Page 1 of 1 March had a stellar debut season in Formula 1 with Jackie Stewart scoring a victory in the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix in one of the 11 March 701s built. This proved a hard to act to follow and the focus gradually shifted towards the construction of the much more profitable Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars. In 1972 and 1973, the Formula 1 cars had been derived from the Formula 2 design and that was again the case when the March 741 was readied for the 1974 Formula 1 World Championship.
A wholly conventional machine, the 741 was built around an aluminium monocoque, which used the Cosworth DFV engine and Hewland gearbox as fully stressed members. Compared to earlier designs, the 741 boasted a slightly longer wheelbase and wider track. The radiators were mounted laterally and a full width nose that doubled as a front wing was fitted. A tall air-box was mounted on top of the engine and the rear wing featured long end-plates.
Running on a shoe-string budget, March Engineering could only afford to run lead-driver Howden Ganley in the opening two races of the 1974 season. From the third round, his seat was handed to Vittorio Brambilla, who came with considerable backing from tools manufacturer Beta. The second 741 was manned by Hans-Joachim Stuck. Both Brambilla and Stuck showed promise at times but also destroyed five chassis between them. March ended the year ninth in the Constructor's Championship with six points.
One 741 was used briefly in the 1975 season, while the other had a lengthy career in hill-climbs and sprint races. Although on paper only two March 741s existed, at least five replacement tubs were needed for which the original chassis numbers were re-used. This was a useful method of wasting time on paperwork and more importantly money on requesting new carnet documents. Page 1 of 1
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March had a stellar debut season in Formula 1 with Jackie Stewart scoring a victory in the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix in one of the 11 March 701s built. This proved a hard to act to follow and the focus gradually shifted towards the construction of the much more profitable Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars. In 1972 and 1973, the Formula 1 cars had been derived from the Formula 2 design and that was again the case when the March 741 was readied for the 1974 Formula 1 World Championship.