crawford | Chevron B38 [38.77.18] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #34 (see note 8) |
8 | Accident | |||||
| R | Tiff Needell | March 783 [11] - Triumph Dolomite Swindon 4 #40 Unipart Racing Team |
7 | Misfire | |||||
| R | Geoff Brabham | Ralt RT1/76 [29] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #11 (see note 9) |
0 | Accident damage | |||||
| R | Ken Silverstone | Chevron B38 [38.77.05] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #18 |
0 | Accident | |||||
| DNA | Patrick Gaillard | Chevron B43 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #26 |
Did not arrive | ||||||
| DNA | Derek Lawrence | Chevron B38 [38.77.10] - Chevrolet Vega #28 |
Did not arrive | ||||||
| DNA | TBA | March 783 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor #37 March Racing Ltd |
Did not arrive | ||||||
| DNA | Ian Taylor | March 783 [12] - Triumph Dolomite Swindon 4 #39 Unipart Racing Team |
Did not arrive | ||||||
All cars are 2-litre F3 unless noted.
| Qualifying | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chico Serra | (F3) 2-litre March 783 [9] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.16.13 | ||
| 2 | Nigel Mansell | (F3) 2-litre March 783 [21] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.16.38 | ||
| 3 | Derek Warwick | (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/77 [86] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.16.56 | ||
| 4 | Geoff Brabham | (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/76 [29] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.16.99 | ||
| 5 | Nelson Piquet | (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/78 [112] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.17.08 | ||
| 6 | Stefan Johansson | (F3) 2-litre Argo JM1 [003-F3] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.17.50 | ||
| 7 | Philip Bullman | (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.24] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.17.96 | ||
| 8 | Jim Crawford | (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.18] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.18.06 | ||
| 9 | Ian Flux | (F3) 2-litre March 773 [U2] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.18.07 | ||
| 10 | Tiff Needell | (F3) 2-litre March 783 [11] - Triumph Dolomite Swindon 4 | 1.18.15 | ||
| 11 | Rob Wilson | (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/78 [98] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.18.22 | ||
| 12 | Gary Scott | (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/78 [116] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.18.64 | ||
| 13 | Paul Bernasconi | (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/76 [22] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.18.67 | ||
| 14 | Andrea de Cesaris | (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/76 [16] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.18.84 | ||
| 15 | Pierre Dieudonné | (F3) 2-litre Ehrlich RP4 - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.20.88 | ||
| 16 | Barry Green | (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.02] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.21.07 | ||
| 17 | Ken Silverstone | (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.05] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.21.34 | ||
| 18 | Steve Malins | (F3) 2-litre Chevron B38 [38.77.07] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.21.34 | ||
| 19 | John Bright | (F3) 2-litre March 773 [13] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.24.48 | ||
| 20 | Phil Silverstone | (F3) 2-litre Ralt RT1/77 [54] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.21.07 | ||
| 21 | Richard Morgan | (F3) 2-litre March 773 [U1] - Toyota 2T-G Novamotor | 1.45.16 | ||
Notes on the cars:
- Chevron B38 [38.77.24] (Philip Bullman): New to Alan Docking Racing for Philippe Colonna to race in British F3 in 1977. Retained by the Docking team for 1978, and raced by Philip Bullman and by Colonna in British F3. Unknown in 1979 but purchased by Eddie Heasell in early 1980 for British F3 and libre. Retained for libre in 1981.
- March 773 [U2] (Ian Flux): March works records show this as James King's works car for 1977 built on a lightweight tub AM773-41 with parts from 763-U2. This would be the "ex-King" car sold to Ian Flux early in 1978, and raced by him in the 1978 British F3 series.
- March 783 [21] (Nigel Mansell): Shown in March records for 1978 as completed as a team car, 17 March 1978, with tub 78M43. This was the only works car built in 1978 and is the car debuted by Nigel Mansell at Silverstone, 19 March 1978, when race reports describe it as brand new. Used by Mansell in the early part of the season then by Snobeck, van Rooyen, Bullman and Hatagawa.
- March 773 [U1] (Richard Morgan): 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.
- Chevron B38 [38.77.07] (Steve Malins): New to Derek McMahon for Derek Daly to drive in British F3 in 1977. It was rebuilt a number of times that season, including at least one new tub. Also raced once by Eddie Jordan when Daly was away at a F2 race. According to Motoring News, it was the car driven by Steve Malins for British F3 in 1978, but Autosport said his car was "ex Warwick/Dougall". Malins crashed his B38 in testing, and replaced it with a new B43. The B38 was later rebuilt and raced in libre and F3 by Rob Moores (Bolton) at the end of the 1978 season. Retained in F3 form and later Formula 4 spec by Moores and also used in Formule Libre in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982. In 1985, Moores drove the car in the Bangalore and Madras Grands Prix. It was put back to F3 spec for the Toyota F3 championship, where Moores won five titles with it. He then moved to historic racing with it in 2009.
- Chevron B38 [38.77.02] (Barry Green): New to Chris Farrell for British F3 in 1977. To Barry Green for 1979, and run for him in British F3 by Fred Opert Racing. Last used by Green in July 1978, and then unknown until seen with Mike Brown in Sprints in 1984 …
- March 773 [13] (John Bright): Shown in March records as a works car finished February 1977, on tub AM773-28 for Ayron Cornelson Filho. Also used by David Kennedy in 1977. Sold to John Bright in March 1978 to cover for his damaged Wheatcroft. Damaged badly by Bright and rebuilt on new tub in August. Retained by Bright in 1979 until wrecked at Snetterton.
- Chevron B38 [38.77.18] (Jim Crawford): New to Chevron Racing Team for Thorkild Thyrring to race in British F3 in 1977, entered by Marlboro Jockey Todenskjold. Borrowed by Jim Crawford for a race at Mallory Park in September, and by Divina Galica for a race at Thruxton. Raced by Crawford again at the start of 1978 but wrecked in an accident at Thruxton at the end of March. Salageable parts were used in a new Chevron B43.
- Ralt RT1/76 [29] (Geoff Brabham): 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.
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.
Individual sources for this event
Autohebdo, Autosport, Motoring News, Programme AF