One especially for Cirrus here. Anyone, apart from him, recall the "Ring PB3". Saw it entered in a Silverstone F3 race from 80, guess who the driver was. Was there some Belgian connexion, ISTR, why the odd name, and did it ever start.
TNF gets very obscure!
Strange 1980 F3 Car
Started by
Mallory Dan
, Jan 15 2004 13:30
8 replies to this topic
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#2
BRG
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Posted 15 January 2004 - 16:39
Never heard of a Ring. But there was a Bovy F3 car in 1980 with a Belgian driver Quinn Bovy (presumably also the manufacturer. Pierre Petit was entered to drive it as well. Hope this helps to confuse the situation a bit more! 
#3
Cirrus
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Posted 15 January 2004 - 17:38
Ah...... The Ring saga!
The Ring was indeed Belgian. A guy called Marcel Bolmut from Antwerp and another called Lucien Paschael ran the company. I believe they were involved with building the second generation Dallara-designed Wolf F3 cars for Quirin Bovy.
The Ring was quite different to the Bovy, however, although it did share many components. Being of the Ground Effect era, it had a narrow tub and inboard suspension. It wasn't ground effect, though - the secret weapon was surface cooling within the sidepod to give a degree of thrust (an idea I always thought doomed to failure). It could easily have been modified to use ground effects, however.
I got the coveted drive by simply answering an ad in Autosport! Needless to say, the project ran late and the car was not ready to run until about September. I was summoned to Zolder at short notice for the car's maiden run. Sadly, the outing lasted about a third of a lap before a driveshaft broke.............The beginning and end of my F3 career!
I think the car ran in hillclimbs after that, before being written off. I've got some pictures of the car under construction somewhere. I'll try and put them up later.
The Ring was indeed Belgian. A guy called Marcel Bolmut from Antwerp and another called Lucien Paschael ran the company. I believe they were involved with building the second generation Dallara-designed Wolf F3 cars for Quirin Bovy.
The Ring was quite different to the Bovy, however, although it did share many components. Being of the Ground Effect era, it had a narrow tub and inboard suspension. It wasn't ground effect, though - the secret weapon was surface cooling within the sidepod to give a degree of thrust (an idea I always thought doomed to failure). It could easily have been modified to use ground effects, however.
I got the coveted drive by simply answering an ad in Autosport! Needless to say, the project ran late and the car was not ready to run until about September. I was summoned to Zolder at short notice for the car's maiden run. Sadly, the outing lasted about a third of a lap before a driveshaft broke.............The beginning and end of my F3 career!
I think the car ran in hillclimbs after that, before being written off. I've got some pictures of the car under construction somewhere. I'll try and put them up later.
#4
Cirrus
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Posted 15 January 2004 - 21:29
Here are the Ring pictures (I've got no idea how they arrived at that name)
1. Early in the construction - the car featured a stressed engine and FT200 gearbox
2. Almost ready to go - the standard of construction was quite high.
1. Early in the construction - the car featured a stressed engine and FT200 gearbox
2. Almost ready to go - the standard of construction was quite high.
#5
Graham Clayton
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Posted 05 August 2011 - 05:36
Other people involved were Rudy Vandenbossche and ex-Surtees mechanic Patrick Kruger.
The car was powered by a Toyota Celica engine developed by Novo Motors in Italy.
The car was powered by a Toyota Celica engine developed by Novo Motors in Italy.
#6
eldougo
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Posted 09 August 2011 - 06:42
Cirrus ,we would love to see the photos you posted they seem to have dropped out. 
#7
Cirrus
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Posted 09 August 2011 - 06:59
Pictures returned (see above)
A couple of other pictures recently came to light (courtesy of Patrick Kruger's son). Patrick (who I believe is sadly no longer with us) can be seen in the colour picture working on the car, with a youthful Cirrus behind.
The rear-mounted radiators were a temporary measure until the surface cooling panels were completed.
Here's the ad which started it all...
A couple of other pictures recently came to light (courtesy of Patrick Kruger's son). Patrick (who I believe is sadly no longer with us) can be seen in the colour picture working on the car, with a youthful Cirrus behind.
The rear-mounted radiators were a temporary measure until the surface cooling panels were completed.
Here's the ad which started it all...
Edited by Cirrus, 09 August 2011 - 07:08.
#8
Arjan de Roos
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Posted 09 August 2011 - 09:48
The RVCCB or Royal Veteran Car Club of Belgium lists this car on their site. They give some additonal information too:
RING PB 3 (Ring Engineering) 1980
Address: Van Halmalestraat 18, Antwerpen
The RING PB 3 is a Belgian Formula 3 car designed by two enthousiastic Antwerps, engineer Pascal BOLMUT and mechanic Lucien PASCHAEL, partners of "RING ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL FORMULA RACING CARS CONSTRUCTIONS". Advantage comes from cooperation with mechanic Rudy VANDENBOSSCHE and from the South African Patrick KRUGER, old hand of the Formula 1 team of John SURTEES, has seen this F3 assemblied and realised in an old Antwerp factory for foam plastic rebuild to a work shop for fine mechanics.
The RING PB 3, equipped with a NOVO MOTOR (from Italy) prepared TOYOTA 2000 CELICA engine, has a suspension with chrome-molybdene tube frame, super strong F2 brakes, a safety tank from rubber and an optimal streamline from aerospace experiments. The prototype 001 can easily seduce with a barely 50 cm wide self supporting streamline body, his reinforced protective zone for the driver in case of a frontal collision, anti-roll bars adjustable during driving and a self supporting construction allowing an engine change in about 15 minutes. The construction of the car was a success but what happened to the RING PB 3 (born from efforts of some pasionates) afterwards?
RING PB 3 (Ring Engineering) 1980
Address: Van Halmalestraat 18, Antwerpen
The RING PB 3 is a Belgian Formula 3 car designed by two enthousiastic Antwerps, engineer Pascal BOLMUT and mechanic Lucien PASCHAEL, partners of "RING ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL FORMULA RACING CARS CONSTRUCTIONS". Advantage comes from cooperation with mechanic Rudy VANDENBOSSCHE and from the South African Patrick KRUGER, old hand of the Formula 1 team of John SURTEES, has seen this F3 assemblied and realised in an old Antwerp factory for foam plastic rebuild to a work shop for fine mechanics.
The RING PB 3, equipped with a NOVO MOTOR (from Italy) prepared TOYOTA 2000 CELICA engine, has a suspension with chrome-molybdene tube frame, super strong F2 brakes, a safety tank from rubber and an optimal streamline from aerospace experiments. The prototype 001 can easily seduce with a barely 50 cm wide self supporting streamline body, his reinforced protective zone for the driver in case of a frontal collision, anti-roll bars adjustable during driving and a self supporting construction allowing an engine change in about 15 minutes. The construction of the car was a success but what happened to the RING PB 3 (born from efforts of some pasionates) afterwards?
Edited by Arjan de Roos, 09 August 2011 - 10:00.
#9
raidillon
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Posted 11 November 2014 - 18:04
The topic is allready quite dusty, but I tought it would be nice to reply on it. I'm the son of Patrick Kruger, and did some research about the ring PB3 for several reasons, one of them, off course, was that it was partially built by my father, and also has been finished in the shop wich I own now.
Sadly enough the ring PB3 is no more. It was stored in a warehouse that burned down at the end of the eighties.
There have been also been 3 (I tought) Bovy pb4's built by ring engineering. I allready tried to contact Quirin Bovy about these cars, but no answer yet. I also tried by contacting his lovely daughter, but she also doesn't response my mail.
