1984 March 84G Coupe

March Engineering and BMW's collaboration in 1981 resulted in the M1/C intended for North American motorsport competition. The car's best result that year was a fourth-place finish, proving the chassis' technical direction and its competitiveness. Adrian Newey updated the design for 1982 with revisions to the chassis, resulting in the 8G-1 Kreepy Krauly that won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1984. The final iteration was the 86G, created before it was rendered obsolete by Porsche's turbocharged onslaught

The March 86G was designed to accommodate a variety of powertrains, including the Kreepy's Porsche flat-six with its twin-turbo 3.3-liter F6 Porsche engine. Zero-to-sixty mph was accomplished in just over 3 seconds and the top speed was in excess of 200 mph.

This particular example is chassis number 84G.03 which left the factory on December 16th, 1983. It was sent to South Africa's Kreepy Krauly motorsport team and came equipped with a single-turbo Porsche flat-six and fitted with an electronic fuel injection system. It was backed by a five-speed Porsche Type 956 transaxle with a Limited Slip Differential, independent suspension, and four-wheel ventilated disc brakes.

Chassis 84'.03 made its racing debut in early April at the 500-kilometer Camel GT race at Road Atlanta, where it was driven by Sarel van der Merwe and Tony Martin. Wearing racing number 00, it never made the start due to a fire during the fourth lap of practice. Driver van der Merwe escaped injury but the car was badly damaged. It was sent back to the factory for a rebuild that included a new tub and a newly introduced 2.7-liter twin-turbo 'wet' Porsche engine. Upon completion, the car returned to the team but without a number plate, so team manager Ken Howe assigned it a new one – 84G.01 – mistakenly, as the number had already been taken, leading to confusion in the narrative of this car's history.

The team raced its sister vehicle, chassis number 83G.04, to a sixth-place finish at Riverside, a third at Monterey, a DNF at Charlotte, a win at Lime Rock, and a fifth at Mid-Ohio. March 84G.03 was finally ready in July for the Portland race where it quickly secured the pole position. Once again, a fiery fate brought the car's racing endeavors to a premature close, though this time without major damage.

Repairs to the car were not done in time for the Sears Point Race. Its next race was the 500-miler at Road America, where van der Merwe and fellow South African Ian Scheckter qualified fourth on the grid and finished in the same position. Another 500-mile race followed at Pocono, and the car improved its qualifying spot to third but again finished fourth. It then qualified fifth at the Michigan 500, though it failed to finish the race. The final race of the 1984 season was the Eastern 3 Hours at Daytona, where the South African driving tandem qualified the car second behind the Holbert Racing Porsche 962. Sadly, it returned early due to a wheel hub issue to finish sixth.

The Kreepy Krauly team had won nine top-six finishes plus the wins at the Daytona 24 and Lime Rock in the former Al Holbert March, 83G.04, earning the team fifth place, behind two March 83Gs and two Porsche 935/962 efforts.

The following season, Kreepy Krauly and Sarel van der Merwe qualified the car second at the Sunbank 24 at Daytona. Bud luck riddled the car once more and it ended up well back with a tire issue. Sarel, feeling the pressure of other GTP racing efforts, moved on to another team and raced the Corvette GTP.

Chassis number 84G.03 last racing effort under the Kreep Krauly banner was at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It received modifications to comply with FIA regulations, but it did no better than run mid-pack in both qualifying and the race.

The car was later sold to privateer Costas Los and run by Great Britain's Cosmic Racing. Now wearing #34, the March ran in Europe and the U.S., driven by Los and Christian Danner, joined later by Tiff Needell and others. 84G.03's first race under the Cosmic Racing banner was at Hockenheim, where it qualified in 16th place but failed to finish the race. The rest of the season was plagued with various mechanical issues interspersed with a few top tens.

At the end of the 1986 racing season, 84G.03 was retired from professional competition and would pass through several owners. In January 2018, it was acquired by its current caretaker and received an expert mechanical race preparation rebuild by the 901 Shop in Southeast Florida in 2019 with receipts totaling nearly $85,000 as well as an additional $20,000 in receipts from Amalfi Racing. The car has been repainted and currently wears the livery of the 00 that had been destroyed at Road Atlanta.

The car now has renewed full FIA Historic Technical passport and complete records of the restoration. It was shown at the 2018 Rennsport reunion, raced at the 2019 Monterey Motorsports Reunion, and both the 2019 and 2020 Heritage events at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona—colloquially called the 24 Minutes of Daytona—in January of 2019. Additionally, it has been brought to other significant historic meetings.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2020

In 1981 a completely new generation of sports racers saw the light of day. The reason for this was the Group C/GTP regulations that came into effect on January 1st of that year.

From sports car racing's golden years wearing the famous Kreepy Krauly livery of the 1984 Daytona 24 Hour-winning March 83G-Porsche, this is one of just two March IMSA and FIA prototypes built. It is powered by the 700 hp Porsche 956 flat-six DOHC engine.

This 200-mph prototype has raced at Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans, Road Atlanta, Road America, Pocono, Michigan, Hockenheim, Nurburgring, Mosport, Spa, Brands Hatch, Mt. Fuji, Shah Alam, Castellet, Monza, Silverstone, Norsring, Jerez, Laguna Seca and has competed in Le Mans Classic and the Daytona Heritage events as well. Chassis 84G-03 was eventually retired from contemporary racing at the end of 1986.