Page 1 of 1 With the backing of Japanese real-estate company Leyton House, March returned to the Formula 1 grid in 1987. The car used was effectively an adaptation of the company's F3000 design, which was raced by Ivan Capelli, who had personally been backed by Leyton House as well. For the 1988 season, the effort was ramped up and a young Adrian Newey was hired to design a brand new car. Dubbed the 881 and powered by a Judd V8, it served into the 1989 season with impressive results.
At the third round of the 1989 World Championship, the Monaco Grand Prix, the March team finally debuted the new CG891. The CG in the type name referred to long-term March team manager Cesare Gariboldi, who had been killed in a road accident at the start of the year. While not a brand new design, CG891 was an evolution of the successful 881 and even featured the narrow-angle Judd EV V8 that had been designed specifically to suit Newey's needs.
Like the 881, the CG891 featured a very narrow monocoque chassis in order to optimise the aerodynamics. This was crucial as the teams could no longer rely on the hugely powerful turbocharged engines, which were banned from 1989 onwards. It was for this purpose that Newey had requested Judd to create a V8 with a V-angle of just 76º. The 3.5-litre unit was mated to a March developed and built 6-speed gearbox. The car was finished in the ever striking Leyton House colours with green accents provided by co-sponsor BP.
As in 1988, Capelli and Brazilian Mauricio Gugelmin were tasked to drive for the Leyton House March team. Despite the lessons learned with the 881 and the luxury of a purpose-built engine, the CG891 proved a disappointment. The suspension geometry had some flaws and bigger steps forward had been made by rivalling teams, many of whom had also adopted Newey's narrow design philosophy.
For 1990, Leyton House stepped up the backing and the March name was dropped. The CG901 used was nevertheless a further development of the Newey design and actually came very close to winning the French Grand Prix. Newey himself had already left the team by that point to join Williams, where he would go on to design some of the most successful Grand Prix cars of all time. The CG891 certainly was not one of those as its best results were three seventh place finishes. Page 1 of 1
Ultimatecarpage.com
> Cars by brand
> Great Britain
> March
Racing cars
> Formula 1
With the backing of Japanese real-estate company Leyton House, March returned to the Formula 1 grid in 1987. The car used was effectively an adaptation of the company's F3000 design, which was raced by Ivan Capelli, who had personally been backed by Leyton House as well. For the 1988 season, the effort was ramped up and a young Adrian Newey was hired to design a brand new car. Dubbed the 881 and powered by a Judd V8, it served into the 1989 season with impressive results.