F3 - Fantasy&Facts Number #01

Time machine
I want to jump into a time machine to get me back to 1951. More precisely Sunday October 7, 1951 at the Brough Aerodrome in Yorkshire, where Eric Brandon with a second place finish became the first National Formula 3 Champion.

His little Cooper Mk V with a Norton Engine battling all through the 10 laps (11.7 miles of race) with Jackie Reece similar car that won the race to the enjoyment of a 16,000 crowd - 16, 001 if the time machine I’m planning to use is of any use. The crowd besides the spectacle witnessed a new record lap of 63.81 mph done by Brandon, according to the press “assisted by a combination of fine weather, a re-surfaced runway and a tail wind on the straight”. Brough, as you might have suspected by the Aerodrome reference, was an airfield as de rigueur by the standards of the time and Brandon was racing against beating and sometimes being beaten by the likes of Peter Collins, Les Leston, Jim Russell and Bernie Ecclestone just to name a few. Would you like to try the time machine?

Brave new world
Talking about voyages in time (thanks to H.G. Wells author of Time Machine published in 1932, an illustrious inhabitant of Woking from where I am writing this column to you) is the capability they have to put you right in the eye of the hurricane of brave new worlds. Motor racing was making a technical and promotional revolution with the second year running of the Formula One Championship attracting the international attention and revealing Juan Manuel Fangio to the World in his first Championship. There could not be a better time to make happen the first British National F3 Championship. Oh boy! It took a lot of passion to do format and enter this brave new world. And talking about it another natural from Surrey (in fact from Godalming, mere 7 miles south of Woking) Alldous Huxley gave me the idea for the subtitle. What a privileged article.

History on the making
After Eric Brandon (and his colleagues at Brough) there is an infinite list of F3 Championship and Race winners that unquestionably, in more than one way, shaped Motor Racing worldwide. Jackie Stewart, Emerson Fittipaldi, Carlos Pace, Derek Warwick, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Mauricio Gugelmin, Johnny Herbert, Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard, Steve Robertson, Gil de Ferran, Jan Magnussen, Mario Haberfeld, Antono Pizzonia, Nelson Piquet Jr, Jayme Alguersari and Daniel Ricciardo. How many memories do all names bring, courtesy of British F3 do not forget.

We are such stuff as dreams are made on.
Which brings us to the final writer (a certain Williams Shakespeare) of the day, someone from another era than our previous heroes and from a far away place (100 miles) called Stratford upon Avon. Which reminds of tyres, but this is another dream to have on another sleep.

carlos lua cintra mauro 5511 82829388

textobras@textobras.com

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