Ralt - Ralt in Other Hands

Ralt in Other Hands

Ralt's 1988 Formula 3000 car was proving a challenge to develop; the works drivers' backers (for the first time, Ron was running paying drivers rather than paying his own!) encouraged them to leave the team and not pay up; the company was also suffering from loss of its American markets for RT4s (Swift were upping the stakes dramatically) and RT5s (SuperVee was on its last legs in the USA as a major category). Reynard's aggressive marketing was cutting into the F3000 and F3 markets. Tauranac was looking to sell the company and ultimately ended up selling out to March for just over a million pounds; they had concentrated on high-value bespoke racing cars and allowed their customer cars to atrophy so the merger appeared to be a good move.

The subsequent history of Ralt as part of March is complex, but can be summarised as - operated as March's customer car division for a couple of years, was part of a management buyout when the March Group board decided to divest itself of all its motor racing interests; bought by enthusiasts Andrew Fitton and Steve Ward in 1993. Ron Tauranac left from the firm soon after. Fitton and Ward wound March up, but Ward continued operating Ralt independently - the Ralt name continues, and Ralt F3 cars have occasionally appeared.