The 60th anniversary of the introduction of the 1-litre Formula 3 category will be celebrated during the Historic Sports Car Club’s Historic Formula 3 Championship next season.
Plans for the year are well advanced and is hoped to have a calendar with some high profile race meetings along with a big push to encourage more of the earlier cars to join the grid. Plans are also afoot to have some former 1-litre F3 racers as guests during the year where they will be reunited with their cars and, circumstances permitting, demonstrate them on track.
One confirmed 2024 race date will take these wonderful single seaters, raced from 1964 to 1970, to the mighty Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium, while dates at other key UK circuits are under discussion.
This weekend (July 28-30), the cars are racing at the Oulton Park Gold Cup for the Sir Jackie Stewart Trophy and in September 1964 the 25-year-old Scot won the Formula 3 support race at the Gold Cup in a Cooper run by Ken Tyrrell. Stewart also won at Goodwood as he dominated that year’s Express and Star Formula 3 Championship and then headed straight into Grand Prix racing.
Another period 1-litre F3 racer is Mike Walker and he plans to be back on the grid next season in his Brabham BT21. Walker is President of the One Litre F3 Historic Racing Association.
Walker said: “We plan to make 2024 something special for Historic Formula 3. We had more than 30 cars at Brands Hatch recently and we have more cars coming. We’re particularly keen to attract some of the earlier cars back out along with some cars that have not raced for a while.”
More details about the 1-litre F3 60th anniversary celebrations will be announced in due course. More information about the One Litre F3 Historic Racing Association can be found at www.onelitref3.uk