After the 18th and final round of the 1988 B.A.R.C./B.R.D.C. Lucas Formula Three British Championship, the mobile telephone company Cellnet, who were already sponsoring the Intersport Racing team, organised an invitation non championship, end of season race. This race was held at Brands Hatch, on 9 October. Although Avon Tyres still supplied the tyres, Cellnet decided to increase interest by introducing a compulsory wheel change mid-race. They requested that the changes should be visible to spectators, so Avon came up with the idea of painting the whole side of the tyres.

Report

Entry A total of 39 F3 cars were entered for this event. Come race weekend eights cars failed to arrive in Kent for qualifying.

Qualifying John Alcorn took pole position for Pacific Racing Team in their Toyota-engined Reynard 883, averaging a speed of 95.862 mph.

Race The race was held over 45 wet laps of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit. With a full grid of 28 cars, the start was quite a fraught affair as various drivers, with nothing to lose, took risks not usually attempted during a championship race. This ended in tears for some. Damon Hill didn't even finish the first lap and Kenny Bräck and Jonathan Bancroft went out in the next lap. During the race, the wheel changing was full of drama as the teams finally put into practice what they had been learning, some successfully, others not! Paul Warwick in his Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard was also victim retiring after an overheated engine. Gary Brabham took the winner spoils for the Bowman Racing team, driving their Ralt-Volkswagen RT32. The Aussie won in a time of 37:10.92mins., averaging a speed of 87.436 mph. Second place went to Jason Elliott and Sweden's Rickard Rydell finishing third. The ‘fastest wheel change’ prize of £1,000 in loose £1 coins in a sack, was won by Middlebridge Racing which was a bit of a bonus a their driver, Phil Andrews, had driven a good race to finish 5th.

Classification

Race

Class winners in bold

Pos. No. Class Driver Entrant Car - Engine Time, Laps Reason Out 1st 5 A Gary Brabham Bowman Racing Ralt-Volkswagen RT32 37:10.92 2nd 27 A Jason Elliott Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard-Volkswagen 883 37:33.31 3rd 8 A Rickard Rydell Picko Troberg Racing Reynard-Volkswagen 883 37:33.72 4th 4 A Peter Kox Cellent Ricoh Racing / Intersport Racing Ralt-Toyota RT32 37:38.73 5th 30 A Phil Andrews Middlebridge Racing Reynard-Toyota 883 44 6th 15 A Roland Ratzenberger TechSpeed Racing Reynard-Toyota 883 44 7th 59 Nat. David Brabham Jack Brabham Racing Ralt-Volkswagen RT31 44 8th 24 A Philippe Favre Alan Docking Racing Reynard-Alfa Romeo 883 43 9th 43 A Dennis Vitolo Concept 3 Racing Reynard-Alfa Romeo 883 43 10th 88 Nat. Pete Boutwood Terropol Promotions Ralt-Volkswagen RT30 42 11th 14 A Raphaël Real del Sarte TechSpeed Racing Reynard-Toyota 873 42 12th 77 Nat. Scott Stringfellow Jim Lee Racing Reynard-Volkswagen 873 41 13th 90 A Harry van den Berg Cellnet Ricoh Racing / Intersport Racing Ralt-Toyota RT32 41 14th 85 Nat. Robert Murphy Jim Lee Racing Reynard-Volkswagen 873 40 DNF 16 A Ross Hockenhull Bowman Racing Ralt-Volkswagen RT32 44 Crash DNF 71 Nat. Robert Amrén Alan Docking Racing Reynard-Volkswagen 873 40 Crash DNF 33 A Jeremy Payne Anglia Cars Racing Ralt-Toyota RT32 37 Spin DNF 2 A Eddie Irvine West Surrey Racing Ralt-Alfa Romeo RT32 35 Misfire DNF 10 A John Alcorn Pacific Racing Team Reynard-Toyota 883 34 Engine DNF 1 A Paul Warwick Eddie Jordan Racing Reynard-Volkswagen 883 33 Overheating DNF 6 A Giovanna Amati Cellent Ricoh Racing / Intersport Racing Ralt-Toyota RT32 30 Engine DNF 58 Nat. John Penfold Jack Brabham RacingRalt-Volkswagen RT31 29 Crash DNF 36 Nat. Giles Butterfield GB Motorsport Reynard-Volkswagen 863 26 Crash DNF 26 A Oswaldo Negri Racefax Motorsport Ralt-Volkswagen RT32 18 Stuck throttle DNF 89 Nat. Tom Brown JB Race HireReynard-Volkswagen 873 17 Spin DNF 3 A Jonathan Bancroft Madgwick Motorsport Reynard-Alfa Romeo 883 2 Crash DNF 35 A Kenny Bräck Formula Services Reynard-Toyota 883 2 Crash DNF 29 A Damon Hill Cellnet Ricoh Racing / Intersport Racing Ralt-Toyota RT32 0 Crash DNQ 78 Nat. Charles Rickett Jim Lee Racing Reynard-Volkswagen 863 DNQ 63 Nat. Ronnie Grant Ronnie Grant Ralt-Volkswagen RT30 DNQ 45 A Guido Basile Terropol Promotions Ralt-Volkswagen RT32

Fastest lap: Eddie Irvine, 44.34secs. (95.545 mph)

References