March Engineering - Car Designations

Car Designations

March's cars generally followed a simple designation scheme in which the first two digits correspond to the year (69-91), and the third digit or letter corresponds to the formula. Some peculiarities emerged, which are documented below. There were some minor exceptions to these rules, for example xx5 designated both some very early Formula B/Atlantic cars, some early F5000s and some early 2-litre sports cars!

  • Formula One - 701-781, 811-821, 871-881. Subsequent March F1 cars took the CG prefix after Cesare Gariboldi. CG891, CG901, CG911. In 1972 three distinct F1 cars appeared, 721, 721X (low-polar-moment) and 721G (F2-based). 87P was a hybrid F1/F3000 used only at the start of the 1987 season.
  • Formula Two - 702-842. Japanese F2 cars in 1985-86 were designated 85J and 86J. A 772P appeared in 1977 based on an old Atlantic chassis as a prototype for the 782.
  • Formula 3000 - 85B - 89B
  • Formula Three - 693-813. In 1971, two types of F3 car were made, a spaceframe and a monocoque, these were designated 713S and 713M.
  • Can-Am/Interserie Group 7 - 707, 717, 817, 827, 847
  • 2-litre sports prototypes - 73S - 77S; Sports 2000 81S-84S
  • IndyCar/Champcar - 81C - 89C. Bespoke cars for Porsche took the 89P and 90P designations; bespoke cars for Alfa Romeo took the 89CE designation.
  • Formula 5000 - 72A - 76A
  • Formula Atlantic - 73B - 79B
  • Formula Ford (UK) - 708 - 718
  • Formula Ford (US) - 709 - 719
  • Formula Renault - 75R
  • IMSA GTP/Group C - 80G - 87G. 'N' and 'S' designations used for Nissan cars.

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