Page 1 of 1 Although still using the March name, the March 821 Grand Prix car was the work of the John Macdonald owned RAM Racing team. Macdonald had partnered up with March founder Robin Herd a year earlier but had fallen out over the poor performance of the March 811, Herd had conceived for the 1981 season.
With the help of Adrian Reynard, the 811 had already been improved somewhat, so it was no surprise that he was now tasked with the development of the new 821. It was not a clean sheet design and like the 811 before it, it was inspired by the dominant Williams FW07. The 821 featured a stronger yet lighter monocoque chassis and the in-board suspension was no longer actuated by rockers but by pull-rods instead. The Cosworth DFV and Hewland FGA drivetrain was retained.
Five March 821s were built, including one example that was leased to privateer Emilio de Villota. The works, Rothmans liveried cars were raced by Raul Boesel and Jochen Mass, who was replaced late in the year by Rupert Keegan. While clearly an improvement, the March 821 was really what the 811 should have been in 1981, so the team was still behind the curve. At several races, the 821 struggled to qualify with de Villota failing to even make it through pre-qualifying in one of the five races he entered in. The best result of the year was a seventh place finish for Mass, which was one spot shy of a point.
A new car was built for the 1983 season, which was now entered as the RAM March but the poor results continued. The Ram Racing team soldiered on in the World Championship through to the 1985 season but no points were ever scored in 65 race starts. Page 1 of 1