Monza Historic
The final round of the 2019 championship for the Coppa Geki Russo at Monza 
with a full 32 car grid shared with Formula Junior at the prestigious Monza Historic turned out to be spectacular event, bringing back to live intense slip-stream racing as described in the Autosport race report from Monza in 1966. Conditions were perfect for qualifying where Jeremy Timms managed to grab pole on the last lap, narrowly beating Widmer who was ahead of the closely matched Derossi and Waine, followed by Traber and Bosson. Jeremy Timms initially headed Widmer in race one, however the later dropped back a couple of places after bruising the Brabham's nose due to a spin at the famous parabolica on lap two. Waine in his De Sanctis thus pursued the Chevron in a fine performance, only to see his podium ambitions shattered due to a broken gearbox input shaft after completing two thirds of the race and joining championship contender Jason Timms on the side-line for the rest of the weekend, as did Pircher with gearbox troubles and Bosson due to a broken wishbone. Muller had a good race, crossing the finish line just a second ahead of Slotine, just as did Jim Timms who managed to narrowly edge Traber. Jeremy Timms was faultless all weekend and never in danger in race two, thus recording a well-deserved double victory. Just as they did in race one, Derossi and Widmer provided good entertainment as they traded places time-and-again, except this time around it was Derossi who briefly visited the gravel at the first Lesmo after a slightly optimistic attempt, mirroring Widmer who had a brief rally excursion at Ascari after locking up his brakes in the first race. Also trading places countless times with the help of slip-stream was the group of Muller, Jim Timms, Traber, Slotine and Delea, all enjoying the race tremendously, as did Retzlaff and series new-comer Carminati in his rare BWA, both improving their times continously over the weekend. All-in-all a tremendous weekend on this iconic track, complemented by a series of great social events together with Formula Junior - definitely something to be repeated. Widmer wins the 2019 championship ahead of cousins Jeremy and Jason Timms. Results and pictures and video are all online.
Watch some exciting laps of race 1 onboard Derossi's Chevron.
Oulton Park Gold Cup
Competitors and spectators couldn't have wished for better conditions at the 2019 Oulton Park Gold Cup with plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the high twenties all weekend. As expected Hibberd was in a league of his own and set the standard in qualifying with an incredible time just shy of 1 minute and 51 seconds. A closely matched group followed with continental visitors Widmer, Derossi and Spaggiari taking the next places ahead of UK regulars Armer, Jarvis and Thompson. Rachel Lovett and Ewen Sergison organised a fabulous BBQ on Saturday evening including a Baking GP literally as the icing on the cake. Hibberd didn't get off the line too well in race one, allowing the continental trio to lead for the first lap. Unfortunately the safety car had to come out after Derossi made contact with the barriers due to the brakes on his Chevron acting up at Old Hall at the beginning of the second lap. Hibberd didn't leave much doubt as to who would win once the track was clear, however, behind, Spaggiari, Jarvis and Thompson had a good contest for second place while Widmer managed to just hold off Armer. Hibberd had a much better start in race two and never looked back to take a well-deserved second win. The real action however was further back with several race long incredibly close fights, one for P2, involving Jarvis, Armer, Thompson and Widmer, but also for P5 with Jason Timms holding off Spaggiari and for P7 with Andrew Tart heading Seaman and Bosson. Mid race Armer dropped out of the fight for second place due to a failing battery, however, the remaining three continued their stunning battle, going into corners side-by-side time and again. On the final lap, Jarvis, struggling with fading tyres, ran a touch wide at Druids, thus allowing Widmer to exit the corner along his side. The two raced towards the last corner with Thompson following on their gearbox. Widmer ran a bit wide at Lodge so Jarvis chose to cut to the inside while Thompson had the best exit. The three dove down and up to Dear Leap three abreast and eventually the white Brabham crossed the finish line first with a blue nose on either side. It was a fantastic finish to a memorable weekend and smiles were abundent at the podium and thereafter. Another highlight of the Gold Cup was Mike Walker finishing his first F3 1000cc race in 51 years in his Brabham BT21, a model which he raced back in 1967 at Monaco, Pau, Reims and other circuits. Results, pictures and video are online.
Watch the first two laps of race 2 onboard Widmer's Brabham.
Hot Hot Magny-Cours
The Grand Prix de France Historique at Magny-Cours 
promised to be a hot affair with a maximum capacity 44 cars on the grid and the weather forecast predicting temperatures well above the mid-thirties. Luckily the early qualifying on Saturday morning helped to keep temperatures for cars and pilots somewhat reasonable and Jeremy Timms once again showcased his speed by grabbing pole position ahead of Rivet, Derossi, Widmer and Jason Timms. However, ambient temperatures peaked at 38°C at race time late in the afternoon and it was clear that gauges had to be monitored carefully in order to finish the 25 minute race. Derossi was the first to retire due to overheating and after chasing Rivet for four laps, pole setter Jeremy Timms had to stop his Chevron due to piston failure. Rivet on the other side had temperatures well under control and took the overall victory after a great fight with the fastests Formula Ford competitors - not an easy task on a track that favors strong engines! Widmer had a somewhat lonely race and came in second ahead of Jason Timms who lost his clutch in the opening lap. Further back, Slotine, Delea and Fischer enjoyed a good fight and brought their cars home safely. Refreshments were served Saturday evening as Keith Messer was presented with a golden jubilee award for his enormous contributions in 50 years of motor racing and also received a mechanics overall signed by all Historic F3 drivers & friends as well as Jacques Laffite. Most competitors opted to remove the engine cover for race two and installed makeshift "ears" on the side of the bodywork to increase airflow through the radiator, as was done in period. Rivet once again battled with the Historic Formula Ford front runners Belle and Girardet and managed to record a double victory with the runner up crossing the finish line just a car length behind. Thanks to the minor modifications Derossi's Chevron dealt much better with the hot temperatures as he stormed through the field in an attempt to catch Widmer who once again had a lonely race and focused on staying out of the Formula Ford championship battles and preserving his second place. Jason Timms came fourth ahead of Delea as Slotine and Fischer retired with engine issues. This Magny-Cours weekend will certainly be remembered by all for the extreme temperatures, just eight weeks after facing iced-up carburetors in snowy conditions at Dijon. Results and pictures are online.
Cadwell Park
A near capacity grid of 23 screamers, including seven competitors from the continent, gathered at Cadwell Park 
to compete in the Justin Haler trophy. Jon Milicevic set the pace in qualifying, just as he had done the previous two years, and secured pole nearly two seconds ahead of Jeremy Timms, Paul Waine, Michael Scott and Jason Timms while Derossi was best of the continental visitors. Unfortunately Mike Walker's return ended prematurely at the mountain after an unlucky off in the freshly restored Brabham. There was quite some activity in the paddock ahead of race 1 as it was not clear which tyres should be mounted as brief rain showers where followed by bright sunshine time and again. In the end, everyone opted for dry tyres and this turned out to be right choice as the initially damp track dried quickly. Milicevic once again set the pace, but it wasn't all that easy as a determined Jeremy Timms followed closely in the opening laps. Eventually however a small gap opened and Milicevic never looked back. Derossi and Jason Timms battled all race long for the remaining place on the podium which eventually went to the French racer in his Chevron ahead of Timms' Brabham while Waine in his beautiful De Sanctis managed to keep Scott and Armer at bay. The sun shone bright on the fantastic three-dimensional Lincolnshire track once again on Sunday morning and this time, Jeremy Timms managed to stay with Milicevic just for one lap before he spun at Charlies and thus moved down the order. Lust like on Saturday Derossi and Jason Timms battled all race long, but this time Timms managed to secure second place. Jeremy Timms rewarded himself with fastest lap as he stormed back to fourth and throughout the field good battles could be seen, such as Armer and Widmer, eventually joined by Waine, or Muller, Linstone and Slotine who stayed together all race long. The Justin Haler Trophy was won by Milicevic ahead of Jeremy Timms and Derossi. Results and pictures and video are online.
Watch some exciting laps around Cadwell Park onboard Derossi's Chevron as he battles with Jason Timms!
Timms Victory @ Dijon
There was a long list with reserves for our season opener at Dijon-Prenois , however, due to some late withdrawals all competitors could take part in the event. Conditions were quite good for qualifying on Saturday morning and the Timms family showed that they were ready for the season, taking pole as well as two more places in the top five in a session which unfortunately was interrupted twice. The weather forecast for the race later in the day wasn't too brilliant, so everybody put on their rain tyres, but nobody could foresee what happened next. Temperatures dropped much further than anticipated, hovering just above zero and instead of rain it started to snow! As a consequence, the race was started behind the safety car, however, due to the 100% humidity, the low temperature and the slow pace, most down-draught carburetors started to ice up, forcing Widmer, Derossi, Jeremy Timms and Hekker to retire in turn. The end result was a most unexpected but very delighted podium with Jim Timms recording a well deserved maiden Historic F3 victory ahead of Slotine, Delea and Pircher - experience certainly prevailed on this occasion. The weather dried up overnight and the early retirees from the first race were bunched up at the back of the grid and looking forward to a good battle and chasing the podium finishers from day one. Unfortunately, one competitor dropped a long line of oil on the warm-up lap which caused quite some turmoil in turn one as the race started, eliminating or affecting seven cars and bringing out the safety car. Race control unfortunately decided to continue the race behind the safety car despite the long cleanup allowing action to resume with less than five minutes to go. Jeremy Timms in his Chevron adapted best to this new situation and rewarded himself with another maiden HF3 Timms victory ahead of his cousin Jason, Widmer and Derossi who had crossed the finish line first but was moved back due to a 30 second penalty resulting from passing competitors prior to the safety car line. Results and pictures are online.
Goodwood #77MM
Four continental competitors joined 24 racers from the UK in order to participate in the Derek Bell Cup at the 77th Members' Meeting at Goodwood and this year, they were rewarded with perfect conditions. Pole position went to two-time Derek Bell Cup winner Andrew Hibberd narrowly beating Ben Mitchell in the Robs Lamplough Brabham and ahead of Jeremy Timms in his newly acquired Chevron, followed by Enrico Spaggiari in his immaculate Lotus 41X and Ian Bankhurst in the Alexis. On Sunday morning, once the race started, Hibberd and Mitchell immediately distanced themselves from the rest of the field as they were clearly in a league of their own and put on a fabulous show, trading positions lap after lap. In the process Mitchell recorded a fabulous new screamer lap record at 1'22.9 well over a second faster than the previous mark. Further back however, spectators could observe a nice battle for best of the rest and the last remaining spot on the podium. Initially, it was Widmer and Spaggiari who traded positions several times ahead of Waine, King, Bankhurst, Jarvis and Jones while Derossi worked his way through the field due to a grid position unusually far back as the trusted Chevron had some issues getting into the spirit of things in qualifying. Unfortunately the safety car had to come out after six laps because Waine was too optimistic at Madwick and came to a stop on the racing line after hitting the barrier. This bunched everybody back together for the remaining two laps after the restart. Once again, Hibberd and Mitchell continued to trade positions multiple times and in the end, it was Mitchell's Brabham who managed to cross the finish line a mere 16 hundreds of a second ahead of Hibberd. Further back, initially it looked like Spaggiari was best positioned for the last spot on the podium after King spun at St. Marys due to still cold tyres after the restart. However, fuel issues on the Lotus allowed Jarvis and Widmer to get past and the two went side-by-side into Woodcote on the last lap, with Jarvis keeping the better end and thus coming third ahead of Widmer, Jones, Derossi and Mussa who made a fine return to our series. All in all, the continental competitors certainly enjoyed their weekend at Goodwood. Results, pictures and video are online.
Watch highlights video as well as a few laps around Goodwood onboard Widmer's Brabham at 77th Members' Meeting!
Coppa GEKI Russo
Count "Jonny" Lurani gave birth to Formula Junior, and in his words its heir was the new Formula 3. At the Monza Historic meeting this September 20-22, organised by Peter Auto, we are delighted that we will be celebrating both the 'Junior' and the 'Heir', for the Coppa GEKI Russo. This combined grid for Formula Junior and Historic F3 1000cc cars will be a wonderful joint adventure, in memory of Giacomo "Geki" Russo, who was not only a multiple Italian F3 Series Champion, but also won 5 Formula Junior races at Monza.
1960 1 FJ win (at Monza)
1962 4 FJ wins (2 at Monza)
1963 4 FJ wins (2 at Monza)
1964 6 F3 wins (5 at Monza)
1965 3 F3 wins (1 Monza)
1966 1 F3 win (at Monza)
Sadly "Geki" lost his life in a tragic accident at Caserta in 1967, but we are very pleased that his daughter Beatrice and other members of the family will be with us to celebrate his FJ and F3 racing successes. Qualifying will take place on Friday, with a race on both Saturday and Sunday, and socials are also being planned both evenings.
2019 Calendar
We are excited to announce our 2019 calendar. Once again, for the fifth time in a row, the season will be launched with the non-championship Derek Bell Cup at the 77th Members' Meeting at Goodwood in early April. The regular championship starts four weeks later with a double-header at Dijon-Prenois . The second round of the 2019 championship will take place at Cadwell Park for a standalone double-header for the Justin Haler Trophy in mid June. Two weeks later the screamers return to Magny-Cours in order to compete at the Grand Prix Historique de France. Round four will be a standalone double-header at the Oulton-Park Gold Cup in August. The final round, and likely the season highlight, will be a double-header at Monza where we share a grid with Formula Junior at the prestigious Monza Historic. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the season is over as some competitors might want to combine their passion for racing with holidays in Portugal and participate in the non-championship Algarve Classic Festival at Portimão 
. Further details can be found on our calendar page - we hope to be seeing you in large numbers in 2019!
Award Dinner 2019
Our traditional championship award dinner will take place at the restaurant Kantorei in the center of Zürich, Switzerland on Saturday, February 9th, 2019 - save the date! Don't miss this opportunity and discover a new city or combine this event with some skiing in the nearby Swiss mountains.