Project Four Racing
| Founded | 1976 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1980 (merged with McLaren) |
| Team principal(s) | Ron Dennis |
| Former series |
European Formula Two Championship British Formula 3 Championship BMW M1 Procar Championship |
Project Four Racing was a British Formula Two and Formula Three team. The team was founded in 1976 by former Brabham mechanic Ron Dennis. At the end of 1980, the team merged with the McLaren Formula One team.
The team name lived on in the designation of the McLaren F1 race cars from 1981 to the 2016 season, all McLarens, starting with the John Barnard designed McLaren MP4/1, had carried the "MP4" name. MP4 standing for "Marlboro Project 4" and later "McLaren Project 4". From 2017 onward, after the departure of Dennis from McLaren, the team began to designate their cars with the name "MCL".
The team competed in the European Formula Two Championship. Driving a BMW powered Ralt RT1, Eddie Cheever recorded the teams first race win in 1977 in the second of two races making up Round 4 at the Nürburgring on his way to finishing second for the round. Cheever then went on to win Round 8 at the Rouen-Les-Essarts circuit. He finished the season in second place, 12 points behind René Arnoux.
Over the next three seasons, Project Four would win just four more races before the team moved into Formula One with its last win coming thanks to Andrea de Cesaris who won Round 8 of the 1980 season at Misano in Italy driving a March 802-BMW.
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