
Marcus Simmons's Silverstone F3 diary
Twenty-eight cars, three different winners, a British one-two - and a chance to gauge FIA Single-Seater Commission president Gerhard Berger's vision of the junior formulae future. Marcus Simmons reviews Euro F3's Silverstone visit
June 10 1984: Johnny Dumfries holds off Russell Spence to make it a British one-two in the Silverstone round of the FIA European Formula 3 Championship. Ivan Capelli and Gerhard Berger are some way back, third and fourth respectively, and in turn they're a long way clear of the rest of the 20-car field. All but three drivers are in Ralt RT3s, but there are three different makes of engine.

Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.
Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.
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