The Formula 3000 International Championship was a motor racing series created by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) in 1985 to become the final preparatory step for drivers hoping to enter Formula One. Formula Two had become too expensive, and was dominated by works-run cars with factory engines; the hope was that Formula 3000 would offer quicker, cheaper, more open racing. The series began as an open specification, then tyres were standardized from 1986 onwards, followed by engines and chassis in 1996. The series ran annually until 2004, and was replaced in 2005 by the GP2 Series.
Formula Two is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name returned in 2017 when the former GP2 Series became known as the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
Lola Cars International Ltd. was a British race car engineering company in operation from 1958 to 2012. The company was founded by Eric Broadley in Bromley, England, before moving to new premises in Slough, Buckinghamshire and finally Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, and endured for more than fifty years to become one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of racing cars in the world. Lola Cars started by building small front-engined sports cars, and branched out into Formula Junior cars before diversifying into a wider range of sporting vehicles.
Luis Pérez-Sala Valls-Taberner is a Spanish former racing driver who competed in Formula One, Formula 3, Formula 3000 and Touring Cars. He was also the team principal of HRT Formula 1 Team during the 2012 F1 season.
Pacific Racing was a motor racing team from the United Kingdom. Following success in lower formulae, the team took part in two full seasons of Formula One, in 1994 and 1995, entering 33 Grands Prix without any success.
March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better success in other categories of competition, including Formula Two, Formula Three, IndyCar and IMSA GTP sportscar racing.
Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s under the Ralt name. Tauranac won the 1954 NSW Hillclimb Championship in the Ralt 500.
The 2001 International Formula 3000 Championship was the 35th season of the second-tier motorsport feeder championship of Formula One and the 17th season to be held under the series name. It featured the 2001 FIA International Formula 3000 Championship, a one-make motor racing series, recognised by the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), as the second highest class of competition of single seater racing cars. A total of 37 drivers representing 13 teams contested 12 races, starting in Brazil on 31 March and ending in Italy on 15 September as they competed for the Drivers' and Teams' Championships.
The 1999 International Formula 3000 season was the thirty-third season of the second-tier of Formula One feeder championship and also fifteenth season under the International Formula 3000 Championship moniker which was an FIA sanctioned motor racing title for drivers of Formula 3000 racing cars. The title was contested over a ten-round series from 1 May to 25 September 1999. This was the first F3000 season in which every International Championship race took place during a Formula One weekend and supported the Grand Prix itself.
The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. For many years it formed the premier non-championship Formula One event in Britain, alongside the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch.
Ross Cheever is a retired American race car driver and is the younger brother of former Formula One driver and Indianapolis 500 champion Eddie Cheever. Born in Rome, Cheever spent most of his career in Japan, where he won the Japanese Formula Three championship in 1987 and raced successfully in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship for eight years.
The 1986 International Formula 3000 Championship was contested over an eleven-round series. A total of 28 different teams, 71 different drivers, 7 different chassis and 2 different engines competed.
Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines.
Brian Smith is a racing driver from Argentina. Smith was the 1995 Argentine Formula Renault champion, before competing in the British Formula 3 Championship and eventually International Formula 3000, entering ten races at that level. After a brief appearance in the World Series by Nissan in 2001, and a subsequent hiatus from the sport, he moved to Argentine touring car racing.
The March 87B was an open-wheel formula race car, designed, developed and built by British manufacturer March Engineering, for Formula 3000 racing categories, in 1987.
Reynard Motorsport was the world's largest racing car manufacturer in the 1980s. Initially based at Bicester and latterly at Reynard Park, Brackley, England the company built successful cars in Formula Ford 1600, Formula Ford 2000, Formula Vauxhall Lotus, Formula Three, Formula 3000 and CART.
The 37th BRDC International Trophy, was the opening round of the 1985 International Formula 3000. The inaugural was held at Silverstone, on 24 March.
The inaugural Grand Prix F3000 de Belgique, was the sixth round of the 1985 International Formula 3000. This was held at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, on 2 June.
The 24th Gran Premio del Mediterraneo, was the eighth round of the 1985 International Formula 3000. This was held on the Isle of Sicily, at the Autodromo di Pergusa, Enna, on 28 July.
Roy Peter Lovenkjaer Olsson is a former professional racing driver, now a chiropractor, resident in England. Olsson competed in the British Formula Two Championship in 1992, finishing sixth overall in the Drivers' Championship. He also raced several times in the British Formula 3000 Championship in 1991 and the International Formula 3000 Championship in 1994 and 1996.
