1967 MERLYN F3 team

[roger saretzki]

wanted any informations about the 67 merlyn worksteam:

MARTIN STEPHANI , KURT KELLER , DAVE WALKER

rogerracing@web.de 004977422668

regards from germany

roger

[simon drabble]

why not speak to Clive at CRD. His brother founded Merlyn and he now runs it. He is very knowledgeable on anything to do with Merlyn

[roger saretzki]

hi simon
yes you are right , but i like to hear , maybe meet other people as well.
regards roger

[simon drabble]

are you after more anecdotal stories rather than factual detail?

[Michael Oliver]

Originally Posted by roger saretzki

wanted any informations about the 67 merlyn worksteam:

MARTIN STEPHANI , KURT KELLER , DAVE WALKER

rogerracing@web.de 004977422668

regards from germany

roger

Kurt Keller was an Australian-domiciled Swiss who tuned Dave Walker's engines in 1965. They hooked up again in 67 in Europe, both racing Merlyns as you have said.

A while back I did a lot of research about Dave Walker for a feature that appeared in Motor Sport. Unfortunately, because of space constraints, I wasn't able to include much of the information about his career before F1. Anyway, this is what I wrote about 1967:

"For 1967 he sunk all his money into a Merlyn Mk 10 and became an ‘F3 gypsy’, criss-crossing Europe with other Aussies such as Wal Donnelly, Barry Collerson and his old friend Kurt Keller to compete in races which paid start money, and living on the proceeds. His first significant breakthrough came in June when he scored a victory in the Grand Prix Adriatique, held on the daunting Preluk road circuit at Opatija, Yugoslavia, while he also visited numerous classic tracks such as Monza, Monthlery and Avus as well as other challenging road circuits like Vila Real and Montes Claros in Portugal."

I also have some results, from which it appears that he was entered variously by Merlyn Racing Team, P&M Preparations (who prepared his car) and under his own name as well:

1967 – Merlyn 10-Ford in F3 with Merlyn Racing Team (Kurt Keller, Martin Stephani) also Wal Donnelly in Brabham
April 9th Barca DNA,
May 9th, 4th at Imola (entrant David Walker) Merlyn Mk 10 Ford
May 21st, 8th at Monza (entrant David Walker) Merlyn Mk 10-Ford
May 28th, 5th at Monthlery (entrant Merlyn Racing Team) Merlyn Mk 10-Ford
June 4th, DNQ for final at Monza (crashed in heat)
June 24th, DNA for Coupe de Vitesse at Reims
June 25th, 5th in Avusrennen June
July 9th, DNF at Vila Real due to throttle cable
July 30th, Monte-Claros, Portugese GP pole position and 5th (Tim Cash killed)
August 18th, Preluk Circuit, Opatija, Yugoslavia, 1st and fastest lap
September 10th, 6th in Avusrennen (entered by P&M Racing Preparations) in Alexis-Ford
September 24th, Skarpnacks Aerodrome, 4th in Merlyn for Merlyn Racing Team
October 15th, Mallory Park, 8th for P&M in the Merlyn
October 21st, Oulton Park, 7th for P&M in the Merlyn
October 29th, Brands Hatch, DNF in Heat 2
November 12th, 9th at Jarama with Merlyn for P&M

I think most of these results came from Stefan Ornerdal's fantastic website (http://www.formula2.net/) which as well as F2 results has F3, FJunior, Targa Florio and Le Mans results.

If you want more flavour in terms of that year, you might find it interesting to know that Barry Collerson has relatively recently (e.g. in the past year or so) published a book about his racing experiences, called 'From Mount Druitt to Monza'. I haven't seen it but I would imagine he covers those years in some detail.

If you want any more information on Walker, please let me know, as I have lots!

Cheers

Michael

[roger saretzki]

hi michael
thank you very much for the informations . i am going to meet martin stephani next week . he still has got a lot photos and programs he like to give me .
i own the ex kurt keller merlyn , where i still have a lot of history .
have you got an idear how to get in contact with kurt keller or dave walker?
i am shure to know where the other f3 merlyns are .
my idear is to get all 3 merlyns and the drivers (and clive) together.
have you got any further informations---dokoments---fotos we can may share.?
thanks again at first.

[roger saretzki]

hi simon
i am after everything---programs---newspaper---fotos---storis---and---and
regards roger

[Michael Oliver]

Originally Posted by roger saretzki

hi michael
thank you very much for the informations . i am going to meet martin stephani next week . he still has got a lot photos and programs he like to give me .
i own the ex kurt keller merlyn , where i still have a lot of history .
have you got an idear how to get in contact with kurt keller or dave walker?
i am shure to know where the other f3 merlyns are .
my idear is to get all 3 merlyns and the drivers (and clive) together.
have you got any further informations---dokoments---fotos we can may share.?
thanks again at first.

Hi Roger

I am in contact with Dave Walker but I don't know if Kurt Keller is still around. Dave lives in Australia now. Send me a Private Message and I might be able to help with some contact details.

I'm afraid I don't have any photos from the 1967 season, sorry.

Michael

[roger saretzki]

hi michael
i hope you get may private message. if you may need any photos or other details
please let me know.
regards roger

[roger saretzki]

hi michael
i am not shure if you got get my message , here is my mail and tel.
rogerracing@web.de
tel-fax 0049 7742 2668

regards roger