4 identities · 1970–1992

March Engineering to March F1

A customer-car factory that entered Formula One to advertise itself, and kept returning under new owners.

Seasons
1970–1992
Identities
4
Race wins
3
Titles
0 CWC · 0 WDC

Identity timeline

Each bar is a name this entry raced under. Select one to jump straight to its written history.

March was primarily a business selling racing cars to anyone with money, in every category from Formula Three to IndyCar. Its own Formula One entries came and went with the health of that business.

Written history by identity

1970 — 1977

1970–1977: instant grid, occasional wins

March Engineering

Customer chassis plus a works team; three wins.

Founded by Max Mosley, Alan Rees, Graham Coaker and Robin Herd, March supplied Formula One cars to customers including Tyrrell in its first season, an audacious start for a company barely a year old.

Jo Siffert won at the 1970 Austrian Grand Prix in a works March-Ford, and Ronnie Peterson won three races in 1976 for the works team. Formula One was withdrawn after 1977 in favour of the more profitable customer-car business.

1981 — 1989

1981–1989: back with RAM and then alone

March Grand Prix

Return with Robin Herd; Ivan Capelli's breakthrough seasons.

March returned in 1981 with RAM Racing running the entries, then properly in 1987 as March Grand Prix with Ivan Capelli. The Adrian Newey-designed 881 of 1988 was one of the prettiest and most efficient cars of the era; Capelli finished second in Portugal that year.

1990 — 1991

1990–1991: the Japanese sponsor takes over

Leyton House Racing

Japanese ownership and Adrian Newey's CG901.

Property company Leyton House, already the team's sponsor, bought it and gave it the name for 1990. Capelli led the French Grand Prix that year until three laps from the end.

Leyton House president Akira Akagi was arrested in a Japanese financial scandal in 1991 and the funding evaporated.

1992

1992: the last season

March F1

Name restored for a final, underfunded season.

The team reverted to the March name for 1992 with Karl Wendlinger and Paul Belmondo, scoring a single point. It withdrew before the end of the season and the company was wound up.

Every handover in this lineage

SeasonFromToNew ownerWhy
1981March EngineeringMarch Grand PrixRobin Herd / RAM RacingMarch returned to Formula One after a four-year gap, initially with RAM running the entries and then as a works team.
1990March Grand PrixLeyton House RacingLeyton House (Akira Akagi)The team's Japanese sponsor bought it outright and applied its own brand.
1992Leyton House RacingMarch F1March / managementAkagi's arrest in a fraud investigation ended Leyton House funding; the team reverted to the March name for a final season.

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Sources & citations

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