March Engineering was a Formula One constructor and manufacturer of customer racing cars from the United Kingdom. Although only moderately successful in Grand Prix competition, March racing cars enjoyed much better achievement in other categories of competition including Formula Two, Formula Three, IndyCar and IMSA GTP sportscar racing. The 811 was developed in 1980 and although it is called a March, this F1 car was made for March Grand Prix as a joint venture between John McDonald's RAM Racing and Robin Herd and had no connection to March Engineering of Bicester. To circumvent the usual problems of design and development it was decided to copy the Williams FW07 RAM had been running and the cars were built by March Engines at Cowley, a special project's outfit owned by Herd.The car is a straightforward Cosworth DFV/Hewland FGA machine but made without the exotic materials used by Williams, which made them very heavy. In order to lighten them they used thinner gauge sheeting but the result was that the tub flexed making the cars almost undriveable with the result that very soon McDonald and Herd had fallen out. Gordon Coppuck came on board for a limited spell and then handed the reigns over to Adrian Reynard and between them they managed to make the car into a reasonable proposition which Derek Daly usually qualified around row ten of the grid. However this was the last car produced, chassis number 5, and the one that Adrian worked on and used to develop the car and it shows how good he was because this car was up to 5th in the 1981 British GP when unfortunately it retired.The car is fitted with the short stroke Nicholson DFV 3-litre engine that has completed around 906 miles. As stated this is the exact copy, without litigation, of the Williams FW07 but rather heavier, however considerable lightening has taken place in the last few years with greater advances in technology and now weighs about the same.
