March 781

[driftwood]

I see on ORC.com the 781 cars raced mainly in the UK F1 aurora series driven by Bruce Allison and Guy Edwards and won 2 or 3 times
Later Val Mustetti drove 1 car
1 car is still alive and well the other has allegedly been shunted and broken up for parts
So can anyone shed some light on this fact
anyone have fotos of the cars to post so far I have located from Marchives webpage Patrick Neve foto in marlboro livery

[Chris Townsend]

Chassis 1 new for Edwards at Gold Cup, 24 March 78. Spare not used.
I have notes that I saw this plate on Edwards' car before practice at Oulton 24 June 78. [I found some of my AFX/G8 series notes!!]

Second chassis, so presume no 2, new for Lees at Thruxton 29 May 78 and still with F2 tank inside it, as he had to stop for fuel.

At the race at Oulton Edwards stuffed his car in practice so used the newer car [which Allison had been driving, putting him back in the old 75A/751]. He kept that car for the rest of the season and Allison used the old repaired one which had already had two substantial shunts in its short life.

I believe that in 1979 Gerd Biechteler got chassis 1 and Musetti chassis 2.

Chris

[driftwood]

Originally Posted by Chris Townsend

At the race at Oulton Edwards stuffed his car in practice so used the newer car [which Allison had been driving, putting him back in the old 75A/751

This was the old Thursdays GA car then later the ultramar livery car with dfv fitted but still really 75A plated car.

Originally Posted by Chris Townsend

He kept that car for the rest of the season and Allison used 781#1the old repaired one which had already had two substantial shunts in its short life.

Thanks for info. Did Musetti shunt his 781 later and it was "written" off, broken for spares?

[allenbrown]

No Musetti did not shunt 781/2. It became a spare parts donor for various projects until enough of it was scraped together to become a show car in the late 1980s for a Swedish museum. It was looking immaculate at the Nurburgring auction in August 1998 (lot 252).

The other 781 also lived much of its life in an obscure museum on the banks of the Rhine still with its Aurora stickers on the side. It was also sold off by Brooks about the same time.

Now put the tub down and step away please.

One slight correction to what Chris said - 781/2 was built for Neve to race in the 1978 Belgian GP but Ecclestone would let him practice and the car went Aurora instead.

[driftwood]

I now have some bodywork!!

[Chris Townsend]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

One slight correction to what Chris said - 781/2 was built for Neve to race in the 1978 Belgian GP but Ecclestone would let him practice and the car went Aurora instead.

How many fuel stops was he planning to make in a full length GP? [Assuming he'd qualified...] If it had F2 fuel cell in it on Whit Monday they sure as hell hadn't changed it back from an F1 spec the previous weekend.

Bichteler's car a rather attractive orange and white IIRC from contemporary engravings and watercolours...

Chris

[driftwood]

probably expected the motor to break driver to fall off or knew BE would kill off the car starting !!

[allenbrown]

Originally Posted by Chris Townsend

How many fuel stops was he planning to make in a full length GP? [Assuming he'd qualified...] If it had F2 fuel cell in it on Whit Monday they sure as hell hadn't changed it back from an F1 spec the previous weekend.

My notes say "The car was returned to Bicester to have smaller tanks fitted and then appeared at BF1 event at Thruxton a week after the GP". I sound like I was confident when I wrote that...

Here's a question. What was Richard Simms' 1982 Lotus Esprit built out of? Clue: there may be a connection.

[Dan Rear]

Allison won the July 78 AFX race at Mallory, possibly the best Brit F1 race ever held??? This was the race following the Oulton one Chris described, so 781s won 2 consecutive F1 races.

[allenbrown]

http://www.oldracingcars.com/f1/car.php?CarID=781/1

http://www.oldracingcars.com/f1/car.php?CarID=781/2

[driftwood]

any fotos guys??

[Dan Rear]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

My notes say "The car was returned to Bicester to have smaller tanks fitted and then appeared at BF1 event at Thruxton a week after the GP". I sound like I was confident when I wrote that...

Here's a question. What was Richard Simms' 1982 Lotus Esprit built out of? Clue: there may be a connection.

Was the Simms Esprit built on the RAM/Thursdays/Magee/Edwards 75A/751. Just a guess Allen!

[allenbrown]

No, I think it was built on a March 78-type tub, maybe the tub from the 781.

[driftwood]

need autosport write ups to determine this
Simms had 1 skoda with march 74s chassis and GA fitted i cant off hand recall the esprit
i need to look thru that special saloon website www.racing70s.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

for fotos to jog my memory
Simms had all the GA engines and parts from Ford so likely he ran GA in the esprit

[allenbrown]

To give you a head start, AS at the time said that his Lotus Esprit was a March "78S" tub mated to a Cosworth GA and fitted with the running gear from the 781. Simms won first time out in the car at Aintree in August 1982.

[driftwood]

well thats a mess car!!
74s tub is the 78s part cant see why u would fit the 781 rear end as the uprights are the same/ similar as 74s dfv car used
i reckon the skoda became the esprit Simms was mates with jim evans?

[driftwood]

To give you a head start, AS at the time said that his Lotus Esprit was a March "78S" tub mated to a Cosworth GA and fitted with the running gear from the 781. Simms won first time out in the car at Aintree in August 1982.
Just had contact with Kim evans son he said the esprit was 762 based car with John Leeek chassis he and jim built car for Simms the car then went to Suggie
Im asking many more questions on the 762 used the cars etc over the next 48 hrs i hope to get some answers
so if you have any questions on any car Jim fiddled with let me know here or PM so i can collate a hit list
im going to use some of the blue yonder car fotos for some references again if u have any AS snippets to query or fotos to throw at him let me know/post them?

[driftwood]

Looking for some under body photos of the Aurora Mopar RAM March 781 cars
Im suer there are some folk here who where present at teh races in those days
1 car was entered in a GP in Marlboro livery but Bernie would not let it run
Just reading 78 AS and these cars where front runners in Aurora that year

sadly Bruce Allison got the short straw of the cars & had to hand over his chassis at 1 race to Guy Edwards who had shunted his car in practise

1 car was built with small fuel tank and it ran out of fuel whilst leading a race
how could the team even consider entering a car with a small fuel cell?