The Ford F3L

[Steve Holmes]

Race 2. Nurburgring 1000kms, May 1968. On to the Nurburgring, and the two cars were to be driven by Pedro Rodriguez/Chris Irwin, Richard Attwood/Frank Gardner. On telling Surtees he wished to race the car at the Nurburgring, Surtees suggested he drive the car well within his comfort zone. Irwin agreed, and was travelling through Flugplatz when the car suddenly veered sideways on one of the rises, landed on its side, and Irwin suffered severe head injuries, never to race again.

In the remaining car, Attwood pitted twice with various mechanical issues, including the loss of a front brake retaining clip, the drivers door flying open, and a puncture, and was a lap down after just three laps! A short time later, its DFV motor failed.

Following the Nurburgring race, Alan Mann mechanics dismantled the Irwin car, convinced it was somehow cursed. Jim Clark was to have driven this same car on that fateful day on April 7. And Mike Spence, who co-drove it with McLaren at Brands Hatch, was killed at Indy a month later in the Lotus 56 gas-turbine car.

Race 3. Spa 1000kms, May 1968. The sole remaining F3L was to be raced at Spa, by Frank Gardner/Hubert Hahne. Here, on the high speed Spa layout, the sleek Ford really showed its true potential, with Gardner taking pole position by a massive 4sec over Jack Ickx’s Ford GT40. However, it was raining when the race began, and the F3L, which had never been driven in the wet (!) pitted at the end of lap 1, after the cool air ducts for the engine had directed water over the electrics.

Race 4. RAC TT, Oulton Park, June 1968. Richard Attwood was entered in the F3L for Oulton Park, and took pole position, but clearly expected his car to fail, as he’d also entered to co-drive the David Piper Ferrari P3/4 in the same race! Sure enough, after leading for 10 laps, Attwood stopped with diff failure, but went on to finish second in Pipers Ferrari, less than 10sec behind the winning Hulme Lola T70.

Race 5. Martini Trophy, Silverstone, July 1968. Gardner was entered for Silverstone, and qualified second behind Hulmes Lola, but led away from the start, and continued to do so for the first 41 laps, while Hulme spun, trying to keep pace. But the engine lost oil pressure, and Gardner retired from a 16sec lead, and that was the last time the F3L raced in 1968.

Race 6. BOAC 500, Brands Hatch, April 1969. A second F3L (the P69) was built over winter, this being a ‘spyder’ open top model, to back the remaining P68. To help with downforce, the Fords sprouted tall rear suspension mounted aerofoils. The roadster, to be driven by Gardner/Jack Brabham, didn’t make it beyond practice, when it lost an engine. After a driver re-shuffle (Gardner took the place of Masten Gregory alongside Hulme), the remaining car completed just 14 laps before it too suffered engine failure.

Race 7. Martini Trophy, Silverstone, May 1969. The final race for the Ford F3L, and only the P68 was entered for Gardner, who put the car on pole. But in the race, he didn’t get beyond the warm-up lap, as rain once again fizzed the electrics, the car misfired badly, and was retired.

And that was the extent of the Ford F3L’s competition life. Following failures in F1 with the tall suspension mounted aerofoils, the FIA moved to ban these aids in both Formula 1 and sport prototype racing (but not in Can-Am until 1970), and with the new P69 spyder, and the P68 now heavily reliant on these wings, the F3L’s were retired from further competition.

The F3L entered seven races, and finished none. But it took pole position in three of these races, and showed it had true potential. Surtees had misgivings over the cars unpredictable handling, and lack of downforce. He felt it would have benefitted hugely from being several inches longer in the wheelbase. But its problems extended well beyond its basic design. Improvements could, and were made, to the car during its short competition life, but because it suffered from a lacking of funding, and a short-fall of available, healthy, DFV motors, Alan Mann Racing were forced to do all their testing at the races, which is never a good thing to do.

The Ford F3L, in concept, was a good car, and it showed, in moments of brilliance, just how good it could have been. It was designed as a Formula 1 car clothed in a sports car body, using the mighty DFV motor, Hewland 5-speed gearbox, and F1 type suspension. But no race car, regardless of its potential, can become a winner when the funds aren’t there to develop it properly, and this was a shortfall the F3L would never overcome.