March 811

March 811

March 811
Constructor:	RAM Racing
Designer:	Robin Herd Gordon Coppuck Adrian Reynard
Successor:	March 821
Technical specifications
Chassis:	aluminum
Wheelbase:	2692 mm
Weight:	582-632 kg
Tires:	Michelin , Avon
statistics
Driver:	17. Eliseo Salazar 17. Derek Daly 18. Derek Daly
First start:	US Grand Prix West 1981
Last start:	1981 Canadian Grand Prix
Starts Victories Poles SR 9 - - -
World Cup points:	-
Podiums:	-
Leadership laps:	-

The March 811 was a British Formula 1 racing car that was used by the RAM Racing team in the Formula 1 World Championship in the 1981 season . Regardless of its model name, the car had no relationship with the traditional racing car manufacturer March Engineering . The car did not score any world championship points. Some of the total of six copies of the 811 also appeared occasionally in other racing series.

background

The March 811 was designed for RAM Racing.

RAM Racing was a British racing team that has been involved in various motorsport classes since 1975. In the second half of the 1970s, the focus of the team was on the Aurora AFX Formula 1 series , a purely British championship that was held based on the Formula 1 regulations. RAM won the championship title of this series in the 1980 season . In the Formula 1 World Championship, however, RAM initially only appeared sporadically. In 1976 , 1977 and 1980 , it used purchased or rented racing cars from other manufacturers such as Brabham , March and Williams at selected Grand Prices as a pure customer team . After RAM and racing driver Emilio de Villota had won the Aurora series in 1980, team boss John Macdonald decided to regularly take part in the Formula 1 World Championship from 1981. In contrast to the Aurora series, the use of customer chassis was no longer permitted there; each team had to build their own racing cars. In autumn, however, RAM did not have the logistical and technical requirements for the construction of a Formula 1 car.

That is why the team joined forces with the British racing car designer Robin Herd , who had been one of the founders of March Engineering in 1969 and was still one of the owners of the established racing car manufacturer. Herd and RAM founded the March Grand Prix company in the fall of 1980 , which was legally and organizationally independent and had nothing to do with March Engineering. A technology transfer with March Engineering, where Formula 2 cars were still manufactured, did not take place. The cars were eventually built at March Engines , another independent company that was also owned by Robin Herd.

For reasons of better publicity, the car that the stove designed for RAM was given the type designation "March", and the model designation 811 also followed the nomenclature used by March Engineering, according to which the first two digits documented the year of creation and the third digit the racing formula, for which the car was intended. In motorsport literature, the March 811 (like its successor 821 ) is not seen as a member of the traditional March family; rather, he is occasionally described as "March who was not a March".

RAM Racing entered the races of the 1981 Formula 1 season under the name March Racing Team.

Construction: "March builds a Williams"

With ball nose: March 811 RM06, the latest version of the 811

Conceptually, the March 811 was a copy of the Williams FW07 , which in turn was heavily based on the Lotus 79 . Observers pointed this out in the formulation: “March builds a Williams.” During the year, the basic construction was “tinkered with”. One after the other three designers worked on the car who followed different philosophies. Robin Herd, the creator of the design, was followed for a few weeks by Gordon Coppuck , who was replaced by Adrian Reynard in the early summer of 1981 .

The 811 was considered to be a very simply constructed car, had an aluminum monocoque and sheet pile wall made of magnesium. Robin Herd used internal torsion bars at the front and rear. A naturally aspirated Cosworth (DFV) engine connected to a Hewland five-speed gearbox (type FGA) served as drive . The brakes came from AP , the tires initially from Michelin and later, from the French Grand Prix , from Avon . Observers got the impression that the Avon tires improved the handling of the 811.

Since Herd, unlike Patrick Head at Williams, did not use expensive, but lightweight plastics for the 811, the weight of the first three chassis at 632 kg was well above the permitted minimum weight. Coppuck tried to reduce the weight by using thinner aluminum sheets. This increased the ability of the 811 to twist: on chassis 04 and 05, the monocoque warped while driving. Only the sixth chassis, which debuted at the British Grand Prix , reached the minimum weight of 580 kg.

Review of March 811

John Macdonald, the team principal of RAM Racing and customer of the 811, was disappointed with the racing car: “When I saw that March GP was producing a copy of a Williams, I knew they weren't serious. A copy is never as good as the original. "Herd did it" in the typical way for March: You saved on every nook and cranny instead of using the same material as Williams. "Outside observers were of the opinion that the March 811 was not only poorly constructed, but also carelessly assembled. On the occasion of the Brazilian Grand Prix , in which suspension parts fell from the car, team boss John Macdonald told the press: "This car is a pile of shit, and that's official". Derek Daly described the vehicle as a “sleeping car” and named the poor quality as the main reason to leave the team for Theodore the following season .

production

March Engines built six March 811s between January and June 1981.

The individual chassis

• Chassis 811 RM01 was the prototype and the heaviest chassis in the entire series. It was not initially intended for racing. Nevertheless, the works team reported it to two races for Derek Daly after the originally intended insert chassis (RM02) suffered considerable damage at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
• Chassis 811 RM02 was used by Derek Daly in the first two world championship races of the year. It was later temporarily replaced by the RM01 and RM05 chassis.
• Chassis 811 RM03 was identical to the RM02. It was the first emergency vehicle for Daly's teammate Eliseo Salazar. After four races it was replaced by the RM04 chassis.
• Chassis 811 RM04 was a replacement for 811 RM03. It was easier, but a lot more twisting. It appeared at the Belgian Grand Prix and was driven twice by Salazar and then in two other races by Daly.
• Chassis 811 RM05 essentially corresponded to the RM04. It was also very easy to twist and was only used twice by Daly before taking over Salazar's RM04 from the Spanish Grand Prix . At the beginning of 1982 the British racing team Colin Bennett Racing took over the RM05. He used the car in three races of the British Formula 1 Championship in 1982 and in two races of the Can-Am Championship in the summer . The driver was Val Musetti . The car was then sold to the Canadian team Gordon Lightfoot Racing , which entered it in four Can-Am races for John Graham .
• The RM06 is the last of the 811 series. It was created on the basis of the work of Adrian Reynard, was again lighter, but also better drivable than the previous copies. RM06 appeared at the British Grand Prix and was driven by Daly until the end of the season. This car was also taken over by Colin Bennett Racing in 1982.

Overview: Use of the individual chassis in the 1981 Formula 1 season

Grand Prix	811 RM01	811 RM02	811 RM03	811 RM04	811 RM05	811 RM06
USA (West)		Derek Daly	Eliseo Salazar
Brazil		Derek Daly	Eliseo Salazar
Argentina	Derek Daly		Eliseo Salazar
San Marino	Derek Daly		Eliseo Salazar
Belgium				Eliseo Salazar	Derek Daly
Monaco				Eliseo Salazar	Derek Daly
Spain				Derek Daly
France				Derek Daly
United Kingdom						Derek Daly
Germany						Derek Daly
Austria						Derek Daly
Netherlands						Derek Daly
Italy						Derek Daly
Canada						Derek Daly
Las Vegas						Derek Daly

Races

Formula 1 world championship

Formula 1 debut in March 811: Eliseo Salazar

In the 1981 Formula 1 season, the March 811s were used by the March Grand Prix Team , which was actually the RAM Racing team. The team was sponsored by the Guinness Brewery in Ireland for most of the races of the year . The cars were painted black and had sponsor lettering in white.

The team started the season with two drivers. For the first car, RAM signed the Chilean Formula 1 debutant Eliseo Salazar . Robin Herd wanted to give the second car to the Italian Teo Fabi ; RAM team boss John Macdonald, however, put the Irish Derek Daly through. Macdonald later publicly regretted this choice.

The team made their debut at the 1981 Grand Prix of South Africa , a race that did not have world championship status. For political reasons, only the teams organized in the FOCA started; Ferrari , Alfa Romeo , Osella and Renault were missing. In an environment consisting of only 18 drivers, Daly finished 11th and last; Salazar retired after 18 laps due to a gearbox defect.

Five weeks later the World Championship began with the US Grand Prix . Salazar was reported to the first six world championship runs. He only qualified for the San Marino Grand Prix ; in all other races he failed due to qualification or pre-qualification. In Imola , he retired after 38 completed laps due to an engine failure. After two more non-qualifications, Salazar gave up his commitment to RAM and joined the rival Ensign team with his sponsor . After Salazar's departure, the second March chassis was not reassigned; the team continued the season with just one car.

Daly competed in all races of the 1981 season for RAM. At the start of the season he drove twice each with the RM01, RM02 and RM03 chassis. He did not qualify with any of the chassis. It was only when he took over the RM04 chassis previously used by Salazar for the Spanish Grand Prix that he qualified for a race for the first time. In Spain he was sixteen, five laps behind. From the Grand Prix of Great Britain, Daly had access to the new chassis RM06, which had been revised by Adrian Reynard and which was equipped with Avon tires. With the new chassis Daly (apart from the last race of the season in Las Vegas ) regularly qualified. His best starting position was position 17 in Great Britain; here he achieved the team's best result of the year with seventh place. However, the car was still unreliable. Four failures were due to defects in the technical area.

RAM Racing did not score a world championship point with the March 811.

British Formula 1 Championship 1982

Colin Bennett Racing started the 811 RM05 in the first half of 1982 with the Italian racing driver Val Musetti in the British Formula 1 Championship. The championship consisted of five races held on British circuits. During the year, seven teams with a total of 10 drivers took part in the series. Musetti contested the first three races of the season. At the International Gold Cup in Oulton Park , Musetti had to fail for technical reasons. Musetti finished third in the subsequent Caribbean Airways Trophy at Brands Hatch , in which only six drivers participated, and he finished second in the Rivet Supply Trophy in Thruxton . Musetti skipped the remaining two races of the British Formula 1 Championship.

Can-Am series 1982

Colin Bennett Racing

In the summer of 1982 Colin Bennett Racing left the British Formula 1 championship and instead engaged in the North American Cam-Am series. Vehicles with 5.0-liter eight-cylinder engines derived from series engines were permitted there, as were Formula 1 cars with 3.0-liter racing engines. Colin Bennett Racing competed in two races of this series in the summer of 1982. The team reported the March 811 RM05 for Val Musetti and the 811 RM06 for Arnold Glass. The team made their debut in the fourth race of the season at Elkhart Lake . Musetti qualified as the best driver with a 3.0-liter car for ninth place on the grid. He didn't finish the race because the power transmission broke on the ninth lap. Glass started the race from 28th position and finished 17th. In the subsequent race in Trois-Rivières , Canada , Glass missed the qualification, while Musetti was 12th on the grid. Musetti did not finish this race either. After that, Colin Bennett Racing gave up participation in the Can-Am series.

Gordon Lightfoot Racing

After the race in Trois-Rivières, Colin Bennett sold the March 811 RM05 to the Canadian team Gordon Lightfoot Racing. It started with John Graham in the last four races of the season. Graham finished in all races. His best result was eighth place in the final race at Laguna Seca Raceway .

Race results in Formula 1

driver	No.	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	Points	rank
1981 Formula 1 season																	0	-
E. Salazar	17th	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNF	DNQ	DNPQ
D. Daly								16	DNF	7th	DNF	11	DNF	DNF	8th	DNQ
D. Daly	18th	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNPQ

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

literature

• David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (English)
• David Hodges: Racing Cars from A – Z after 1945 , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7
• Mike Lawrence: March, The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend . MRP, Orpington 2001, ISBN 1-899870-54-7 .

Web links

Commons : March 811  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Model history of the March 811
• All race results of March 811 on the website www.racingsportscars.com
• History of March 811 with numerous illustrations on the website www.petrolicious.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 , p. 147.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945 , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 165.
3. ↑ David Hodges: AZ of Grand Prix Cars 1906-2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 , p. 196.
4. ^ ^{A b c} Mike Lawrence: March, The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend . MRP, Orpington 2001, ISBN 1-899870-54-7 , p. 136.
5. ↑ David Hodges: A – Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001 , 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 , p. 241.
6. ^ ^{A b} Mike Lawrence: March, The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend . MRP, Orpington 2001, ISBN 1-899870-54-7 , p. 260.
7. ^ ^{A b} Mike Lawrence: March, The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend . MRP, Orpington 2001, ISBN 1-899870-54-7 , p. 141.
8. ^ David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945 , Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 , p. 166.
9. ^ ^{A b} Mike Lawrence: March, The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend. MRP, Orpington 2001, ISBN 1-899870-54-7 , p. 137.
10. ^ ^{A b c} Mike Lawrence: March, The Rise and Fall of a Motor Racing Legend. MRP, Orpington 2001, ISBN 1-899870-54-7 , p. 139.
11. ↑ DRIVER WM: Always worse . In: Der Spiegel . No. 3/1982 , January 18, 1982 ( spiegel.de ).
12. ↑ Overview of the individual chassis on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed April 17, 2014).
13. ↑ Statistics of the Can-Am race in Elkhard Lake on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed on April 25, 2014).
14. ↑ Statistics of the Can-Am race in Trois-Rivières on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed on April 25, 2014).
15. ↑ Statistics of the Can-Am race in Laguna Seca on the website www.oldracingcars.com (accessed on April 25, 2014).