Formule France « OldRacingCars.com

Formule France 1968-1970

Formule France ran for three seasons before being renamed to Formule Renault for 1971. It originally used the 1255cc Gordini R1135 engine, based on the Renault R8, but moved to a 1565cc Renault R12 Gordini for 1972, the latter engine being equipped with twin 45 DCOE carburettors. Also defined for the 1973 national series were Renault gearboxes with specified ratios and Michelin XAS tyres of specified dimensions. Like Formula Ford, the series banned cars of monocoque construction.

It is unfortunate that these three seasons of racing have been largely airbrushed from French motor racing history due to the series being renamed Formule Renault in 1971. The modern Formule Renault now traces its history back to 1971, not 1968, although the only change between 1970 and 1971 was the name of the championship.

A Challenge Européen de Formule Renault started in 1972 with a handful of races and this grew to take the place of the national series for 1973. Yet another change came in 1975 when the national series was reintroduced but a separate and very well funded European series was also brought in running to a different specification. These cars could be monocoques which led to the involvement of major British constructors such as Lola and March. Despite this, the European series only lasted three seasons leaving the national series on its own from 1978 onwards.

Seasons

The 1968 season

The 1969 season

The 1970 season

Please email Allen if you have any material on Formule France race results.

Formule France seasons

Formule France drivers

Formule France sat below F3 in the development ladder in the late 1960s and not many of its drivers got all the way to F1 - although the deaths of Denis Dayan and Jean-Luc Salomon while racing in F3 in 1970 may well have effected the count. Of the top 10 in the first championship, only "Jean Max" and Gérard Larrousse got to F1, both only briefly and unconvincingly, although Larrousse had significant success in other aspects of his career.

Of the leading 1969 competitors, only Jimmy Mieusset and Alain Serpaggi had significant later success and from the 1970 cohort, only Michel Leclère made it to F1 although Jacques Coulon had some success in F2.

With the change to the name Formule Renault in 1971, the series grew in importance and Jacques Laffite, Didier Pironi, Rene Arnoux and Alain Prost all won later championships.

The research

The race lists here have been compiled from French magazines Echappement, Scratch and Auto Revue. We are very keen to publish full results for all races and are currently developing these from Echappement reports but in some cases only the top-10 finishers is given. Christian Courtel's book 'Histoire de la formule Renault: De la formule France au turbo' (ACLA, 1981; ISBN 2-86519-012-9) has filled in lists of finishers where no Echappement report was available.

Please email Allen if you have any entry lists, results sheets, photographs or anything else that could help.

We are indebted to Pascal Katabian of the International Race Results and Data Association for help checking and correcting the Formule France points tables.