In 1969, in Bicester, Oxfordshire, Max Mosley, Alan Rees, Graham Coaker, and Robin Herd founded March Engineering. The name "March" is an acronym derived from their initials, with each having a specific area of expertise: Mosley handled the commercial side, Rees managed the racing team, Coaker oversaw car production, and Herd was the designer. The company's goal was to build Formula 3 single-seaters to sell to private teams participating in the highly popular category in the United Kingdom at the time. Given the immediate success, by 1970, production expanded to increasingly high-performance cars, starting with Formula 2 and then moving on to Formula 1 with the first top-tier single-seater, the 701.
 |
| MARCH 751, Vittorio Brambila Monza, Italian GP 1975 |
March was constantly caught in a conflict between the need for continuous development and testing to remain competitive in F1 and the necessity of building simple, reliable cars for customers to ensure profitability. In the early 1970s, dozens of teams and drivers used cars from the Bicester factory, including some prestigious names such as Tyrrell, Penske, and Hesketh, and among the drivers, Lauda, Peterson, Amon, Pescarolo, and Hunt, to name a few. However, as the years passed and new models were introduced, March cars gradually lost competitiveness, becoming merely affordable and reliable single-seaters.
 |
| MARCH 751, Lella Lombardi Montjuïc, Spanish GP 1975 |
For the 1975 season, the British March Engineering team brought the 751 model to the track. Due to a limited budget and the team's chronic lack of funds, the car was little more than a slight revision of the previous 741. The 751 was also designed by Robin Herd and featured a monocoque aluminum chassis fitted with the classic Ford Cosworth DFV V8 engine (2993cc) paired with a Hewland DG 400 gearbox. Compared to the previous 741, the chassis was lighter and stiffer, while visually, the car still featured a large snowplow-style front wing, low and short side pods, and radiators mounted longitudinally at the rear. Above the driver's head was a large, squared-off air intake supplying air to the engine. For the 1975 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a special version of the 751 was fitted with a cantilevered rear diffuser designed to generate more downforce, though the solution was later discarded due to excessive bulk.
 |
| MARCH 751, Vittorio Brambila Silverstone, British GP 1975 |
In the 1975 season, the March team had two main sponsors: Beta, sponsoring Vittorio Brambilla's car, and Lavazza, backing Lella Lombardi's. In the last five races of the season, car number 10 was driven by Hans-Joachim Stuck, while a third 751 was prepared for Lombardi, racing with number 29.
 |
| MARCH 751, Hans-Joachim Stuck Watkins Glen, USA GP 1975 |
With the 751, Vittorio Brambilla secured the only victory of his career in Austria, at the Zeltweg circuit, under heavy rain, while Lella Lombardi became the first woman to score points in a Formula 1 World Championship. Ironically, in both cases, the races were cut short, meaning only half the points were awarded. As a result, March ended the season with just 7.5 points, finishing eighth in the Constructors' Championship. During the '75 season, a March 751 was sold to the American Penske team to complete the season after starting with the Penske PC1, with the car entrusted to the team's primary driver, American Mark Donhue.
Comments
Post a Comment