Description:

MARCH 711-2 F1

Driven by Ronnie Peterson, the “Super Swede”, and the first ever F1 race car for Niki Lauda, this car is an amazing piece of motorsport history.

With it’s revolutionary aerodynamic body and highly developed chassis, the MARCH 711 was one of the more influential Formula 1 cars of its era. Named for founders Max Mosley, Alan Rees, Graham Coaker, and Robin Herd, MARCH first appeared in 1969 with an ambitious plan to compete in as many as five different racing series. By the 1971 season, however, the company came to place greater emphasis on its F1 endeavours.

Having learned from their experiences of the March 701 during 1970, the engineers were ever more convinced that aerodynamic considerations would be the key to success. With an improved chassis design, the succeeding 711 was wrapped in an unusual shell designed by the brilliant aerodynamicist Frank Costin. The most eccentric feature of the bodywork was a front airfoil mounted on top of the nose that resembled the wing of a Spitfire fighter plane, a downforce-inducing component that was soon nicknamed the Spitfire (or the Tea Tray).

This car, Chassis number 711-2, was just the second Works car produced for MARCH-STP’s 1971 F1 campaign, and it began the season as the primary car for driver Ronnie Peterson. Peterson followed an inauspicious 10th-place debut at the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami with several competitive outings to follow, finishing 2nd at both the Monaco Grand Prix in May and at the Rhein-Pokalrennen in June, and 4th a week later at the Netherlands Grand Prix at Zandvoort. In August, Peterson assumed driving a newly built car (chassis number 711-6) would be better, and this example was relegated to spare duties, but its performance during the season’s first half was a major factor in Peterson’s 2nd place finish in the championship that year.

This important March enjoyed one more notable superlative during 1971 at the Austrian Grand Prix at Zeltweg on 15 August. A promising young driver who was fairly new to the March-STP team was given his first chance at a Formula 1 event... That driver, the legendary NIKI LAUDA, would go on to forge an impeccable racing career, winning the Drivers’ Championship three times. Notably, chassis 711-2 is the first car that he ever drove in a Formula 1 race!

The car used a 2,993 cc Ford-Cosworth DFV V-8 engine with dual overhead camshafts and Lucas mechanical fuel injection, good for around 450 hp. A five-speed manual Hewland FG400 transaxle was used, front and rear independent suspension with coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers, and four-wheel ventilated disc brakes.

With only 6 of these chassis presumably build, this car was sold in 1973 to a Swiss enthusiast. He kept the car for many years, and commisioned a proper restoration in 1996. The March was then put to work, contributing to a 1999 victory in the COPE Classic GP (the European F1 classic series), including strong finishes at Silverstone, Monza, Nürburgring, Dijon, Zolder, Zandvoort, and Salzburgring. The car has not been used since.

This special piece of motorsport history is for sale including a set of wheels, several spareparts and body moulds. 

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