March 722 - 732 - 742 - 752

[Dan Rear]

Allen, this was the 'legendary' Lepp/Ensign race, good entry, OTOH he broke the Silverstone short-track lap record. I've PMd you.

[mister44]

Sorry but I'm not up to speed on these protracted discussions, but maybe someone can shed some light.
I'm trying to locate March 742-1U, Tub number 732-72. This was last seen sold in UK around 1996, Elf blue with BMW & DG400.

[driftwood]

its overseas
car fully restored and not for sale
who are you why do you want to know where the car is

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

I'm still struggling to account for all the March 742s in French hillclimbs. The original cars to arrive (March/April 1974) were:

A Blue one - Jimmy Mieusset
A White one - Pierre Maublanc then sold a few weeks later to Philippe Hesnault
A White one - Hervé Bayard
A darker one - Régis Péchaire
An orange one - delivered 20 April to Maublanc replacing his white one.
(also Jean Lapierre had a '742' which was a 732 updated)

Echappement says of Maublanc's new car (following a comment about Martin being sceptical of his chances because his engine was so new)

So he had a 742 that arrived the day before with a longer nose, new wing and side radiators. But it's orange and there are no orange 742s unaccounted for.

Anyone know what sort of changes the factory made to the 742 early in 1974? How important were they to perforrmance and could it have made sense for Maublanc to buy a second car so soon?

Allen

I think this second Maublanc car may have been 742-29. Such a car is now in France which has a solid history back to Max Dufust. Various Echappement references make me believe this was Maublanc's orange car. However, this doesn't explain its colour - white in factory records and white when Dufust had it but orange in 1974.

[driftwood]

I know Jimmy Meusset car number i need to find the notes it never race din F2 only the mountain races
I appreciate March made cars with bodywork moulded in colour hence the refeneces but its easy to paint repaint a car or order new bodywork in a suitable colour
Why would Maublanc want orange body? new sponsor Beta tools??

Car changes 732 to 742
Tub uprights brakes wheels gearbox etc all the same
front wishbones look the same but are different dimension but easy swap over
new bodywork olus new rear wing monster bracket oil tank re positioned

[Chris Townsend]

Mieusset did Pau F2 race 1974. MN says it was with his hillclimb car.
Early season changes to the cars were as follows:
Front radiator replaced by ellipsoid nose. Oil rad left rear of cockpit, water rad right rear.
At Hockenheim 7 April works moved rear wing back 20" to balance the new nose.
First private team to make changes was Lewis with Sutcliffe's car at Hockenheim [actually making them on a 732] so kits available from early April and presumably all new 742s after then [all two of them...] in this form.
By Salzburg 2 June it seems as if the Equipe National team [Flammini and Truffo] is the only team still using front rad set up.
F1R says Harper had 29 at Pau but frankly find this hard to credit [sales record says 23 and 25]. Quester crashes badly at Hockenheim [in a car F1R say is chassis 30] so maybe that was not repaired in time and they borrowed a Maublanc car for Pau. [This not recorded in MN or AS so maybe in Autohebdo or Autosprint] Certainly the works had problems around this time with builds/repairs - all three works cars had new tubs for Pau as Depailler and Coulon had damaged theirs at Hockenheim and then Stuck's had to be reskinned after Depailler went off at Silverstone in testing.
Perhaps part of Harper's discontent with March was not simply that the works were running a different set-up but they couldn't rebuild his cars either.
So, 29 a candidate for your car, loaned by Maublanc to Harper for Pau.
Agree with Drifty that the bodywork can be repainted or replaced.
Indeed the only orange car in the record - apart from Stuck's which I think we can discount - is the car intended for Moser [27] which certainly ends up with Jean-Claude Favre, debuting at Salzburg 2 June.
Could Maublanc have used this early April and then sold it on to Favre?

One way to tell, maybe, some of your cars. Two of the Maublanc cars in the record are marked as having Schnitzer engines. In photos airbox will be on the left side of car, not right, as Schnitzer reversed the inlet and exhaust ports on the BMW head.

Chris

[driftwood]

when i posted my comment i had this nagging in my mind about Pau race as he lived in that area!!

742 car had short noses and a long low drag nose reffered to as "Rasta" nose
most cars you see today racing have this fitted
Schnitzer engine
BMW had homologated M12 engine for 1973 season and march had exclusive use that year
Schnitzer created there own 2 litre bmw motor using bmw m10 block and cast his own head which had inlet exhaust on the opposite side to the M12 head
732 into 742 is a simple update kit to fit so its not surpsing to see that some privateers/low budget teams would run older car in some races

[driftwood]

Blue one - Jimmy Mieusset= 742-13
team harper purley car was chassis 30 for 1974 i think they ditched march for chevron mid season
later de dryver raced the car

[Chris Townsend]

Team Harper
Sales record says 23 and 25
At Hockenheim in April F1R says Purley in 30 and Quester in 23, at Pau it gives Purley in 23 and Quester in 29. Quester's car at Hockenheim badly damaged
At Salzburg the team shows up with new Chevron B27s. One March goes to Titan Group [Leeds] and then to Graham Perry. The other's history is unknown

Chris

[driftwood]

chassis 30 was then used by B de Dryvver in later years

[allenbrown]

says who?

[driftwood]

I did!!!
if u paid any attention we discussed this car many pages back so lay off the sherry and keep up!!!

[driftwood]

go back to posts 103 ish and 120! page 7/8 ish

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by Jeremy Jackson

Don't want to muddy the water here chaps (honest), but Motor Sport this month says (or at least implies) that Jacobs car is chassis 30.

"The March 742 in which David Purley start the 1974 European F2 championship is back in Britain in the hands on Ian Jacobs....Purley only raced chassis 30 a couple of times before switching to a Chevron"

Goes on to say Jacobs got the car from Alain Prat, after it had spent most of it's life in French hillclimbs.

Originally Posted by driftwood

...
742 30 is now owned by mark dwyer from jacobs
this car wa srun by Berndard de dryver
i was with the carand owner talking at BH festival and this man came over and said this is my old car and i said u must be B de Dryver he was a bit stunned !!

So Bernard de Dryver thought that 742-30 was his car? How did he know? When did BdD drive a 742? The history Alain gave me takes the car back to about 1976.

Allen

[Chris Townsend]

MN gives chassis no for this car as the team spare for Brian Lewis run B&O team in 1975, MN 31.7.75 p. 9 chassis no given, so used by both Bourgoignie and de Dryver in 1975. De Dryver used at Magny Cours after creasing tub in 752-8 at the Ring. Kept car for Pau. Bourgoignie at Enna

Does this help...?

Chris

[driftwood]

i was also standing with the current car owner at brands last year when a man came over and said this is my old car
i said u must be B de D he looked at me in amazement and said how do u know that i said im nearly as sad and lonely as allen brown!

he told me his father was B & O agent and sponsored the car they bought from team harper when they went to get chevrons

[Dan Rear]

What about his '778'?

[allenbrown]

Thanks Chris. I got confused earlier - the history that Alain gave me was not for 742-30 (his car) but for 742-29 (the MRS/Dufust/Besnard/Galbrun car).

So if 742-30 goes from De Dryver also into French hillclimbs, do we know who ran it? The unexplained 742s on the mountains in 1976 are those of Rémy Gillis (Hart), Romain Feitler (Luxembourg; BMW), Jacques Terrien (maybe be a 712; Ford) and André Chevalley (Switzerland)

[Chris Townsend]

Does de Dryver keep 742-30 in 1976? Runs the van Hool in early F2 races which is, I suspect either this car or 752-8 with different bodywork. Then reverts to what is one of these cars for F2 and the G8 series.

The only doubt I'd have about the car going from Harper to B&O team is that the works records show it as B&O from new, suggesting that at best it was meant to be Harper's spare and they cancelled the order, leaving it lying around at March until early 1975

I thought Chevalley had a B35 in 1976 but that's only on the basis of F2 appearances?

Chris

[allenbrown]

I have him in the 752 in 1976 but that might be F1R-derived.

The Van Hool definitely wasn't a 752 - not without major surgery: photo. Gerard Gamand seemed sure the Van Hool was built from scratch and the body-off photos he dug up would support that.

[driftwood]

Van hool was his own design build
look at wheel/axels in photo they are not march and i cant see anything march ish on the underbody pics
i for 1 would not want to drive that car!
Andre chevaily - you can ask him directly he is not english speaker i pm u his address Allen

[Unit 2 Racing]

Just found this site www.jonathangreaves.com lot of photos F2 & F1 cars
in Guest Book John Gale of Sydney say he is the current owner of the
Ex Lauda F2 March 722-5. Rob Cooper had the car in 73, I knew Rob late 70's early 80's in FF2000, Always wondered were the March ended up.

[Chris Townsend]

Unit 2

have just sent you private message about Rob Cooper

Chris

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Unit 2 Racing

Just found this site www.jonathangreaves.com lot of photos F2 & F1 cars
in Guest Book John Gale of Sydney say he is the current owner of the
Ex Lauda F2 March 722-5. Rob Cooper had the car in 73, I knew Rob late 70's early 80's in FF2000, Always wondered were the March ended up.

That will be this one then?

[Gale Racing]

Steve,
Yes, I am fortunate enough to be the current owner of March 722-5, acquired June 07. Fantastic photo. The car is undergoing a rebuild at present, assisted by copies of original March drawings from Marchives and tips from a fortunately fastidious historic eligability officer in Australia (BM). Most difficult item to date has been obtaining uncracked inner driveshaft CV joints.
Research has illustrated the array of different engines used in the car from race to race and even from the Fri to the Sun at a particular race. Similarly, period photos and the March drawings issued progressively during 1972 identifies the progression in front and rear wing design , location and beefed up rear wing mounts in order to generate increased downforce. Bit of a shock finding a vast array of the original components (steering, suspension, drive shaft, wheels) on the car had cracks and fascinating to find it still fitted with the original 1972 fuel bags. My aim is to repair / retain as much of the original as possible (except for the fuel bags).
John Gale