British Formula 3000

The British Formula 3000 championship, alternatively known as the British Formula Two Championship, was a competition for Formula 3000 held in the United Kingdom, active from 1989 to 1994 and in 1996. Several attempts to restart the series since then have met with failure.

British F3000

The original championship was started in 1989 as a national series for one-year-old F3000 single-seaters. Cars from both Lola and Reynard Motorsport could be seen on the grid, with the predominant engine being the Cosworth DFY. Grids increased until the series reached its apex in 1991.

The first two champions, Gary Brabham and Pedro Chaves, moved up to Formula One but met little success, never qualifying for a race. In 1991, Paul Warwick, younger brother to then-Arrows F1 driver Derek, dominated the first half of the series but died in a crash mid-season at Oulton Park. He retained the lead through the final round and was awarded the title posthumously.

British F2

In 1992, the championship was renamed Formula Two, although it had nothing to do with the competition that had previously carried that name, continuing to be an actual Formula 3000 series. Grids kept dwindling and after mid-1993 less than ten cars appeared regularly on the grid.

Yvan Muller won the title in 1992 before leaving single-seaters and moving to touring car racing, but 1993 champion Philippe Adams had a brief career in F1. Jose Luis Di Palma was champion the next year but competitive drivers were few.

In 1995, an attempt to switch to a spec series with Reynard chassis and Cosworth engines failed to get off the ground when the series was cancelled after posting only one entry. In 1996 the series was resurrected and Gareth Rees dominated the action, and was the final champion.

UK3000 and Autumn Cup

A new British F3000 was introduced in 1997, now following the spec rules of the International Formula 3000 series, featuring Lola T96/50 chassis and Zytek engines, but the new championship was cancelled after the first round was contested by only three cars.

In 1999, an attempt at creating the UK3000 Championship was interrupted at the last minute when the FIA decided against limiting the grid sizes and teams dropped the British series for the International one, finishing UK3000 before it started. An Italian-based national series met with more success, though.

The BRSCC attempted to create a Formula 3000 Autumn Cup at the end of the 2000 season, with Lola B99/50 chassis, but although some International teams pledged to enter the series, a low number of entries made it impossible to start the series with any quality grids.

Champions

Season	Champion	Team	Car
1989	Gary Brabham	Bromley Motorsport	Reynard 88D-Cosworth
1990	Pedro Chaves	Mansell Madgwick Motorsport	Reynard 90D-Cosworth
1991	Paul Warwick	Mansell Madgwick Motorsport	Reynard 90D-Cosworth
1992	Yvan Muller	Omegaland	Reynard 91D-Cosworth
1993	Philippe Adams	Madgwick International Argo Racing Cars	Reynard 91D-Cosworth Reynard 92D-Cosworth
1994	Jose Luis Di Palma	AJS Racing Madgwick International	Reynard 92D-Cosworth
1995	Not held
1996	Gareth Rees	Super Nova Racing	Reynard 95D-Mugen
1997	Championship cancelled after one round

References

External links

• British F3000 at Unofficial Formula 3000