<< Prev Page 2 of 2 As a result of the often spectacular failures, BMW North America realised there was not much value in carrying on their IMSA program. In addition to the four cars delivered ahead of the season, two more had been supplied to replace damaged chassis in the summer of 1986. Of the surviving cars, one was sold to Conte Racing, who campaigned the car with a Buick engine during the 1987 season. For the 1988 season, Gianpiero Moretti acquired the two spare chassis and fitted one with a naturally aspirated Buick V6 and the other with a turbocharged version of that same engine. Moretti also bought the Conte Racing car for his MOMO team.
Now known as the Buick Hawk, the ex-BMW GTP Marches were raced throughout the 1988 season. Moretti even developed a short-tail, high downforce body better suited to the twisty tracks in North America. It was not a highly successful venture as the Buick V6 engine did prove very powerful, particularly in turbocharged form, but also equally fragile. Towards the end of the year, Moretti set aside the Buick-engined Marches in favour of a tried and trusted Porsche 962.
Eventually, March produced eleven 86G chassis of which six were sold to BMW, four to Nissan and a final car that passed to Conte Racing directly. For the 1987 seasons, three further 87Gs were built for Nissan. These were the last GTP/Group C cars produced by March. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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As a result of the often spectacular failures, BMW North America realised there was not much value in carrying on their IMSA program. In addition to the four cars delivered ahead of the season, two more had been supplied to replace damaged chassis in the summer of 1986. Of the surviving cars, one was sold to Conte Racing, who campaigned the car with a Buick engine during the 1987 season. For the 1988 season, Gianpiero Moretti acquired the two spare chassis and fitted one with a naturally aspirated Buick V6 and the other with a turbocharged version of that same engine. Moretti also bought the Conte Racing car for his MOMO team.