Bill Coombs driving a 1976 March 761 in the pit lane, during qualifying for the FIA Masters Historic Formula One race
In 1976, Peterson, unhappy with the uncompetitive Lotus, jumped ship early and returned to March for whom he scored the team's second and last win at Monza. The 761 was fast but fragile, the F2 components starting to show the strain; by this point the F1 effort was being run on a shoestring with a two-car 'works' effort featuring Peterson and Stuck, the cars tending to turn up in different liveries as race-by-race sponsorship deals were signed, and a 'B-team' entered under the March Engines banner for paying drivers Lombardi and Arturo Merzario. By now the F1 effort as a whole was under fairly severe pressure from BMW, which wanted Robin Herd to concentrate entirely on the works' Formula Two effort, which was starting to be outpaced by French constructors (Martini and Elf) and the new Ralt marque. That year Peterson scored only one other point in 1976 before being brokered back into a deal with Tyrrell for 1977. Although he felt most at home at March, it was clear that the team did not have the resources to do Formula One "properly". In the off-season of 1976/77, March engineer Wayne Eckersley constructed a rear end for the 761 chassis that had four driven wheels (designated the March 2-4-0) to Robin Herd's design. Unlike the six-wheeled Tyrrell P34, the 2-4-0 had four 16-inch driven wheels at the rear (the same size as the front wheels). The theory behind the design was that this arrangement would offer improved traction and reduced aerodynamic drag (compared to the Tyrrell, which used ultra-small front wheels and normally sized rears). The chassis was tested at Silverstone circuit in early 1977 by both Howden Ganley (although the first time Ganley tested the 2-4-0 only the front pair of rear wheels were powered!) and Ian Scheckter but the project was curtailed in favour of further development of the conventional chassis.
Size: 4946px × 2906px
Location: Silverstone Circuit, Towcester, Northamptonshire, NN12 8TN
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 761, 1976, 2016, bill, car, classic, coombs, fia, formula, historic, international, lane, march, masters, pit, qualifying, race, silverstone
