March 71BM

[allenbrown]

Chris

I also have the 71BM invoice schedule from March records. Not Adam this time - a certain furry animal from the Gloucestershire area. Gubelmann definitely had a 71BM early in the season but then the SCCA results start calling it a 712M instead. I'll check when it changes.

Allen

[Chris Townsend]

David

21 is right. Adam's record does in fact include that car, which was March's rent-a-drive chassis.

It's interesting that finally we are starting to unearth all these March sales records.

[allenbrown]

Ted's records show 14 71BMs, all the way up to 71BM-17 but omitting 13 and, oddly, 6 and 7.

Most went to dealers: 1, 5, 8 and 10 to Gordon Dewar in Canada and 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 16 to Grimaldi in the US. 71BM/17 went to Paul Deetens in Belgium but with a note that it was sent to Montreal for show.

The only entries which show eventual owners were 71BM-2 to Bill Gubelmann, 71BM-3 to Max Mizejewski and 71BM-12 to Matt Spitzley. However, I have some colours and some build dates if anyone can unearth a 1971 US FB entry list that identifies car colours.

Allen

[Jeremy Jackson]

More recently (early to mid 1990s) 71BM-12, -15 & -17 were raced in Historic events, I noted:

71BM-12: Hall & Fowler in 1996
71BM-15: Richard & Chris Smith in 1993
71BM-17: Paul Gardner in 1990, Steve Hartley 1991-93

[Chris Townsend]

14 71BMs?!!*!*

Does this mean that virtually all the 712Ms that appear in the USA and Canada after 71 are likely to be BMs? And where do they all race? Even with Gubelmann we only have 7 running in the pro series in 1971, of whom none are Canadian. [So do the four Dewar cars run in Canadian series with F5000?] Are the other 3 just running SCCA regionals?

Chris

[allenbrown]

A quick scan of autocourse.ca suggests 3 71BMs running in the pro Canadian series and my post above shows 6 in the US series. That compares with 4 and 9 cars going to that country's dealer.

I'd be surprised if anyone was keeping a spare car in those days so I'd have to conclude that the other four cars only ran in regional races in Canada or in SCCA Nationals in the US. I can check the SCCA points tables to find out if anyone scored points in a March.

Note that the Canadian series was in its first year as FB only - the FA cars had been dropped after 1970. The March drivers in 1971 were Ian Coristine (71BM), Derek Johnson ("March") and Randy Fraser ("March") - all from Monteal.

Allen

[allenbrown]

I went March hunting in the 1971 SCCA Nationals.

To recap, all we found in the Pro series were:

March 71BM - Ron Dykes, Joe Grimaldi, Bill Gubelmann, Dale Lang, Bob Lazier, Max Mizejewski
March 705 - Mike Hayman

SCCA Nationals 1970 FB class

NorthEast Div
Charlie Gibson, March 705, New York, 4pts

South East Div
(results missing)

Central Div
No Marchs

North Pacific Div
No Marchs

Midwest Div
No Marchs

South Pacific Div (12 Oct 1970)
No Marchs

South West Div
(results missing)

SCCA Nationals 1971 FB class

NorthEast Div
John Girdler, March, New York, 10pts
Steve Mandy, March, New England, 4pts
Seb Barone, March, New England, 4pts
Joe Grimaldi, March, No NJ, 2pts
[in FC: Fred Ashplant, March, No NJ, 30pts)

South East Div (10 Oct 1971)
Steve Mandy [again], March Ford, Florida, 8pts

Central Div
Geoffrey Freeman, March, Western Ohio, 1pt
Dale Lang, March, Land O'Lakes, 1pt

Midwest Div
Bob Lazier, March, C, 33pts
Bob Criss, March, C, 4pts

North Pacific Div
No Marchs

South Pacific Div
(results missing)

South West Div
(results missing)

So the new names are John Girdler, Steve Mandy, Seb Barone, Fred Ashplant, Geoffrey Freeman and Bob Criss. One or two of those could be hire deals, shared cars or 705s but bear in mind FB grids were typically quite large so there could have been more 71BMs that never scored points. Either way, this must account for the three missing US cars.

Allen

[allenbrown]

Here's another couple. Michael Rand, who qualified third in the NE Div in his Brabham BT29 (ch no 36), was a DNS at the ARRC in a 71BM. Also, Chuck Dietrich, who won Central Div in a Brabham, was a DNF at the ARRC in a 71BM.

Allen

[allenbrown]

And Fred Ashplant's "March 70B" was at the 71 ARRC too - so we can take him off the 71BM possibles list.

[Bryan Miller]

Allen and anybody else,

EXACTLY , how is the chassis plate stamped on the 71 B cars , I suspect it will be 71B-XX M , can anybody confirm as this may well be the key to more than a few mysteries.

To the best of my knowledge , but stand corrected , the last cars that should have an '' M '' in the chassis number would be 1971 poss. some 1972 .

The reason being in the first place March were building spaceframe cars for F.Ford and F3 which were designated on the chassis plate as '' S '' and then the monocoque cars had '' M '' in the chassis plate , these cars being the F2 cars.

Or does anybody have evidence of post 1971/2 cars with M in the plate .?

Bryan.

[allenbrown]

As described to me from the March records, they were 71BM-XX. Sorry, no idea what the plate says.

Glad to discover I'm not talking to myself!

Allen

[Chris Townsend]

I could have sworn that we had covered these derivatives of the 712M before, but can't find the thread anywhere. (You were correct and the posts have now been added in above, from the B29 thread - JT)
Anyway, Allen told me 12 built
with the following known chassis owners, and I think this might have come from Adam having a sales record of some kind

2 Bill Gubelmann
3 Max Mizejewski
12 Matt Spitzley

Well, with a bit of diligence here are the other owners

Bob Lazier
Ron Dykes
Chuck Dietrich
Michael Rand
Derek Johnson, delivered June [Possibly w/o Trois Rivieres]
Ian Coristine, delivered June
Randy Fraser, delivered July
Wilson Southam, delivered August
Dale Lang, delivered August

Mizejewski must shed his car quickly because by June he's turning up with a new Lola T240
[and in 1973 Bob Newton has a 71BM3 which might mean somethiing]

Anyway, do Allen and Adam have a record with delivery dates and or colours, because with those we can probably put most of these 12 to owners.

Chris

[Adam Ferrington]

Chris,

The March sales listing I have shows 13 71Bs made, but unfortunately in this case there is no chassis by chassis listing.

[David McKinney]

Presumably No.1 was the STP car crashed by Dave Morgan?

[Chris Townsend]

The Morgan car wasn't a true 71BM I suspect, even though that was how it was sometimes described in programmes. Morgan's first appearances in 1971 are in a 702 that is described as the car used by Ganley at Mantorp in 1970 - F1R calls this 702 [S]. The 71A or 71BM that he then turns to is actually the works prototype 712M [1] on it's first appearance AS says it's the works F2 prototype back from testing in S.Africa. This car eventually goes to the Brambillas for F2 [a terrible fate for a race car...] and the MN report actually mentions that it's still got Morgan's sponsorship on it when it appears at Vallelunga for the GP de Madunina. Morgan then shows up with 713S [1], before switching in September to Ed Reeves' BT35 [8] for some races.

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by Chris Townsend

I could have sworn that we had covered these derivatives of the 712M before, but can't find the thread anywhere.

It was on the Chevron B29 thread, right here. (And those posts have now been added in here - see my note on Chris' post above - JT)

Originally Posted by allenbrown

Ted's records show 14 71BMs, all the way up to 71BM-17 but omitting 13 and, oddly, 6 and 7.

Most went to dealers: 1, 5, 8 and 10 to Gordon Dewar in Canada and 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 16 to Grimaldi in the US. 71BM/17 went to Paul Deetens in Belgium but with a note that it was sent to Montreal for show.

The only entries which show eventual owners were 71BM-2 to Bill Gubelmann, 71BM-3 to Max Mizejewski and 71BM-12 to Matt Spitzley. However, I have some colours and some build dates if anyone can unearth a 1971 US FB entry list that identifies car colours.

I think Mizejewski may have been a dealer so he may have been racing a car he had in stock.

Allen

[John Turner]

Simon Perkins 71BM at Silverstone, 15 October, 2005:-

[Bryan Miller]

A John Dunham is advertising with photo's a 71B on www.racecarsdirect.com
Bryan.

[Steve Wilkinson]

March 71B 06

This is a monocoque car with a Richardson tuned Hart 1600 engine.

It was bought in October last year by Simon Harratt who has refurbished the car to a delightful standard.

[wbmoore]

Allen......

Finally got around to looking at the tag....... it reads: 71BM-9. I've looked for an AM number on the tub but cannot seem to find it. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places. Would it be in the same location as a 722 ?

The car was in the hands of Marc Banher for a whille..... not sure how long. I bought it from the guy whom bought it from him. He had it for a few years. I bought it from him in June of '05. He said he had a logbook(s), but never came up with them.

Hope it shows up in the records. Thanks for the input. brad moore.

[Chris Townsend]

Brad

Sold via Joe Grimaldi in 1971 we think this might have been Ron Dykes's car, then to Peter Halsmer and Bill Hill, but this needs confirmation of the colour of Dykes's car in 1971. The other possibility for this car is that it was the one belonging to Bob Lazier

chris

[Ted Walker]

The March Chassis thing is worse than most ,as they offered this replacement tub serviceYou sent your damaged tub back to the factory and they either repaired OR sent you out another one. I was told that they built about 40 of them.

[allenbrown]

Bill Hill still has his car so it can't be that one.

[Chris Townsend]

Forgot Hill still had the 'ex Dykes' car, but then we have a problem since HU9 is the only black gel coat in the build list we have. Also, Dykes has to be a relatively early season car. 11 delivered 13 July 71 is too late to accomodate his first race appearance.
If HU9 has its original gel coat, and Hill has Dykes's car, then the Dykes car has to be something earlier. This suggests to me that 6 and 7, left blank in the build record, might well have been built and that Hill's car is one of these

chris

[allenbrown]

Hill's recollection of his car as being ex-Dykes is not exactly 100% in my opinion. Any memory from 30 years ago could be faulty. Another potential spanner is the possibility that Dykes bought a stock car and painted it black rather than ordering a black one.

Brad - that log book is worth chasing down. It's possible Mark kept a copy or that he would be able to tell you more about it.