55 replies to this topic

[Mondiale M85S]

Crap name, crap team from memory. Was Jean Pierre Frey the driver or team owner or both? I'm guessing that the pre-eminent MN F3000 scribe Mr Arron will have all the answers to the above?

[bigears]

Equipe Dollop is run by wealthy amateurs. Took part in 31 races during the 1986 and 1987 F3000 seasons, they only managed to qualify once at the 1986 Birmingham Superprix.

The interesting story that the qualifier, Marcel Tarres (a hillclimb specialist) was a spectator at the street circuit and was invited to take part at the weekend and managed to qualify for the first time!

I do recall that Frey was the owner but I am not too certain though.

[fausto]

Confirm that Mr. Frey was also the owner of Dollop Racing (Dollop being the name of his own company, operating in the financial services business). Dollop was also involved in sportscar racing, in 1988 they entered a Group C2 Argo JM19C, powered by a Motori Moderni, F.1 derived engine, and later a C1 Lancia LC2

[lil'chris]

Tarres used to race in the Le Mans 24 hours somtimes I think, so he had some experience of circuits as well as hillclimbs

[Simon Arron]

Ah, Dollop. One of my all-time favourite teams. I have always been a fan of endearing hopelessness - it adds a frisson of humanity to sometimes soulless paddocks - and Dollop proved to be dependably rubbish from the start. Proprietor Frey attempted to qualify for 19 FIA F3000 races in 1986-87 but failed every time.

In 1986 he partnered the equally inept Aldo Bertuzzi and, on a couple of occasions, the significantly more capable Tarres. The latter brought his own March 85B to Pau in '86, although it was run with technical "assistance" from Dollop. I have a feeling his best qualifying time was among the 20 quickest on aggregate, but he missed the cut because of the split qualifying system. He was 11th in his group, but only the top 10 from each batch were admitted to the race, irrespective of lap time. He later drove a pure Dollop entry in Birmingham, where, as previously mentioned, he secured the team's lone F3000 start, and Le Mans, where he did what Dollop drivers were supposed to do and failed to qualify.

Having run year-old March 85Bs in '86, the team upgraded to '86 kit the following season, when Frey was accompanied - variously - by Urs Dudler, Guido Dacco and Benoit Morand. Despite struggling to run one car properly, it entered three at Donington Park, where Dacco, Frey and Morand were 31st, 33rd and 34th (of 34) in qualifying. Dacco was fastest by miles, albeit 3.7s off the pace and 1.2s away from a slot on the back row.

The penny sadly dropped after that summer's race at Imola and Dollop skipped the final two rounds of the series, never to be seen in an F3000 paddock again.

The 1987 Pau event was hit by a tornado on Sunday afternoon, just as the French F3 contenders were lining up on the grid. A few trees came down and one or two road cars were squashed, but there were no serious long-term injuries in the paddock (GDBA patron Jean-Paul Driot suffered a broken leg when a poplar or somesuch landed on his motorhome awning). As the storm was whipping up, and assorted debris could be seen spinning around in the air, the rear wing of a Dollop March 86B took flight and headed in the general direction of Toulouse. I doubt it travelled quite that quickly at any other stage of the campaign.

[Stephen W]

Originally posted by Simon Arron
Ah, Dollop. One of my all-time favourite teams. I have always been a fan of endearing hopelessness - it adds a frisson of humanity to sometimes soulless paddocks - and Dollop proved to be dependably rubbish from the start. Proprietor Frey attempted to qualify for 19 FIA F3000 races in 1986-87 but failed every time.

In 1986 he partnered the equally inept Aldo Bertuzzi and, on a couple of occasions, the significantly more capable Tarres. The latter brought his own March 85B to Pau in '86, although it was run with technical "assistance" from Dollop. I have a feeling his best qualifying time was among the 20 quickest on aggregate, but he missed the cut because of the split qualifying system. He was 11th in his group, but only the top 10 from each batch were admitted to the race, irrespective of lap time. He later drove a pure Dollop entry in Birmingham, where, as previously mentioned, he secured the team's lone F3000 start, and Le Mans, where he did what Dollop drivers were supposed to do and failed to qualify.

Having run year-old March 85Bs in '86, the team upgraded to '86 kit the following season, when Frey was accompanied - variously - by Urs Dudler, Guido Dacco and Benoit Morand. Despite struggling to run one car properly, it entered three at Donington Park, where Dacco, Frey and Morand were 31st, 33rd and 34th (of 34) in qualifying. Dacco was fastest by miles, albeit 3.7s off the pace and 1.2s away from a slot on the back row.

The penny sadly dropped after that summer's race at Imola and Dollop skipped the final two rounds of the series, never to be seen in an F3000 paddock again.

The 1987 Pau event was hit by a tornado on Sunday afternoon, just as the French F3 contenders were lining up on the grid. A few trees came down and one or two road cars were squashed, but there were no serious long-term injuries in the paddock (GDBA patron Jean-Paul Driot suffered a broken leg when a poplar or somesuch landed on his motorhome awning). As the storm was whipping up, and assorted debris could be seen spinning around in the air, the rear wing of a Dollop March 86B took flight and headed in the general direction of Toulouse. I doubt it travelled quite that quickly at any other stage of the campaign.

Aldo Bertuzzi - now there is a name redolent of failure; his forays into F2 were similarly unproductive.

[fines]

Originally posted by Simon Arron
[B]Proprietor Frey attempted to qualify for 19 FIA F3000 races in 1986-87 but failed every time.

Only 19? Felt like he was around for 19 years, always providing a reliable laughing stock. Woeful though his attempts were, he was rarely ever last in qualifying, and the names of those "left in his dust" include such as James Weaver, Adrián Campos, Andrew Gilbert-Scott and Ross Cheever.

[malvi]

BTW owner of the CART team Euromotorsport Racing Antonio Ferrari was technical director of Dollop Racing - after moving to States in 1989,both Frey and Dacco drove for him.

[ensign14]

Frey and Ferrari fell out...

[Simon Arron]

Originally posted by ensign14
Frey and Ferrari fell out...

Are those what you call withdrawal symptoms?

And Michael, I hardly think it is fair to suggest Frey left the likes of Weaver and Cheever 'in his dust'. The only drivers he beat for raw pace were assorted Dollop team-mates, Bruno Corradi's converted F2 Minardi and Fulvio Ballabio's Monte Carlo, which took more than three minutes to lap Imola in 1986. In other instances, slower drivers were either afflicted by technical problems or else failed to set a time on a drying track.

Here's the full litany of DNQ horrors (I was present at all bar Enna '86):

1986
Silverstone - 36th/37
Vallelunga - 35th/37
Pau - 36th/37
Spa - 36th/36
Imola - 34th/37 (a career highlight)
Mugello - 36th/37
Enna - 36th/36
Osterreichring - 34th/35
Birmingham - 34th/34
Le Mans - 35th/37
Jarama - 35th/35

1987
Silverstone - 32nd/33
Vallelunga - 32nd/32
Spa - 34th/34
Donington Park - 33rd/34
Enna - 34th/34
Brands Hatch - 36th/36
Birmingham - 34th/35
Imola - 34th/34
Le Mans - stayed at home
Jarama - ditto

[ensign14]

Simon, I don't suppose you have a shot of the Monte Carlo? Wasn't it a reheated Dywa?

One thing I will give Frey - he had one of the nicest helmet designs, a sort of Pace design circa 1974 in Siffert Swiss colours.

[Simon Arron]

Sorry, no Monte Carlo shots. I had more or less put my camera away by then (and didn't bother picking one up again until earlier this year).

I did conduct an inspection of the Monte Carlo pit garage, though. I think the chassis began life as the Dywa and it was then recycled (a bit) for Ballabio's use. He subsequently went on to build a few road cars under the Monte Carlo label, incidentally.

By 1986, most two-year-olds could have made a rev-limited DFV run cleanly, but that was beyond Monte Carlo and the car staggered around for just one flying (ish) lap. I'm not sure anybody captured a moving image, but I think LAT took a few static shots - I'm sure we published one in that week's MN, but my memory might be playing tricks.

[ensign14]

Sounds like there would have been time to prepare an etching.

[Mondiale M85S]

Some quality anecdotes!

I'd forgotten about the Dywa, a kind of tribute fishing rod company i suppose..........

[fines]

Simon, I couldn't find the tongue-in-cheek smiley!

Originally posted by ensign14
Sounds like there would have been time to prepare an etching.

[bigears]

1986 - Birmingham Superprix - Marcel Tarres.

Marcel Tarres spinning off at Redux Corner and due to poor visability, Tim Davies collided into him and retired on the spot. Tarres continued on to retire in the pits. Here is some aftermath footage of the accident:



After little research, I think I made a mistake, the photo wasn't from the race as you can see Pierluigi Martini going past in his Pavesi Ralt. But in the video clip, Martini haven't gone past him yet as it was Luis Perez Sala that was leading the race from Martini.

So the photo might be from the acclimasation warm-up session on the Monday of the F3000 race.

[ghinzani]

They took out an Ad in the centrespread of Autosport once didnt they? Blue and red cars?

[bigears]

Originally posted by ghinzani
They took out an Ad in the centrespread of Autosport once didnt they? Blue and red cars?

1987 perhaps?

[ghinzani]

Frey of course switched to C2 in 88 with a Moto Moderni F1 engined Argo, bored out to 2.1 litres - was supposed to give 1200hp in q trim but was a disaster. Think they got an LC2 Lancia in the end. Had West fag decals on it too IIRC.

[Kevan]

Originally posted by fausto
Confirm that Mr. Frey was also the owner of Dollop Racing (Dollop being the name of his own company, operating in the financial services business). Dollop was also involved in sportscar racing, in 1988 they entered a Group C2 Argo JM19C, powered by a Motori Moderni, F.1 derived engine, and later a C1 Lancia LC2

Started the season with the Argo, using, as you said a 2-litre version of the Moderni F1 turbo engine.

Predictably this wasn't the last word in reliability and was parked after the first three races, in favour of an ex-Gianni Mussato Lancia LC2. Given the usual degree of dependability of privateer Lancias in Group C, the phrase 'out of the frying pan...' comes to mind....

The Lancia made a debut for Dollop at Silverstone but retired (both cars seem to have been entered, but the Argo spent all weekend in the pit garage AFAIK)
A succession of retirements followed and they disappeared from the series late season. Usual driver lineup was Frey/Nicola Marrazzo, joined by Ranieri Randaccio at Le Mans and Paolo Giangrossi at Brno & Nurburgring


Argo- 16th o/a & 7th in C2 at Jarama- think this was pretty much the only race finish for either car all season...
http://www.racingspo...8-03-13-101.jpg
...and in the pit garage at Silverstone
http://www.racingspo...8-05-08-101.jpg

Lancia: a DNF at, well pretty much everywhere really, but this is the Silverstone debut...
http://www.racingspo...8-05-08-024.jpg
...and Le Mans
http://www.racingspo...8-06-12-024.jpg

[The Mountaineer]

Does anyone know who did all the necessary work to put the Motori Moderni engine into the Argo? And where was it done? Where was the team base at that time?

[fausto]

The team was based in Ornago very close to Monza and Burago Molgora (town of the BBurago modelcars factory). Don't know about the conversion, but could be that Argo themselves did it, they use to offer the chassis with various engine options.

[unofficialf3000]

Originally posted by ensign14
Simon, I don't suppose you have a shot of the Monte Carlo? Wasn't it a reheated Dywa?

I stumbled upon some shots of the Monte Carlo 001 recently:
http://www.fmballabi...ile/Page313.htm
(car #51 - at Imola 1986 - and #1, presumably in testing? Car #14 is Ballabio's San Remo Racing March 85B at the 1985 Curacao GP)

Would love to see more pics of the Monte Carlo. Indeed it was the ex-Dywa car.

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by unofficialf3000


I stumbled upon some shots of the Monte Carlo 001 recently:
http://www.fmballabi...ile/Page313.htm
(car #51 - at Imola 1986 - and #1, presumably in testing? Car #14 is Ballabio's San Remo Racing March 85B at the 1985 Curacao GP)

Would love to see more pics of the Monte Carlo. Indeed it was the ex-Dywa car.

First time I have seen the Monte Carlo - great find there! There were some Dywa shots on here, both in F1 ground effect form and as a remodelled F3000 car. Perhaps do a search for Dywa - the F5000 car of earlier vintage is also out there somewhere.

Actually check this - theres plenty on the web
http://images.google...F-8&sa=N&tab=wi

[ghinzani]

Hey theres some great other pics of Fulvio Maria Ballabio on there , look in the kart section and theres a shot of some sort of chairty kart event with Regga in kart and what looks like (poor quality shot) such as Mario, Little Art, De Cesaris, Branca and Johannson in attendance. FMBs certainly proud of his time in racing, good on him as he kept a lot of teams in business. Wither the wealthy amateur in single seaters?

Apologies for going off topic...

[unofficialf3000]

Your google search led me to another site with some pictures of the F3000 spec Dywa/Monte Carlo -

http://www.formulaze.../dywa_cap1.html

Specifically on these pages:
http://www.formulaze.../dywa_cap2.html
http://www.formulaze.../dywa_cap4.html

Another interesting page:
http://pandinigp.blo...00-parte-3.html
(that picture of the Wagner was new to me too)

[Kevan]

Originally posted by fausto
The team was based in Ornago very close to Monza and Burago Molgora (town of the BBurago modelcars factory).

As you mentioned Bburago and Fulvio Ballabio has popped up in the thread as well, it's interesting to note that BBurago were a sometime Ballabio sponsor- like Frey, he did a fair amount of Group C, particularly in Obermaier Porsches

http://www.racingspo...6-06-01-009.jpg

[ensign14]

Originally posted by unofficialf3000


I stumbled upon some shots of the Monte Carlo 001 recently:
http://www.fmballabi...ile/Page313.htm
(car #51 - at Imola 1986 - and #1, presumably in testing? Car #14 is Ballabio's San Remo Racing March 85B at the 1985 Curacao GP)

Would love to see more pics of the Monte Carlo. Indeed it was the ex-Dywa car.

Great catch! These must almost be the only pictures of it in actual racing fettle. Doesn't look as bad as I feared it would be. Although putting number 1 on it for testing seems over-optimistic.

[Simon Arron]

Originally posted by unofficialf3000
Car #14 is Ballabio's San Remo Racing March 85B at the 1985 Curaçao GP.

Little-known fact: in the immediate aftermath of this race, there was a tremendous spot of paddock fisticuffs between Ballabio and his San Remo team-mate, the former Dollop linchpin Aldo Bertuzzi. They tangled while having a painfully slow battle for last place on the road (aka ninth, given all the retirements) and subsequently used fists, rather than March 85Bs, as weapons. It was quite funny to see (and I don't recall either of them being any better at throwing punches than they were at driving).

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by Simon Arron

Little-known fact: in the immediate aftermath of this race, there was a tremendous spot of paddock fisticuffs between Ballabio and his San Remo team-mate, the former Dollop linchpin Aldo Bertuzzi. They tangled while having a painfully slow battle for last place on the road (aka ninth, given all the retirements) and subsequently used fists, rather than March 85Bs, as weapons. It was quite funny to see (and I don't recall either of them being any better at throwing punches than they were at driving).

They must have made up afterwards though? Im sure Aldo and Fulvio shared a sportscar at soem stage afterwards. Aldo drove for Dollop in 86 didnt he? Imagine a team with Frey, Bertuzzi and FBM sharing a car! Aldo also drove for FIRST in 87 I recall - he even qualified for the Imola round thanks to a huge tow from team-mate Leoni. I believe he was somewhat emotional after the race because he had actually finished.

[Simon Arron]

Sorry, I meant future Dollop linchpin...

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by Simon Arron
Sorry, I meant future Dollop linchpin...

Time travel may have been the only way Dollop would have got on the grid regularly...

[unofficialf3000]

I found a picture of Jean-Pierre Frey in a Dollop Racing March from 1986:



Can anyone ID the circuit?

[bigears]

Enna-Pergusa.

It is not surprising he couldn't keep it on the black stuff!

[unofficialf3000]

Thanks bigears, had a feeling it looked like Enna.

[Rob Ryder]

FORIX has Jean-Pierre Frey in #30 for 1986

Any further info of the pic?

Rob

[bigears]

It is definitely from 1987.

The 1986 Dollop Racing car got a blue and white livery whereas the 1987 livery is blue and dark red.

[Rob Ryder]

Originally posted by bigears
It is definitely from 1987.

The 1986 Dollop Racing car got a blue and white livery whereas the 1987 livery is blue and dark red.

If it is 1987 and Enna then it should be Lamberto Leoni ?
Rob

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by Rob Ryder

If it is 1987 and Enna then it should be Lamberto Leoni ?
Rob

Nah Lamberto would have been out in his own First 87b surely. Guido Dacco maybe?

[fines]

According to my notes, Frey ran #30 until Spa, then #31 afterwards. His name is on the roll hoop, btw.

[fines]

Originally posted by bigears
Enna-Pergusa.

It is not surprising he couldn't keep it on the black stuff!

I believe you're mistaken there: at Enna, you had to jump the kerbs negotiating the chicanes if you didn't want to lose chunks of time. To me, the picture indicates that Frey was at least trying... being five seconds off the pace, that's actually worse!!!

[bigears]

I can just make out the name there. The Racing Database list Frey as #17 though.

Odd!

[bigears]

Originally posted by fines

I believe you're mistaken there: at Enna, you had to jump the kerbs negotiating the chicanes if you didn't want to lose chunks of time. To me, the picture indicates that Frey was at least trying... being five seconds off the pace, that's actually worse!!!

Too true, I agree Enna is like Thruxton, you need to attack the kerbs to get a good lap time.

But I suppose it didn't work out for Frey though!

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by bigears


Too true, I agree Enna is like Thruxton, you need to attack the kerbs to get a good lap time.

But I suppose it didn't work out for Frey though!

You probably need to keep your foot on the throttle and/or off the brake pedal too!

[Rob Ryder]

Originally posted by fines
According to my notes, Frey ran #30 until Spa, then #31 afterwards. His name is on the roll hoop, btw.

I have a pic of Frey at the Birmingham Superprix (late in the season) still with #30.

I have checked Sheldon and Dollop Racing also had #31 at the Enna race in 1986 (Marzio Romano - DNA). How about Frey taking this car out in practice? Just a thought...

Rob

[bigears]

Rob, I got some photos of Frey at Brum in 1987 and he is #17.

Surely it must be Tarres who qualified the #30 Dollop car at Brum in 1986?

[unofficialf3000]

This picture was in the 1986 section of the first F3000 yearbook (1985-'87).

It has to be Frey at least. fines was spot on about the name on the roll-hoop and the fact he was in #31 from Spa '86 onwards. David Hayhoe's "International Formula 3000 Championship Guide 2001" confirms that (my earlier notes only had him in #30 as per FORIX). In '87 Frey was in #17 (as bigears said) according to the Hayhoe book and FORIX.

Maybe the livery colour had been changed by Round 7 at Enna '86?

[unofficialf3000]

^ Posted that before seeing your reply, Rob.

Originally posted by Rob Ryder

I have a pic of Frey at the Birmingham Superprix (late in the season) still with #30.

Interesting, as Hayhoe again lists him as #31

[bigears]

Here:


1987 - Birmingham Superprix - Jean-Pierre Frey.

I know it is a small scan, I got two proper photos but they are copyrighted to Simon Lewis.

The rest of the Dollop Racing crew, Guido Dacco entered with #16 and Benoit Morand as #41 according to the BSP programme entry list.

[unofficialf3000]

Thanks bigears. Interesting about Dacco and Morand, as according to my 1987 notes Dacco entered rounds 2-5, while Morand entered rounds 5-6; neither present at round 7 (Brands), the race before Birmingham, where only Frey was entered. I guess at Birmingham Dacco and Morand should go down as "did not arrive" then.