1972 March 721G Formula 1

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Chassis No. 721G/4


Model history:

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. 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 3 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 was in the process of constructing his own car; March was the only option available to him 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 2 commitments allowed; various other 701s went to privateers. The team constructed ten F1 chassis that year, in addition to F2, F3, Formula Ford and Can-Am chassis. Stewart gave the March chassis its first F1 victory in the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix and Amon took a non-championship race, but the works team did not win a Grand Prix. The 701 had distinctive wing-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've 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've built something more like the 711. For the 1971 Formula One season March Engineering came up with the remarkable 711 chassis, which had aerodynamics by Frank Costin and an ovoid front wing described as the Spitfire (for its shape) or 'Tea-tray' (for its elevation from the car) wing. The car took no wins, but Ronnie Peterson finished second on four occasions, ending as runner-up in the World Championship. Alfa Romeo V8 powered cars were occasionally entered, to little avail (following on from an equally unsuccessful Alfa program with McLaren).


(This and below: Lauda in 1972)
For 1972 three distinct cars were used, beginning with the 721, which was a development of the 711. Peterson and Niki Lauda then drove the disappointing experimental 721X factory cars (using an Alfa Romeo transverse gearbox and intended to have a low polar-moment, anticipating in some ways the much more successful Tyrrell 005/006). Frank Williams ran regular 711 and 721 customer cars for Henri Pescarolo and Carlos Pace. The 721X was deemed to be a disaster and abandoned, but the team saw a way out; customer Mike Beuttler and his backers ordered an F1 car, and the team produced the 721G in nine days (the 'G' standing for 'Guinness Book Of Records' as the car was built so quickly) by fitting a Cosworth DFV and larger fuel tanks to the 722 F2 chassis (not as desperate an experiment as it may have sounded -- John Cannon commissioned a Formula 5000 car which was built to a very similar scheme). The 721G was light and quick, and the works team soon built their own chassis. Had they started the year with these, wins may well have been possible. The 721G set the trend for future March F1 cars, which for the rest of the 1970s were essentially scaled-up F2 chassis. Meanwhile, March was going from strength to strength in Formula 2 (which became its spiritual home) and Formula 3.

Also, the German team Eifelland entered under its own name a 721 much-modified with distinctive and eccentric bodywork by designer Luigi Colani for its driver Rolf Stommelen. This car was extremely unsuccessful, and later reverted mostly to conventional 721 form and was used by John Watson to make his F1 debut for John Goldie's Hexagon of Highgate team.


(This and below: Motorsport magazine March 2009, p. 49 - 53)
In 1973 the four extant 721Gs were re-bodied and fitted with nose-mounted radiators and the crash-absorbing deformable structures that became mandatory that season; although no new chassis were built, they were re-designated 731s. Without significant STP money, the March factory team was struggling, running an almost unsponsored car for Jean-Pierre Jarier (who mainly concentrated on F2, winning the championship in a works March-BMW), while Hesketh bought a car for James Hunt to race. Jarier was replaced by Tom Wheatcroft's driver Roger Williamson, who suffered a fatal accident in Zandvoort (at which race March privateer David Purley attempted to rescue Williamson from his burning car). The Hesketh team, after an initial non-championship outing using a Surtees, bought a March which was developed by Harvey Postlethwaite and became a regular points-scorer, again hinting that there was little wrong with the basic concept of the 721G/731. Had March been able to focus on F1, greater success would have been possible. 1973 marked the first year where F2 became more important to March than F1, with the new two-litre rules marking the beginning of a long relationship with Paul Rosche at BMW. March undertook to buy a quantity of BMW engines each year in exchange for 'works' units for their own team; the BMW unit was standard-issue for the 732 F2 car and to use up the rest of the units March also manufactured a 2 litre prototype until 1975. Some of these had an astonishingly long life and were still competing (albeit much-modified) in Japan in the early 1980s.


Specific history of this car:

721G/4 was build in early 1972 as was raced at the following events:

• British GP, Brands Hatch - 15 Jul 1972, Niki Lauda, 9th overall
• German GP, Nürburgring - 30 Jul 1972, Niki Lauda, DNF
• Austrian GP, Österreichring - 13 Aug 1972, Niki Lauda, 10th overall
• Italian GP, Monza - 10 Sep 1972, Niki Lauda, 13th overall
• Canadian GP, Mosport Park - 24 Sep 1972, Niki Lauda, disqualified
• US GP, Watkins Glen - 8 Oct 1972, Niki Lauda, not classified


For the 1973 season the car has been updated to 731 specification.

• Argentinian GP, Buenos Aires - 28 Jan 1973, Jean-Pierre Jarier, DNF
• Brazilian GP, Interlagos - 11 Feb 1973, Jean-Pierre Jarier, DNF
• South African GP, Kyalami - 3 Mar 1973, Jean-Pierre Jarier, DNQ
• Spanish GP, Montjuich Park - 29 Apr 1973, Henri Pescarolo, 8th overall
• Belgian GP, Zolder - 20 May 1973, Jean-Pierre Jarier, retired (accident)
• Monaco GP, Monte Carlo - 3 Jun 1973, Jean-Pierre Jarier, DNF
• Swedish GP, Anderstorp - 17 Jun 1973, Jean-Pierre Jarier, DNF
• French GP, Paul Ricard - 1 Jul 1973, Jean-Pierre Jarier, DNF

Until today it is not completely clear where the car went after the 1973 season, but the car was not involved in professional racing any more. It is believed that the car remained in a collection in France, before it was subject to a complete restoration by MecAuto for a customer in Belgium in 1999. At this point a correct Cosworth DFV 232 was fitted and the March was fully prepared for historic racing. At this point the car has not been used much and was soon displayed at the race car museum of Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot. The few years later the car changed its hands and was returned into historic racing after a major technical check-up in 2007. In 2007 and 2008 the car has been successfully campaigned in the prestigious Masters series. In 2009 this specific car has been described in length in the March issue of Motorsport magazine.

The car is now for sale in race ready condition and comes with current FIA papers and full documentation.



Sources:
Motorsport magazine March 2009
oldracingcars.com
wikipedia.com
MecAuto
The Fairby Consultancy