Mygale SJ103-Zetec 1800 Formula Ford

Eric Heudicourt, Mygale SJ103 Zetec Formula Ford, Charade Historic tour 2016.  He was third overall and won the Zetec class.

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Mygale,  Magny Cours, France.  Mygale have been designing and manufacturing cars since 1989. Founded by Bertrand Decoster after he left college, he decided to build the first French Formula Ford car.  He then went onto build Formula Renault cars, F3 cars and cars for one make series. In Formula Ford they have had a lot of success and Jensen Button won the British Formula Ford series and Formula Ford Festival in 1998 using one.  The SJ103 pictured is the Formula Ford car from 2003 for Formula Ford Zetec which used 1800cc engines.

1990 Lucchini SP390- Alfa Romeo V6

Jean Laffargue, Lucchini SP390, Charade Historic Tour 2016.

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Lucchini, Porto Mantovano, Italy.  This Italian company has been producing open cockpit sports cars for many years, often for use in hillclimbs but also endurance racing and often with Alfa Romeo engine..  This model dates back to 1990. Again some used 3 litre Alfa Romeo 24 valve engines and some raced the circuits and some did the hillclimbs, mostly in Italy but also France..I believe the one in the photo has an Alfa Romeo V6 engine.

1981 March 81S-Ford

"Nelson", March81S-Ford, Charade Historic Tour Sports Proto Cup 2016.

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March Engineering, Bicester, England. March built about 5 of these cars.  They were used in Sports 2000 racing and had 2 litre Ford Pinto engines.  Racing was both in Europe and the USA.  One of the March 81S Sports 2000 cars took part in the 1981 Brands Hatch 1000kms and finished 16th and third in the Sports 2000 class.

1985 Martini Mk44 Formula Renault Turbo

Lionel Robert, Formula Renault Turbo Martini Mk44, Charade, Historic Tour 2016

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Martini, Magny Cours, France.  Martini, founder by Tico Martini, produced racing cars from 1968 until it was sold to Ligier in 2004.  They were known mainly for their F3 and Formula Renault cars. The Mk44 was built in 1985 and was the car to have that year.  Eric Bernard won the Championnat de France Formule Renault Turbo and Lionel Robert (pictured here 31 years later) was the runner up. Both were driving the Mk 44.  Lionel drove the Ecurie Gitanes car which nowadays has had its livery doctored slightly to get away from the cigarette advertising ban.  Another famous driver who drove the Martini Mk44 was Jean Alesi.  Formula Renault Turbo existed during the nineteen eighties from 1982 to 1988 and utilised a 4 cylinder turbo engine from the Renault 18.

March 783/793 F3

Noel Delplanque, March 793, Charade, Historic Tour 2016, Classic F3 race.

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March, Bicester, England.  Along with almost every other formula, March made F3 cars from 1969 to 1981.  The March 783 and 793 models spanned the years 1978 and 1979.   In 1978 Ralt produced the dominant car.  For 1979 Chico Sera won the Vandervell British F3 Championship in a March. The 793 differed from the 783 by having some additional ground effect skirts and updated sidepods. Many famous drivers drove these models including Nigel Mansell, Teo Fabi, Tiff Needell, Michele Alboreto, Thierry Boutsen, Andrea de Cesaris, Jean-Louis Schlesser, and Stefan Johansson.  The car pictured was driven by Bret Riley who scored a number of F3 wins.  These cars raced with a number of motors but Bret Riley and Nigel Mansell's used to be powered by a Triumph Dolomite Swindon engine.  Nice to see the car in authentic livery from the time.

Van Diemen RF90 Formula Ford

Maxime Lebreton, Van Diemen RF90 Formula Ford, Charade, Historic Tour 2016.

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Van Diemen, Snetterton, England.  Founded by Ralph Firman and Ross Ambrose in 1973, Van Diemen were best known for their Formula Ford cars.  The marque was named after Van Diemen's land or Tasmania where Ambrose was born.  The RF stood for Ralph Firman.  They produced cars in volume for many of the lower formula, over 5,000 chassis being produced.    Van Diemens won the British Formula Ford Championship every year from 1980 to 1988 and again in 1990 and 1991.  The RF90 was the Formula Ford car for the 1990 season when Frenchman Michael Vergers won the British Championship in one of these cars.  In 1990 FF cars had the Ford Kent 1600cc engine.

Gillet Vertigo

Eric Gillet, Gillet Vertigo, Charade, Historic Tour 2016.

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Gillet, Belgium.  The company was formed by Tony Gillet a successful Belgian racing driver.  Since 1991 Gillet have produced hand built sports cars in Belgium.  Famous owners include ex-F1 driver Philippe Streiff, Price Albert of Monaco and Johnny Hallyday.  The car pictured is powered by a 3 litre Alfa Romeo V6 engine, tuned by Ellegi Motori, and is raced in the French Classic GT championship by Eric Gillet.  They have also raced in Spa endurance races without big success.

1973 CESCA 740 Cosworth BDG

Franck Metzger, CESCA 740-Cosworth BDG, Charade, Historic Tour 2016, Sports Proto Cup.

CESCA, France.  I believe this car was based on a Grac MT14S, but modified by Claude Swietlick in 1973 who also added the body of a March 73S.  It has a 2 litre Cosworth BDG engine.   This car is now very competitive in French historic sports protos cup  racing.  In the seventies it was raced by Michel Pignard amongst others.

ARC MF16

Alfa Romeo Engined ARC MF16 at Charade 2016.

ARC Industrie, Aquitaine, France.  ARC stood for Atelier Recherche Creation.  From 1977 to 1989 they made 86 racing cars and were successful in winning the French Sports Prototype Championship 12 consecutive times between 1978 and 1989.  The MF16 was the car used in 1988 and 1989 and was powered by a 1,500cc Alfa Romeo engine.  Didier Blanc won the 1988 championship in one and Michel Debernard won the 1989 championship in one.

Ralt RT3 - Alfa Romeo F3

Bernard Honnorat, Ralt RT3-Alfa Romeo, Charade, Historic Tour 2016

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Ralt,  , England.  Ralt was founded by Ron Tauranac after he sold his interest in Braham.  The name comes from his initials and that of his brother Austin Lewis Tauranac.  The RT3 F3 car was developed from the RT2 F2 car and first appeared late in 1979 driven by Elio Salazar.  it was a very successful F3 car and had a very stiff aluminium chassis and honeycomb bulkhead and incorporated ground effects.   Stephan Johannson clinched the 1980 F3 championship by winning the last three rounds in a Ralt RT3 using a Toyota engine.  The Ralt also clinched the German F3 championship driven by Frank Jelinski.  In 1981 Jonathan Palmer won the British F3 championship in a RT3-Toyota and in 1982 Tommy Byrne repeated this feat.  By this time most of the grid was drtiving Ralts.  1983 was a classic F3 season and Ayrton Senna won from Martin Brundle, both in Ralt RT3s.  Johnny Dumfries won in 1984.  Most of this British success was with Toyota motors.  Elsewhere in Europe they were also raced with Alfa Romeo and VW engines.  Pierluigi Martini won the 1983 European Championship with an Alfa Romeo powering his RT3.

Lotus Seven

Emmanuel Garci Imaz, Lotus Seven, Charade, Historic Tour 2016.

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Lotus, Hornsey and Hethel, England.  The Seven was the replacement for the Lotus Mk 6 and became the most successful Lotus model with over 2,500 sold..  It was produced by Lotus from 1957 to 1973 when Caterham took over production after buying the rights to the design.  It originally had an all aluminium body, gradually fibreglass sections were developed for it and eventually it had an all fibre glass body. Very simple car but affordable, lightweight and effective.  Engine range from just under 1,000cc to 1,700cc and were often Fords (such as the Kent) but sometimes BMC or Coventry Climax. Chassis were made at Arch Motors in Huntingdon.  Most Sevens had excellent 0-60mph acceleration but relatively low top speed.  They were extensively raced at home and abroad.