The ground-effect wonder behind a generation of F1 stars

Recently named as Autosport's greatest single-seater, Ralt's RT3 launched a plethora of superstar drivers through the early 1980s, and established the constructor as the go-to place for your single-seater weapon

Published Dec 8, 2020, 4:01 PM

The story of the car that came to define half a decade of Formula 3 racing began slowly. The Ralt RT3 was the successor to the successful RT1, and was the late Ron Tauranac's attempt to bring the new-to-Formula 1 ground-effects philosophy to the junior categories, but the Australian was initially too busy working on his Formula 2 machines.

Nelson Piquet had won an F3 title in the UK in 1978 run out of the Ralt factory, and had introduced an unknown Chilean named Eliseo Salazar to Tauranac. Aboard the brand-new RT3, Salazar failed to score a single British F3 point in 1979, so the 1980 season began with no takers in the UK for the car. Then Rob Wilson, who had won a race in 1978 with an RT1, was tempted...

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Author Marcus Simmons

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.