16 replies to this topic

[David M. Kane]

If I remember correctly Tony Brise drove an Argo in F3. Who were some of
the competition that year and how did he do? I know he had great success with Elden in FF, but my memory is a little blur on his F3 effort.

The gentleman who maintains Charlie Warner's Shadow DN-9 and my March 741 was his mechanic, an Englishman named Brian Stewart who now resides here in
Indianapolis. He is fairly modest so I have a hard time get info out of him.

[Adam F]

IIRC Tony Brise drove a GRD 372 in 1972 F3 races. He raced in a team with his brother Tim, sponsored by the Montessa motorbike concern. I think there was some family connection with motorcycles through his father John Brise, a former 500/F3 racer.
In 1973 he drove a March 733, and it was in this car that he really made his name.

Argo F3 cars were from a later era (?the connection being Jo Marquart, the designer)

[Tim Murray]

Not Argo - they weren't around at that time, but there is a link - read on. Following a long karting career and much success with Elden and Merlyn in FF, Brise was snapped up by Bernie Ecclestone to drive the semi-works Brabham F3 in 1972. It was not a good car, so in mid-season Brise bought a GRD, the same car as current F3 top dog Roger Williamson, and gave him a hard time for the rest of the season.

He was fairly successful in F3 the following year, regularly battling with the likes of Alan Jones, Brian Henton and Jacques Laffite, but also acquired a reputation for wild driving and inconsistency. Unable to fund a move up to F2 for 1974, he re-engined his F3 car and did Formula Atlantic, scoring a brilliant win in the first round of the British championship.

This brought an offer to join Teddy Savory's new Modus team, working with designer Jo Marquart, who later set up the Argo marque. After a tough first year together in 1974, Brise and Modus were totally dominant in the early rounds of the 1975 Atlantic championship, and the F1 offers started coming in.

I watched several of those early season Atlantic races, and he really was in a class of his own. Such a shame he was not able to fulfil his potential.

[Tim Murray]

Sorry for duplicating some of your post, Adam - I didn't spot that you had beaten me to it.

[Chris Townsend]

Brise's Modus was an M1 converted to run as a Formula Atlantic in 1974.
Even if erratic he was still clearly outstanding. People he gave a hard time to in
Atlantic included Alan Jones, Jim Crawford - then very much regarded as a coming
man and with a Lotus contract in his overalls - and Dave Morgan, who had been
competitive in F2 and gone back a category through lack of money. In 1975
British Atlantic was again more competitive than F3 and that season really made
two careers - both tragically brief. Brise dominated the early races before debuting
for Williams in Spain, then Gunnar Nilsson showed he had what it took at the end
of the year with a Chevron B29. Jo Marquart, who founded Argo, was the designer
of the Modus, but Argo didn't exist before 1979. Their first driver in British F3 was
Roberto Guerrero.

British F3 in 1973 wasn't wildly competitive. Ian Taylor was one of his main rivals,
along with Russell Wood and Richard Robarts [who briefly graduated to F1 with
Brabham the following year]. Alan Jones who should have been in the frame was
hampered by having a works GRD drive and a lack of development.

Tony's brother Tim went from driving F3 to a rather more illustrious career as a
rally driver in the late '70s. If memory serves he won the Esso-BTRDA championship
in 1978 with an Escort RS1800.

[Eric McLoughlin]

I saw Brise race in the "Players No.6 Grand Prix" at the Phoenix Park in September 1975 in his Formula Atlantic Modus. I don't think he won on that occasion.

[WGD706]

Roebuck talks about Tony Brise in his Autosport online column........
In 1974 and '75, I worked for Graham Hill's F1 team, and still recall so clearly that freezing November night when I heard on the TV news that 'a light aircraft had crashed in fog while en route from Marseille to Elstree'. To anyone in racing, those words meant, 'en route from Paul Ricard back home', and I knew that the Hill team had been due to finish Ricard testing that day.

A few minutes later the phone rang. It was Chris Amon. "Did you hear the news? I think it's Graham..."

The following week I went to Hill's funeral, and also to that of Tony Brise, his young star driver, whom I had come to know well. It was sad, but inevitable, that in all the huge coverage of the loss of Graham, that of Tony was somewhat overlooked. If Hill had been a World Champion, Brise undoubtedly was going to win the title one day.

I confess I didn't much like him at first; he seemed rather too pleased with himself. But through that season of 1975, secure in a Grand Prix team, he matured remarkably, never losing that innate confidence in his ability yet also developing the ability sometimes to laugh at himself. He had talent to throw away, and knew it, but quickly came to see that he was at base camp, and no more.

I have several tapes recorded with Brise, and you don't need to get far into them to realise again how much the nature of F1 has changed. On one, Tony was about to go off to the German Grand Prix at the 'old' Nurburgring: "I can't wait to get there," he said. "For me, the Nurburgring is God's gift to racing drivers..."

Although only 23, he had expected to make it to F1 much earlier, having shown himself more than ordinarily promising through several seasons in the lower formulae. And here, you appreciate, is an unchanging aspect of the business.

"There you are,” Tony said, "plodding your way through Formula Ford and F3, with everyone saying you're doing it the right way. And someone comes along, turns in the right drive at the right time – and suddenly he's the man of the moment, getting offers from all over the place."

By his own admission, that was exactly how it panned out for Brise. "I came into Fl from Formula Atlantic, and I'm sure there are loads of people in F2 who feel resentful about that, who reckon they've made it higher up the ladder than I have, yet not been given an Fl opportunity.
And I can't really say I blame them."

Even then, you had to be fashionable. But there wasn't the need for quite such an ascetic way of life as most drivers follow now. "I decided," Brise said, "that 1975 was going to be my make-or-break year. You can't go motor racing for ever - if you're not successful, all you do is drag around the place, conning money from people here and there, and generally becoming a bum.

"I decided to change my approach. I resolved, for example, not to touch a drink for 24 hours before a race - or go out late the night before a race..."

From the beginning of his Grand Prix career, Tony showed himself to be a man of natural pace; his style had that ease apparent in all real talents, and there was no doubting, either, the presence of a real racer's mentality. In the early laps of the British Grand Prix, at Silverstone, he dealt with such as Reutemann and Andretti, then proceeded, until problems intervened, to take a second a lap from a bunch - including Emerson Fittipaldi, Jody Scheckter, James Hunt, and Niki Lauda - which was contesting second place.

At Zandvoort he was astonishing. Before the start of the race he had never once driven an F1 car in the wet, yet before long was urgently signalling team mate Alan Jones to get out of his way - so he could lap him...

Perhaps, though, the race in which Brise made the strongest impression was the inaugural Long Beach Grand Prix, for Formula 5000. It had a remarkable entry, but the likely winners were Mario Andretti and AI Unser Sr, in Viceroy Lola-Chevrolets, and Brian Redman in Carl Haas's similar car. They were not expecting to be led by Brise.

The race was run in two heats and a final, and Tony won the first, from Andretti, muscling by the great man at the end of Shoreline Drive. Mario was surprised, to say the least. Years later, he remembered that race vividly: "Jeez, that guy Brise...he was something special.

A week afterwards, back in England now, Tony was still high on the moment. "How," I asked him, "did you dare sit it out with Andretti at a place like that?" He giggled. "Well, you might not believe this, but I thought it was Unser! If I'd realised it was Mario, I might not have tried it... "

A World Champion in the making? No question about it.

[Frank de Jong]

Originally posted by Chris Townsend
Jo Marquart, who founded Argo, was the designer
of the Modus, but Argo didn't exist before 1979. Their first driver in British F3 was
Roberto Guerrero.

Slightly OT, but since TNF is used for research these days, and you'll never know when a book on Argo will be written, a little correction is appropriate perhaps.
David Kennedy drove an Argo JM1 in 1977.

In 1979, the flexible JM3 was used by Guerrero and the Racing Team Holland, nearly finishing young Arie Luyendyk's career in the process.

Back to Tony Brises F3 career.

[theunions]

What's the correct pronounciation of "Brise?"

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by WGD706
.....At Zandvoort he was astonishing. Before the start of the race he had never once driven an F1 car in the wet, yet before long was urgently signalling team mate Alan Jones to get out of his way - so he could lap him.....

Very revealing, WGD...

Although I could ask "What tyres were they both on, what setups did they have?" it's still a remarkable feat.

And thanks for your insights. Tremendous stuff, and if you ever feel you should share the rest of that tape with someone, please don't forget us here!

[David M. Kane]

Brye...ice, in one movement...

[Ray Bell]

Slightly off topic, but not so much seeing as WGD706 has opened the door to F1 and F5000...

Just how many ex-Tony Brise cars are there about? I seem to recall being told this of quite a number...

[WGD706]

Ray
Sorry, I must not have phrased my post correctly; I was quoting Nigel Roebuck's statements about Tony Brise. It's he who has those tapes......wish he'd open his vault to TNF.
Wonder if Doug has any influence with him?
Warren

[Ray Bell]

Ahh... I see where I made my mistake...

Thanks for the clarification.

[neville mackay]

Way back in 1970 I recall being taken down to the Brise's garage in Dartford to buy a kart. It was a Brise Montessa - the garage was called Montessa Motors - complete with butterfly steering wheel and nylon wheels. John Brise - Tony's dad- completed the deal and we spotted, lurking in the background, other bits of kart machinery that belonged to Tony who was at that time one of the leading karters in the land. It was like an aladdins cave to an impressionable 12 year old.

I used to stare at that kart for hours on end - to me it was just about the most exciting thing I had ever seen. Eventually I drove it, and thus began many happy years of kart racing around the tracks of Southern England. On the way we frequently encountered another Brise brother - Simon - who was a quick and smooth junior but seemed very much to be in the shadow of his more illustrious brothers. IIRC he disappeared from the scene shortly after Tony's death.

[David McKinney]

Were there three Brise brothers then? I only remember Tony and Tim

[neville mackay]

Tony and Tim were the only ones to step up into car racing and thus impinge on the wider public consciousness. But Simon did exist - and hopefully still does!

Neville