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34-753: First Racing (sometimes written as FIRST Racing ) was an Italian motor racing team founded by Lamberto Leoni , which competed in International Formula 3000 from 1987 to 1991 and the Italian Formula 3 Championship in 1990 . The team also made an unsuccessful attempt to enter Formula One in 1989. In 1987 former Formula One racing driver Lamberto Leoni returned to competitive racing by founding his own Formula 3000 team. First Racing debuted in Silverstone with two cars, one for Leoni and another one for Gabriele Tarquini . Although Leoni

68-719: A cheap point of entry for lesser funded teams and drivers. Formula Three cars are monocoque chassis , using slick racing tyres and wings . Currently, Dallara manufactures the overwhelming majority of F3 cars, though Mygale , Lola (formerly in partnership with Dome of Japan), Arttech , and SLC also have a limited output. In many smaller or amateur F3 racing series older cars are frequently seen. Usually these series are divided into two or more classes, to allow more participation. Engines in FIA Formula 3 are all 3.4- litre , 6-cylinder naturally aspirated spec engines. Engines in others Formula 3 series must be built from

102-732: A production model block ( stock block ), and often must be sealed by race or series organizers, so no private tuning can be carried out. Honda engines (prepared by Mugen ) have perennially been popular, as have engines produced by Volkswagen , Alfa Romeo , or Renault . Currently the HWA-tuned Mercedes and the Volkswagen engines dominate the British and European series, with Mugen, TOM'S – Toyota , Opel , and Fiat being used by some teams. Complete regulations: "fia.com" (PDF) .   (1213  kiB ) Until

136-536: A promising start, finishing third in his first race with Massimo Ciccozzi's team Scuderia del Passatore at Autódromo do Estoril . He then raced for Giancarlo Minardi 's Scuderia Everest, with mixed results. His best result came the following season, when he won at Misano with a car fielded by Scuderia Trivellato. In 1977 Leoni made his Formula One debut with Surtees at the 1977 Italian Grand Prix , replacing Vern Schuppan , but failed to qualify. The following year he joined Morris Nunn 's Ensign . Leoni qualified for

170-487: A restricted air intake were introduced. The 1971–73 seasons were contested with these cars, as aerodynamics started to become important. Two-litre engine rules were introduced for 1974, still with restricted air intakes. Today engine regulations remain basically unchanged in F3, a remarkable case of stability in racing regulations. As the likes of Lotus and Brabham faded from F3 to concentrate on Formula One, F3 constructors of

204-403: A statistical point of view, Parker was the most successful F3 driver. Although coming to motor racing late in life (at age 41 in 1949), he won a total of 126 F3 races altogether, and was described by Motor Sport magazine (in his 1998 obituary) as "the most successful Formula 3 driver in history". Although Stirling Moss was already a star by 1953, Parker beat him more than any other driver, and

238-454: A three-year life-cycle, with only minor annual updates. It was agreed however to extend the life-cycle of the current F308 to four years to assist teams; this chassis however, has been replaced in 2012 with the new F312 chassis, intended to be run until 2017. Most F3 championships, most notably the British series, offer a secondary class for cars from the previous life-cycle in order to provide

272-693: Is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing . The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. Formula Three (adopted by the FIA in 1950) evolved from postwar auto racing , with lightweight tube-frame chassis powered by 500 cc motorcycle engines (notably Nortons and JAP speedway). The 500 cc formula originally evolved in 1946 from low-cost "special" racing organised by enthusiasts in Bristol , England, just before

306-525: Is known for major non-championship races typically including entries from the national series, the best-known of which is the FIA Formula 3 World Cup (previously known as FIA Formula 3 Intercontinental Cup) at Macau . The first Formula Three Grand Prix of Macau was held in 1983 and won by Ayrton Senna . Michael Schumacher , David Coulthard , Ralf Schumacher , and Takuma Sato have also won there. The Formula Three Grand Prix of Macau traditionally marks

340-506: The Formula One Indoor Trophy , the team realized that the chassis was poorly manufactured due to a temperature mistake in the autoclave, with the result that a second chassis had to be re-commissioned. Having concluded that the delay would cost the team a penalty for missing the first two races of the season, Divila and his engineers tried to reinforce the chassis with injections of a material called Redus 410 NA. Although

374-637: The Second World War ; British motorsport after the war picked up slowly, partly due to petrol rationing which continued for a number of years and home-built 500 cc cars engines were intended to be accessible to the "impecunious enthusiast". The second post-war motor race in Britain was organised by the VSCC in July 1947 at RAF Gransden Lodge, 500cc cars being the only post-war class to run that day. Three of

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408-433: The 1970s included Alpine , Lola , March, Modus , GRD , Ralt , and Ensign . By the start of the 1980s however, Formula Three had evolved well beyond its humble beginnings to something closely resembling the modern formula. It was seen as the main training ground for future Formula One drivers, many of them bypassing Formula Two to go straight into Grand Prix racing. The chassis became increasingly sophisticated, mirroring

442-500: The British Formula 3 championship. Perhaps the most curious of all was the small All-Japan Formula Three Championship . Although few drivers spent a significant amount of time there, future stars such as Ralf Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve scored victories there. An Asian series was established in 2001 and grew to produce past A1 drivers for Indonesia and Australia. In addition to the many national series, Formula Three

476-486: The car passed the mandatory FIA pre-season crash test in Cranfield , it was now significantly overweight. Divila himself claimed that the car as it was, was good for nothing but being "an interesting flowerpot". Faced with the perspective of racing an uncompetitive car in a packed field (the 1989 Formula One World Championship counted over forty participants with pre-qualifying sessions), Leoni decided to withdraw before

510-453: The early 1990s, Leoni resumed his racing career by becoming involved in powerboat racing. He was able to win several races and narrowly missed the 1993 World Championship. ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) ( key ) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) ( key ) Formula 3 Formula Three , also called Formula 3 , abbreviated as F3 ,

544-683: The end of the Formula Three season, with drivers from almost every national series participating. Other major races include the Pau Grand Prix (from 1999 to 2006), the Masters of Formula 3 (traditionally held at Zandvoort ), and the Korea Super Prix at Changwon . These events give fans in locations not visited by other major series a way to experience major international racing. The Monaco F3 Grand Prix held until 1997

578-548: The income this generated enabled the company to develop into the senior categories. Other notable marques included Kieft , JBS and Emeryson in England, and Effyh, Monopoletta and Scampolo in Europe. John Cooper, along with most other 500 builders, decided to place the engine in the middle of the car, driving the rear wheels. This was mostly due to the practical limitations imposed by chain drive but it gave these cars exceptionally good handling characteristics which eventually led to

612-573: The launch of the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019, there has never been a World Championship for Formula Three. In the 1970s and into the 1980s the European Formula Three Championship and British Formula 3 Championship (once one series had emerged from the competing British series in the 1970s) were the most prominent, with a number of future Formula One champions coming from them. France, Germany, and Italy also had important Formula Three series, but interest in these

646-453: The mid-1980s and the national series became correspondingly more important. For 2003, French and German F3 , both suffering from a lack of competitive entrants, merged to recreate the Formula 3 Euro Series . Brazil's SudAm Formula Three Championship , which now has the most powerful engine of all Formula Three series, was known for producing excellent drivers who polished their skills in

680-458: The mid-1980s replacing traditional aluminium or steel monocoque structures. Dallara however, after an unsuccessful Formula One project, focussed their attention on the formula in the early nineties and obliterated all the other marques with their F393. Within a couple of years, the chassis was considered a prerequisite to competitiveness, and today Dallara chassis are ubiquitous to the formula. In order to keep costs down, their chassis have had

714-418: The mid-engined revolution in single-seater racing. The 500cc formula was the usual route into motor racing through the early and mid-1950s (and stars like Stirling Moss continued to enter selected F3 events even during their GP careers). Other notable 500 cc Formula 3 drivers include Stuart Lewis-Evans , Ivor Bueb , Jim Russell , Peter Collins , Don Parker , Ken Tyrrell , and Bernie Ecclestone . From

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748-502: The more senior formulae – ground effects were briefly used in the early 1980s but were banned, in line with other FIA single-seater formulae; carbon fibre chassis started to be introduced from the mid-1980s. Historically, March (up to 1981), Ralt (up to the early 1990s) and Reynard (1985–1992) had been the main chassis manufacturers in two-litre F3, with Martini fairly strong in France; Reynard pioneered use of carbon fibre in

782-541: The opening Brazilian Grand Prix and concentrate his efforts on the Formula 3000 season. The second chassis commissioned by Leoni would be later purchased by Ernesto Vita and used in the 1990 Formula One World Championship for his Life L190. † Éric Hélary finished season with Cobra Racing Lamberto Leoni After racing in Italian Formula 3 , Leoni graduated to European Formula 2 in 1976. He had

816-594: The opening event, the 1978 Argentine Grand Prix , but was forced to retire the car after 28 laps because of an engine failure. At the following race in Brazil, Leoni once again managed to qualify but was prevented from starting the race after his transmission broke down during the formation lap. After failing to qualify the car in the following two races in South Africa and the United States, Leoni departed from

850-422: The seven entrants were non-starters, and, of the four runners, all but one retired on the first lap, leaving Eric Brandon in his Cooper Prototype (T2) trailing round to a virtual walk-over at an average speed of 55.79 mph (89.79 km/h), though his best lap (which was the fastest recorded for any 500) was 65.38 mph (105.22 km/h). Cooper came to dominate the formula with mass-produced cars, and

884-460: The team and concentrate on managing the career of Apicella. Buoyed by the promising results accomplished during his first Formula 3000 season, Leoni commissioned Richard Divila to design a car for entry into the 1989 Formula One championship. The team opted to use a Judd V8 engine. Gabriele Tarquini was signed to drive. After a run at the 1989 Attilio Bettega Memorial event in Bologna and

918-411: The team and was replaced by Jacky Ickx . Leoni returned to Formula 2 and then Formula 3000 . In 1987 he formed his own First Racing team. Following a few moderately successful seasons, with wins for drivers Marco Apicella and Pierluigi Martini , in 1989 Leoni made an abortive attempt to enter Formula One with a car designed by Richard Divila and Gabriele Tarquini at the wheel. The car, however,

952-417: The team entered the 1990 season full of expectations, but the two drivers, despite scoring points on a regular basis, were not able to win any races. 1991 proved to be First's final season in Formula 3000. Financial difficulties prompted Leoni to hire two pay drivers , Michael Bartels and Jean-Denis Délétraz . The car, however, was uncompetitive, and following a string of poor results, Leoni decided to retire

986-419: The team's first win at Pergusa and finishing fourth in the championship. In 1989, First set off to a promising start when Fabrizio Giovanardi won the second round of the championship at Vallelunga . Apicella, in the second car, proved to be a regular points-scorer, and finished fourth in the final standing podium finishes at Pau, Jerez, Birmingham and Spa. With the line-up of Giovanardi and Apicella confirmed,

1020-489: Was Formula 3 Champion in 1952, again in 1953, and in 1954 he only lost the title by a half-point. He took the title for a third time in 1959. 500cc Formula Three declined at an international level during the late 1950s, although it continued at a national level into the early 60s, being eclipsed by Formula Junior for 1000 or 1100 cc cars (on a sliding scale of weights). A one-litre Formula Three category for four-cylinder carburetted cars, with heavily tuned production engines,

1054-457: Was originally subsidiary to national formulae – Formula Renault in France and Formula Super Vee in Germany. These nations eventually drifted towards Formula Three. The Italian series tended to attract older drivers who moved straight across from karting whereas in other nations drivers typically graduated to F3 after a couple of years in minor categories. The European series died out in

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1088-552: Was poorly assembled and although Leoni commissioned a second chassis, he eventually elected to end the team experience in Formula One. The second chassis was then purchased by Ernesto Vita for his unsuccessful Life outfit. Leoni subsequently managed the career of Apicella, who ended up winning the Super Formula Championship in 1994 and have an outing in Formula One with Jordan Grand Prix in 1993. In

1122-803: Was reintroduced in 1964 based on the Formula Junior rules and ran to 1970. These engines (a short-stroke unit based on the Ford Anglia with a special 2- valve Cosworth or Holbay OHV down-draught head , initially pioneered by Brian Hart, being by far the most efficient and popular) tended to rev very highly and were popularly known as "screamers"; F3 races tended to involve large packs of slipstreaming cars. The "screamer" years were dominated by Brabham , Lotus and Tecno , with March beginning in 1970. Early one-litre F3 chassis tended to descend from Formula Junior designs but quickly evolved. For 1971 new regulations allowing 1600 cc engines with

1156-585: Was the first of the two drivers to score points, with a sixth place at the Pau Grand Prix , Tarquini was able to finish on the podium twice, with a third place at Pergusa and a second place at Imola . Over the course of the season, the team occasionally fielded a third car, with Aldo Bertuzzi , Beppe Gabbiani , Claudio Langes and Alain Ferté alternating at the wheel. For the following season, Leoni decided to limit his involvement to management, and hired Pierluigi Martini and Marco Apicella , with Martini scoring

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