1970 March 701 Monoposto

In 1969 the British specialist March Engineering Company was formed. The founding partners were former privateer owner/driver Max Mosley, former Winkelmann Racing team manager and racing driver Alan Rees, production specialist and club racer Graham Coaker, and former McLaren and Cosworth chief chassis engineer Robin Herd. The name 'March' was formed from their collective initials. Mosley ran the commercial side, Herd was the designer, Alan Rees managed the in-house works racing team and Coaking supervised production at the factory.

The first design of the company - created by Herd - was the Formula 3 March 693, which made its debut in the hands of Swedish driver Ronnie Peterson late in 1969. The goal of the new design was to create a one-car/one-driver team around Austrian driver Jochen Rindt. But as the partners' ambitions for the company rose, Rindt was opted out, to remain with Team Lotus.

March was soon producing cars for Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford, CanAm, and Formula 1. Also, they were fielding their own works cars in F1, F2, and F3.

The March racing cars showed tremendous promise in Formula 1 competition. Regulations changes for the new season prevented the World Champion Tyrrell Racing Organization to continue its alliance with the French Matra Company. Instead, Ken Tyrrell purchased the March 701 chassis. Tyrrell fielded two March 701 chassis, and the March factory also fielded two sister 701s for their drivers, Chris Amon and Jo Siffert. A customer car was supplied to the Granatelli Brothers' SWTP Corporation for Mario Andretti's use, and another customer chassis went to Colin Crabbe's Antique Automobiles team to give Ronnie Peterson his Formula 1 debut. The March factory was busy, as new fewer than ten Type 701 F1 chassis were constructed that year.

This example is chassis number 701-2. At their racing debut in the 1970 World Championship at the South African GP, Jackie Stewart qualified pole position. Chris Amon was the second fastest in his works 701.

The 701 had stub-wing tanks on each side of the rectilinear monocoque chassis nacelle. This aerodynamic feature was created by Peter Wright of Specialised Mouldings Ltd and was an early move towards modern underwing 'ground effect' management.

This ex-Jackie Stewart car had one Championship Grand Prix win and one non-Championship GP win to its credit. IT started in pole position on two occasions.

In 2009, this car was offered for sale by Bonhams at the Exceptional Motorcars and Automobilia at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, CA. The lot was sold for the sum of $152,200 inclusive of Buyer's Premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2012