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Historic Formula 3 Championship 2023 Provisional Points [pdf]
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3rd-4th September 2022 - Croft
Historic Formula 3 Championship Rounds 9 & 10
Croft Nostalgia Weekend 3rd – 4th September 2022..
A small entry of 16 cars headed to the North Yorkshire for the HSCC Croft Nostalgia event. Unfortunately, this was reduced when Mark Linstone had problems in the build up to the meeting and Andrew Tart’s weekend ended when his car was in collision with a Formula Ford at the circuit’s Friday test. A wheel was ripped off. Whilst the car is repairable it was too much work to be done before the Saturday qualifying.
Championship leader Simon Armer headed the entry whilst his nearest rival Ian Bankhurst was another non appearance from the entry. Saturday morning dry qualifying was headed by Samuel Harrison in the Speedsport Chevron B15 having a 2.4 seconds advantage over Josh Sharp in the later Chevron B17 with Simon Armer in his March 703 third, Peter Hamilton Tecno 4th Leif Bosson first of the Brabhams in his BT28 5th with Keith Messer in the unique Vesey 6th. Mike Walker was making a welcome return to the grid in 7th place in his Brabham BT21 from Barry Sewell in the Lotus 41 8th making only his second appearance of the year. 9th was Steve Nichols in the ex Peter Hanson Chevron B17, 10th was Simon Etherington in his Brabham BT15 he was followed by Andrew Thorpe having his first appearance of the year in the ex Jim Russell school Lotus 31 he was followed by Kim Shearn in the Penny Ford and completing the grid was Martin Whitlock in his Brabham BT21. This was to be Martin’s only appearance of the weekend as he had a Cam follower fail on his engine.
It was 13 cars that came to the grid for the first of their two races for the weekend now on a wet track. Due to the change in conditions the race had a rolling start with two pace laps behind the safety car. This resulting in a shortening of the race duration from 20 minutes to 15.
Samuel Harrison in the Speedsport Chevron led from the start. The combination of youth, skilful driving and a well prepared car ensured a dominant victory. At the end of lap 1 he had a 3.5 second advantage over second placed Josh Sharp in the newer Chevron which he extended progressively to win by 40.73 seconds at the end. However, the race for second was much closer fought between Josh Sharp and Simon Armer in the March. With Simon closing to within 3 tenths of a second at one time but never quite being able to make a pass. By comparison Peter Hamilton had a rather lonely race to 4th place with Leif Bosson following in 5th place. Initially there was a close fight between Keith Messer in the Vesey, Mike Walker Brabham and Barry Sewell Lotus 41.
A spin on lap 2 at tower dropped Mike down the order whilst a second spin indicated a clutch problem which caused him to retire to the pits. Steve Nichols was another early spinner taking some time to make up the lost ground.
Barry Sewell was slowly dropped by Keith Messer who in sixth place was the last car to be on the same lap as the leader. Barry had been running well clear of Simon Etherington but a long lap on lap 6 brought Simon into contention as he started recording similar and slightly quicker times than Barry, Simon finishing just 1.8 seconds behind the Lotus. Andrew Thorpe finished 9th ahead of the recovering Steve Nichols and Kim Shearn the final finisher, who like the race winner, was having his first race on the Croft circuit. Kim having learnt the circuit during qualifying in the Penny Ford.
Race 2 saw a further reduced field of Historic Formula 3 cars came to the grid. With Barry Sewell (gearbox problems) not coming out to take part in what was to be a race held on a dry track in sunny conditions in front of a large and receptive crowd watching from the banking at the complex. Mike Walker was back on the grid in his Brabham with the clutch repaired thanks to Andrew Tart butchering his Merlyn Mk9 that was sitting sadly in the paddock following its testing accident.Kim Shearn replaced the Penny Ford with his Formula Junior Lotus 20 having been persuaded by the team that the F3 car still had problems to be remedied.
Samuel Harrison demonstrated his mastery of the Speedsport Chevron to win again by a margin of 40 seconds. from second placed Simon Armer in the March. to create an enthralling race between himself Simon Etherington Brabham and Andrew Thorpe Lotus 31. The Lotus being the first of the next generation of cars to follow on from Formula Junior. With the demise of Barry Sewell in his Lotus 41 the history on track ended with Andrew on this occasion.
Simon Armer was not going to let Josh Sharp get ahead of him in this second race as he needed the points to enable him to retain his lead into the Championship prior to the closing rounds at Dijon in October. It was Josh Sharp who held 3rd place at the start but a mistake on lap 3 allowed the close following Peter Hamilton into the position. Although having the quicker car Josh could not find a way past Peter Hamilton until lap 12 of the 13 lap race. With both cars being slightly quicker than Simon in front they closed up to the March with Simon taking second place just 7 tenths of a second clear of Josh who had a further 7 tenths gap back to Peter Hamilton who had done his best to keep the yellow Chevron of Josh at bay.
Following that trio Leif Bosson was following in 5th place but Mike Walker having had a couple of precautionary slower laps on lap 1 and 3 was now going quicker in his BT21 Brabham than the BT28 in front. Chipping away at the times Mike began to close the gap to Leif not quite making up the gap to make that final attack but it did make for interesting viewing. Steve Nichols enjoyed a trouble-free run to finish 7th.
Kim Shearn having replaced the Penny Ford (suffering engine woes) with his Formula Junior Lotus 20 was another to enjoy the second race. Getting ahead of both Simon Etherington and Andrew Thorpe on the first lap the Australian now settling into the Croft circuit built a small advantage. With all three cars posting similar times the advantage ebbed and flowed over the race. Lappery playing its part with Andrew Thorpe posting some of the quicker times whilst making up for time lost whilst being passed by the leaders. All stayed in the same order established by Kim on that first lap with Shearn 8th, Etherington 9th and Andrew Thorpe the last of the finishers in 10th place.
The only one not to be taking part in any of the battles was Keith Messer who after a strong 6th place in race 1 retired to the pits at the end of the second lap in race 2.
Report by Alan Jones
