March Engineering

March

Full name	March Engineering
Base	United Kingdom
Founder(s)	Max Mosley Alan Rees Graham Coaker Robin Herd
Noted drivers	Chris Amon Jo Siffert Niki Lauda Ronnie Peterson Vittorio Brambilla Henri Pescarolo
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1970 South African Grand Prix
Races entered	207
Engines	Ford, Alfa Romeo, Judd, Ilmor
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	2
Pole positions	2
Fastest laps	4
Final entry	1992 Australian Grand Prix

March as a Formula One constructor

Formula One World Championship career
Entrants	Tyrrell Racing, Frank Williams Racing Cars, Hesketh Racing, Williams, several minor teams and privateers
First entry	1970 South African Grand Prix
Last entry	1992 Australian Grand Prix
Races entered	209
Race victories	3
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Pole positions	5
Fastest laps	7

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 achievement in other categories of competition, including Formula Two, Formula Three, IndyCar and IMSA GTP sportscar racing.

March Engineering began operations in 1969. Its four founders were Max Mosley, Alan Rees, Graham Coaker and Robin Herd. They each had a specific area of expertise: Max Mosley looked after the commercial side, Robin Herd was the designer, Alan Rees managed the racing team and Graham Coaker oversaw production at the factory in Bicester, Oxfordshire. The history of March is dominated by the conflict between the need for constant development and testing to remain at the peak of competitiveness in F1 and the need to build simple, reliable cars for customers in order to make a profit. Herd's original F1 plan was to build a single-car team around Jochen Rindt, but Rindt became dismayed at the size of the March programme and elected to continue at Team Lotus.

March's launch was unprecedented in its breadth and impact. After building a single Formula Three car in 1969 March announced that they would be introducing customer cars for F1, F2, F3, Formula Ford and Can-Am in 1970, as well as running works F1, F2 and F3 teams.

The Formula One effort initially looked most promising, with March supplying its 701 chassis to Tyrrell for Jackie Stewart. These cars were merely a stopgap for Tyrrell, who no longer had the use of Matra chassis and were in the process of constructing their own car; March was the only option available given clashing fuel contracts. In addition, the factory ran two team cars for Jo Siffert (Porsche were paying for his drive) and Chris Amon sponsored by STP. A third STP car, entered by Andy Granatelli for Mario Andretti, appeared on several occasions. Ronnie Peterson appeared in a semi-works car for Colin Crabbe when his works Formula Two commitments allowed; various other 701s went to privateers. The team constructed ten Formula One chassis that year, in addition to Formula Two, Formula Three, Formula Ford and Can-Am chassis. Stewart gave the March its first Formula One victory at the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix, and both Amon and Stewart took a non-championship race victories, but the works team did not win a Grand Prix. The 701 had distinctive aerofoil-profile fuel tanks at the side of the car designed by Peter Wright of Specialised Mouldings; Wright had been involved with BRM's abortive ground-effect programme in the late sixties and later worked on the groundbreaking Lotus 78. The 701's tanks though lacked endplates and skirts to help generate any meaningful ground effect. Robin Herd (in Mike Lawrence's history of the team 'Four Guys and a Telephone') described the 701 as essentially a good 1969 car and not what he would have done had he been able to run a small team for a star like Rindt - the 701 was designed and built very quickly and he claims he would have built something more like the 711.

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