Tag Archives: Herd

Showboating – March Cosworth 2-4-0

The story of March racing cars presence in Formula One was one of a meteoric rise in a blaze of publicity and a slow decline, the company founded in October 1969 had built six of the 22 cars that started the 1970 British Grand Prix, thanks to Ken Tyrrell who bought three March cars for 1970, after his split with Matra, a March driven by reigning Driver Champion Jackie Stewart started on pole position at the first race of the 1970 season and won the Spanish Grand Prix, the second race of the season.

In 1971 Ronnie Peterson joined the works team and finished second in the drivers championship with no wins but 4 second place finishes. It was not until 1975 that the works March team won it’s first championship Grand Prix when Vittorio Brambilla crossed the line first at the prematurely concluded 1975 Austrian Grand Prix and promptly crashed into the crash barrier on the slowing down lap. For 1976 Ronnie Peterson rejoined the March team and won the Italian Grand Prix which proved to be the team and manufacturers final championship Grand Prix victory.

March Cosworth 2-4-0, Silverstone Classic

Looking forward to 1977 the team was short of cash when designer Robin Herd, who had designed the all wheel drive Cosworth in 1969 after he left McLaren, came up with the idea of building a six wheel car with four driven rear wheels as a way to improve on the mildly successful 6 wheel, 4 steering wheels at the front, Tyrrell P3/4. Team co-founder Max Moseley was instantly sold on the idea realising a six wheel March would be an excellent vehicle to generate some publicity and attract potential sponsors.

The shortage of cash meant the team focused on building the 4 wheel drive train and attendant suspension and attaching it to the back of a 1976 March 761, according to the best sources available to me this was chassis #761/1 which after several accidents was on it’s third monocoque tub and renumbered 761/10 for it’s press launch in early 1977 where a white prototype was shown. Turns out that only two of the rear wheels were driven at the press launch because not all of the internal components of the drive train had been finished in time to be installed.

March Cosworth 2-4-0, Silverstone Classic

When all the parts were ready they were attached to the back of chassis #761/2 and Howden Ganley was employed to test the car with a strange mix of old body panels including a nose clearly marked Doug Sherison Racing that probably came from a March 76A Formula 5000 car.

Howden commented on his experience “I tested the 6-wheeler three or four times. I think once at Goodwood and the other times at Silverstone. There were a few teething problems with the transmission – but eventually it all worked OK. I do not recall Max ever asking me to go easy on the power. In fact the last test in the pouring rain at Silverstone I used full acceleration without encountering any traction problems. Quite impressive.”

March Cosworth 2-4-0, Silverstone Classic

The concept did indeed attract a lot of attention and in March 1977 Rothmans held a press day at Silverstone at which they announced they would sponsor Ian Scheckter who tested the all wheel drive system now attached to a much older chassis, painted in Rothmans colours, that started life in 1974 as a March 741 #741/1 was renumbered to become #751/4 in 1975 and renumbered again to become #761/5 in 1976.

Regrettably after testing the concept the March team decided to revert to running a conventional 4 wheel 2 wheel drive layout for their 761’s which were updated to 761B spec for the start of the 1977 season. Around this time a well known picture began circulating of Alex Ribeiro sitting in his Hollywood sponsored car fitted with the 4 wheel drive transmission and a third set of rear wheels, as can be seen in this link young Brazilian F3 pilot Nelson Piquet can hardly keep a straight face in the prank photo.

At the end of the season March folded it’s F1 operation, although it was continuing to make good money on the 2-4-0 from the Scalextric model rights and from a show car for which there was much demand. Despite the fact that the 6 wheel March 2-4-0 was never raced, so far as I know Robin Herd remains the only man to have designed two four wheel drive formula one cars neither of which raced, in period, a couple of years later Roy Lane managed to acquire the 4 wheel drive axles and fitted them to his March 771 which he used in the 1979 British Hillclimb Championship.

Roy won a round of the championship at Wiscombe Park but found that the advantages of the system in wet conditions were out weighed by the performance of the lighter 2 wheel drive in the dry and ended up converting his car back to a conventional layout during the course of the season in which he failed in his attempt to recapture the British Hillclimb Championship.

The car featured today was built up by Anthony and Jeremy Smith with one of the two original 4 wheel drive transmissions built and a chassis who’s in period identity has not been established. Jeremy is seen at the wheel of the car at Silverstone top and Goodwood middle. By complete coincidence this March 2-4-0, there is another at the Louwman Museum, is currently for sale at Speedmaster Cars in Wetherby.

My thanks to James Hanson at Speedmaster Cars who kindly answered my questions about the chassis of today’s featured car and to members of The Nostalgia Forum, not least Tony “Giraffe” Gallagher, who posted pieces of the March 2-4-0 jigsaw puzzle seen on this linked thread.

Thanks for joining me on this “Showboating” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

PS Anyone planning on going to next weeks Silverstone Classic please remember this year will be advanced ticket only available on this link.

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Magnesium DFV – Cosworth

Looking like a cross between a 1923 Grand Prix Voisin Labatoire and a 1954 Lancia D50 the Cosworth Formula Car designed by Robin Herd.

Cosworth, Donington, Park Museum

Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth, the geniuses behind the Ford Cosworth DFV Formula One engine that dominated Formula One from 1968 to 1982, decided to engage former McLaren designer Robin Herd build a car which would maximise the advantages of their powerful DFV V8 in 1968.

Cosworth, Donington, Park Museum

Herd took a more radical approach to the application of all wheel drive to Formula One than either Colin Chapman’s Lotus 63 or Jo Marquart’s McLaren M9A, although no where near as radical as the V12 powered MATRA MS 11 all wheel drive with hydraulic drive to all four wheels.

Cosworth, Donington, Park Museum

In order to keep the driver’s seat low and accommodate the drive shaft running from the motor and gearbox in the rear to the wheels at the front the driver was slightly offset from a central seating position.

Cosworth, Donington, Park Museum

The Cosworth was tested by Mike Costin, the ‘Cos’ in ‘Cosworth’, Brian Redman, Trevor Taylor and Jackie Stewart.

Cosworth, Donington, Park Museum

Trevor Taylor was penciled in to debut the Cosworth at the 1969 British Grand Prix, however as the testing had shown the car worked best with little or no drive to the front wheels the entry was withdrawn.

Cosworth, Donington, Park Museum

While the Cosworth shared the same 3 lite / 183 cui DFV motor design there was one essential difference between the Cosworth works unit and those supplied to Lotus and McLaren, the block was cast in magnesium to save weight over the aluminium cast DFVs supplied to Cosworth’s customers.

Cosworth, Donington, Park Museum

The Cosworth never did race, as BRM’s Tony Rudd had predicted after BRM’s experience with the all wheel drive BRM P67 all wheel drive would never work in Formula One, and after being demonstrated at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in 1970 it found it’s way to the Donington Park Museum where it is seen in these photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Magnesium DFV” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Third Time Lucky – McLaren Ford M7A

After the disappointments of the Ford Indy derived V8 and Serenissima V8 used in the 1966 McLaren M2B, the interim BRM V8 Formula 2 based McLaren M4B and BRM V12 powered M5A of 1967 Bruce Mclaren bought 5 Ford Cosworth DFV motors for the 1968 season which were used as in the integral structure of the McLaren M7A designed by Robin Herd, Gordon Coppuck and Bruce himself.

McLaren M7A, Donington Park Museum

The M7A’s and 3 derivatives, M7B, M7C, and Alfa Romeo powered M7D were entered by the works team from 1968 to 1970. For 1968 the works Formula One McLaren’s were sponsored  by Shell while the McLaren Can Am Cars were sponsored by Gulf.

McLaren M7A, Donington Park Museum

Reigning World Champion Denny Hulme left Brabham to join McLaren in 1968 and on the M7A’s debut at the non Championship Race of Champions at Brands Hatch Bruce came first and team mate Denny Third. The M7A’s came in first and second at the non Championship International Trophy at Silverstone with Denny Hulme came edging the team founder.

McLaren M7A, Donington Park Museum

On their third championship appearance, after Spain and Monaco, Bruce McLaren became the second man to win a Grand Prix bearing his own name crossing the line first to win the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. It would prove to be his forth and final Grand Prix victory.

McLaren M7A, Donington Park Museum

Denny Hulme won the Italian and Canadian Grand Prix towards the end of the season and finished third in the World Drivers Championship behind Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart, Bruce finished fifth in points standings. McLaren finished second in the constructors Championship behind Lotus but ahead of the Ken Tyrrell entered Matra driven by Jackie Stewart all three constructors used Ford Cosworth DFV motors.

McLaren M7A, Donington Park Museum

In 1969 Bruce only drove an M7A in South Africa where he finished fifth before focusing on the M7C, which will be the subject of a future blog, which featured a more substantial monocoque. Denny meanwhile continued driving the M7A throughout the 1969 season winning the season finale in Mexico. Denny finished the season 6th in points with Bruce 3rd, the Mclaren team finished 4th and last of the Ford Cosworth DFV powered teams in the constructors championship.

The M7B fitted with outrigged panier fuel tanks made only one works championship appearance at the 1969 South African Grand Prix where Bruce Mclaren finished 5th. He later sold the car to Colin Crabbe who’s Antique Automobiles team entered it in four races for Vic Elford who finished a best fifth in the 1969 Dutch Grand Prix.

In 1970 McLaren adapted an M7 to take a non stressed Alfa Romeo V8 which became known as the M7D the car recorded three DNQ’s, did not qualify, a not classified finish in France and a DNS, did not start, in the 1970 British Grand Prix. After the first four events Nanni Galli took over the M7D from Andrea de Adamich, recording the cars third DNQ at the Italian Grand Prix.

Privately entered M7A were driven in three races by Dan Gurney for All American Racers in 1968, best finish forth in the US Grand Prix, and Basil van Rooyen for Team Lawson in the 1969 South African Grand Prix where he retired with brake problems after completing 12 laps.

Thanks for joining me on this “Third Time Lucky” edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

06/07/13 Errata as Tim has pointed out below Bruce finished the 1960 season second in the World Drivers Championship and so his 3rd place in points in 1969 did not equal his career best as originally stated. Apologies for any confusion.

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Pete Aron’s Yamura – McLaren Ford M2B

With the decline in fortunes of the Cooper Car Companies Grand Prix program, for which he had been driving since his arrival in Formula One in 1958, Bruce McLaren decided that with the success of his McLaren M1 sports cars he could follow his former mentor Jack Brabham, who left Cooper to build his own Formula One cars in 1962, and start his own Grand Prix team in time for the new 3 litre / 183 cui regulations which came into effect in 1966.

Through 1965 McLaren built and extensively tested the M2A which was designed by Robin Herd and fitted with a 4.5 litre / 274.5 Oldsmobile V8 from the McLaren M1 program.

McLaren Ford M2B, Donington Park Museum

The monococoque of the McLaren M2A made extensive use of compressed balsa wood sandwiched between thin sheets of aluminium called Malite which made the monocoque much stiffer than a conventional monocoque as had been successfully used in the Lotus 25 and it’s successor the Lotus 33.

However Malite proved to be difficult to work with and repair and so for the McLaren M2B the use of Malite was restricted to the inner skins and upper surfaces of the monocoque which still offered significant advantages to the stiffness of the structure.

McLaren Ford M2B, Donington Park Museum

Originally the M2B was powered by a V8 motor derived from Ford’s Indy programme, but this proved way to heavy allegedly when connected to the gearbox the whole power train weighed as much as some rivals entire cars, while later on a much lighter and less powerful Serenissima motor was also tried.

The two engines are easily distinguished the Indy derived Ford has exhausts between the Vee formed by the eight cylinders as seen here and the Serenissima had more conventional side exhausts.

McLaren Ford M2B, Donington Park Museum

Bruce McLaren made 4 starts in the M2B, after retiring at Monaco he realised the Ford based motor needed less weight and more power so he secured the use of the Serenissima’s as an interim measure. At the British Grand Prix Bruce scored his first World Championship point in a car bearing his own name. By the US Grand Prix improved Ford based motors were back from Traco and Bruce came in 5th, before retiring at the Mexican Grand Prix which closed the season.

Although the season was a failure the team learned from their mistakes and made do with BRM 2 litre / 122 cui V8 motors for 1967 before becoming one of the three teams using the Ford Cosworth DFV, alongside Lotus and Tyrrell in 1968.

The white and green colour scheme of the M2B is said to have been mandated by a deal between Bruce and the producers of the John Frankenheimer’s film “Grand Prix” which required the McLaren M2B to look like the fictional Japanese “Yamura” which James Garners character Pete Aron drove to a championship win in the film.

Thanks for joining me me on this Malite Monocoque edition of “Gettin a li’l psycho on tyres”, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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Tribute to Ronnie – March 71B – 08

Resting in the entrance to Colin Bennett’s CGA Engineering in Warrington a couple of Saturdays ago was this March 71B belonging to Katsu Kubota a ‘gentleman driver’ who admires one of my heroes Ronnie Peterson.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

The car is painted in the colours used by Ronnie Peterson when he drove a similar car in 1971 to win the European Formula 2 Championship, a second tier open wheel series for cars powered by engines up to 1600 cc / 109.9 cui.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

Ronnie from Almby in the vicinity of Örebro, Sweden, secured the championship with four wins at Rouen, Mantrop Park, Flugplatz Tulln-Langenlebarn, Vallelunga and took five pole positions. Ronnie also secured second place in the World Drivers Championship in 1971.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

The ambitious March team took it’s name from founders Max Mosley, Alan Rees, Graham Coaker and Robin Herd, in 1969 they built a Formula 3 third tier open wheeler and the following year decided to take the racing world by storm by manufacturing vehicles to compete in Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford and Can-Am for customers to race, while also running factory teams in the Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula 3 open wheel series. Jochen Rindt originally agreed to race the works Formula 1 car but backed out when he realised the scale of the March undertaking outside Formula 1.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

This 71B was originally built to take part in Formula Atlantic races in 1971, Formula Atlantic also known as Formula B in the USA was a halfway house between Formula 3 and Formula 2 powered by 1600 cc / 109.9 cui motors that were not in such a high state of tune as either Formula 3 or Formula 2 and therefore much cheaper to run. The 71B chassis has many components that are interchangeable with the March 713 and 712 chassis built for Formula 3 and Formula 2 respectively.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

At present I know nothing about the history of chassis 71B – 08 prior to Mr Kubota’s ownership if you did please chime in below or send me an e-mail, my e-mail address can be found in my ‘Blogger’ profile.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

I understand wooden gear stick knobs are popular in the racing community because they save weight, the Porsche 917 famously used a gear stick knob made of balsa wood.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

The motor fitted to Mr Kubota’s March is an out of period 1,975 cubic centimetres /120.5 cui Ford Cosworth BDG 4 cylinder unit with an aluminium cylinder block of a type that was sanctioned in Formula 2 from 1972.

March 71B, CGA Engineering

Last year Mr Kubota became the first driver from Japan to win an FIA sanctioned Formula One race in the Historic Formula One series, this year he will also race the genuine March 761/06 as raced by Ronnie Peterson to victory in the 1976 Italian GP, a car that will appear in a future blog once I have seen it run later in the summer.

My thanks to Colin Bennett for having me and several members of The Nostalgia Forum visit his fascinating workshop and to Tony Gallagher for organising the trip.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Tribute to Ronnie Peterson edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

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