Hi Richard,
The Ford you refer to is the F3L and I believe that only three were built.
It was supposed to be a successor to the GT40 but it kind of fizzled out. It was powered by a Ford DFV more suitable to F1 racing and not the long distance stuff.
Marko Bjerken is correct when he suggests that you contact David Piper as he owns the red car with gold stripe. David’s telephone number is +44 (0) 1276 474450.
I’ve been writing a book on the history of the original Kyalami circuit for the past 19 (!) years and as David Piper won the Kyalami Nine Hour no less than six times he obviously had to feature in the book. Imagine a book about Wimbledon and Billy Jean King and that naughty fellow John McEnroe not featuring!!.
In February, 1987 I interviewed David in his house in Windlesham, Surrey and as we walked down the passage after the lengthy session he said that he would love to to return to South Africa with his classic series. I stopped dead in my tracks and said ‘I’ll make it happen’. David looked at me with a look like ‘Yeah, pull the other leg (not my plastic one!)
I spent the next 10 months knocking on doors to try and motivate the series.
One of the committee members of our local Western Province Motor Club took pity on me, took over my file and managed to persuade Yellow Pages to sponsor the three race series at Killarney in Cape Town, East London and Durban in February/March, 1988. It was an unbelievable series with many of the very same cars that competed here some 20 years earlier, ie David Piper’s P4 (which now belongs to Jim Glickenhaus) and his 917 not to mention a horde of Lola T70s as well as other exotics. I don’t mind telling you that there were many lumps in throats and moist eyes from the older boys!
David brought out the Ford F3L and on the way to Cape Town it broke loose in the container and for some 10 days it thumped back and forth on the high seas. When the container was opened it’s an understatement to say it wasn’t a pretty sight. We rushed the car off to my factory and soon it was back in pristine condition in its traditional red with gold stripe.
During a recent trip to the UK I was told, to my acute embarrassment, that in an historic race at Spa not long ago in the wet the F3L had ‘lost’ in big way and spun as if in gyroscopic mode. The car has a long tail and it was discovered that the fibreglass lay-up in the tail was ‘rather heavy’. Sorry about that I said!
In a 1000km race at the Nurburgring I a year I can’t remember British driver Chris Irwin driving an F3L came up to a rise when a rabbit ran across the road, hi the left front and got itself imbedded in the disc brake. This meant that Chris had 25% less braking and the F3L consequently did a backward flip at huge speed. The car landed on it roof and proceeded to skid down the road at undiminished speed. Some of the drivers I spoke to afterwards said it was one of the most horrific accidents the had ever seen. It was so bad that some of the marshals actually ran away and left the mess to be sorted out by other drivers who had stopped to lend a hand.
Chris was rushed off to Adenau hospital and his wife was politely told to go back to England to plan his funeral. Like all good racing drivers Chris recovered quickly and if my memory serves me correctly he flew to Sardinia six weeks later to recuprate with a huge dent in his forehead! Tough guys these racing drivers!
The very same F3L (Piper’s not Irwin’s!) was back in Cape Town last month for a classic series in Cape Town and Pretoria. Sadly for the Cape Town race the car was withdrawn due to a cracked disc. In practice however David made the car fly like an F1. But the then the F3lL doesn’t exactly have a reputation for reliablity.
Anyway Richard, enough of down memory lane! Speak to David, I’m sure he’ll tell you more about the F3L.
Watch the bunnies!
Andre 40
