The first Formula Three championship in the UK was the Autosport F3 championship, held in 1951 and won by Eric Brandon. By 1954, this had evolved into a national-level series organised by the British Racing and Sports Car Club (BRSCC). This period used 500cc engines, lasting until 1959 when Formula Junior was introduced. In the early years, multiple series often ran concurrently, and a single national series had yet to be firmly established.
The FIA reintroduced Formula Three in 1964 with a one-litre engine formula, resulting in two F3 championships held in the UK that year. From 1970 to 1973, three regional series – the Lombard North, John Player, and Forward Trust championships – existed alongside each other, and there were normally two series between then and 1978, with many drivers running in both. In 1979, the BARC and BRDC combined their series to form the Vandervell British F3 Championship, later renamed for sponsorship as the Marlboro British F3 Championship and then the Lucas British F3 Championship.
In 1974, the engine capacity increased to two litres, a formula maintained until the championship’s end in 2014. A ‘B class’ for older chassis was introduced in 1984, helping to increase grid sizes, and was later renamed the Scholarship class and then the National class in 2000. In 2004, SRO took over the series’ organisation, running it alongside the British GT Championship. The series declined an invitation to join the support bill of the British Touring Car Championship in 2009, as the latter attracted larger crowds.
Rising costs in the late 2000s, driven by investment from big-spending engine manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen, and the introduction of overseas rounds, combined with the revival of the FIA-backed European Formula 3 Championship in 2012, led to declining grid numbers, which were down to the mid-teens by 2012. Facing a shortfall of entries in 2013, the calendar was reduced from ten to four meetings. Although the calendar expanded to seven meetings in 2014, grid sizes remained small, with some races attracting as few as five cars. In October 2014, it was announced that the 2014 season would be the final season of the British Formula Three Championship after a planned merger with the German Formula Three Championship failed.
Competitors in British F3 could use any eligible chassis, but Dallara became the dominant choice after its arrival in 1993. TOM'S, Mygale, and Lola attempted to challenge Dallara, largely without success. Before Dallara’s dominance, Ralt and Reynard were the leading chassis manufacturers, with March being popular in the 1970s.
Two engine manufacturers – AMG-Mercedes (tuned by H.W.A) and Volkswagen – were fully represented at the series’ end. The Mugen-Honda engine (tuned by Neil Brown Engineering) was dominant in the 1990s and early-to-mid 2000s, before Mercedes’ arrival in 2006. Other manufacturers, including Toyota, Vauxhall/Opel, Renault and Mitsubishi, also achieved success in the past.
All entrants were required to use control tyres from a single supplier. Avon Tyres supplied these from 1982, rebranding as Cooper Tires from the 2009 season onwards, coinciding with Cooper becoming the championship’s official title sponsor.
Source: Wikipedia article "British Formula Three Championship." Information is limited to the supplied corpus; primary archives, autobiographies, period programmes, and specialist publications were not consulted.
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