March 722

[sode]

Advise needed

Found a March 722. plate.nr. 17 or 19 (hard to tell)
has a 2 ltr cossi eng but no known history.
Where do I find info on a car like this.
It looks very original.....?
I'm new to this formula (2 I think) but keen to get started.

Regards Sode

[Rafa Reyna]

I have the March 722-17 chassis number as raced by Jochen Mass.

[David McKinney]

Agreed
Was also owned by Ted Williams about ten years ago (and described as "ex-Lauda"!)

[Dan Rear]

Ted W also had an ex-Zunino 772 as I recall, back in the late 70s. He's had some very interesting stuff over the years, though when he tried to hillclimb a Hesketh 308E, I thought he was being a little optimistic !!

[Chris Townsend]

722-17 used by Peterson and Mass then to S. Africa for Andre Verwey. Sold to Mervyn Tunmer in 1976.

722-19 not known though I have a suspicion this might have been a works car too.

Sode where are you in the world?

Chris

[sode]

Hmm.. must be the 19 then. The seller is avay until august
so I cant get more info at this time. I have a pix but don't know if I can post on this forum.
Car is in Denmark..

Sode

[sode]

Here's a pix of the car

http://www.hms.dk/formel/Billeder/march1.jpg

Sode

[driftwood]

saw a read 722 at seattle race way last week had lauda on it
also 722 in oz reported to my by owner as stp lauda car
722 car was 712 updated to run with as 2 litre f2 with 2 litre bda motor prior to 732/exclusive bmw m12 engine deal

[jkeller]

Does anyone know if there were two 722's with chassis number 18? There has been mention of this on another thread. Is it possible that one was a F2 car and the other an Atlantic or were there even that many 722's built.

Jim Keller

[Bryan Miller]

Re. March 722-5 ,

1972 , works / Lauda .
1973 , Dermot McFeeley.
1974-1984 , John Murphy.
1984-1990 , Keith Wanklin.
1990-1996 , James Hunt.
1997-1999 , Roger Oakeshott , Australia. imported.
1999- present , Dr. Michael Henderson , Sydney , Australia.

Car will be competing at Phillip Island along with 23 other Historic Formula Atlantic and European F2 cars weekend of 26/27/28 Feb.

Bryan Miller.

[Steve Wilkinson]

There have been three 722s featured in the British Sprint Championship.

1) Richard Lester ran a 1.6 BDA engined 772/73B - Chassis number unknown. This car appeared in 1978 to 1981, then again in 1983/84.

2) Peter Riley ran 772P-29 in 1978 through to 1984.

3) There was one appearance of Dave Tilley in 1988 driving a 3.5 litre Buick engined 722 - Chassis number unknown.

Any help on identifying the Lester and Tilley cars would be appreciated.

[Dan Rear]

Steve, on the Riley car do you mean a '722' or '772P' ? While on Sprints/Climbs, do you recall the Andy Smith/Rob Oldaker 722 with an Allegro turbo motor, very odd I thought.

[Chris Townsend]

The Riley car is the ex John Calvert-Mather family car. The P perhaps got there when Calvert had it retubbed after a big accident at Snetterton.

Re 722-18, funnily enough J.Keller, I think there might be two 722-18s in existence. Incidentally there were more than 40 built and am getting to teh point where I can account for most of them. Atlantics and F2 shared the same sequence, with the main differences being in the lighter brakes and the absence of an underseat tank on the FAt car.
722-18 is owned by John Smith in N.Ireland and is - he says - the car he bought in 1972, though it hasn't continuously been in his ownership.
722-18 is however, also given as the number of Beuttler's works car that year. Now, I think that Beuttler did use this car at the first couple of races that year. This was then sold on to Smith 'new'. As 722-18 was on the carnets and no one ever changed carnets in those days, it being simply too difficult, March made a duplicate plate. There was never likely to be a problem with the dual identity, because Smith limited his racing to Ireland, and mainly to the North - so as long as Beuttler didn't go off to the GP de Dublin Bay everything worked. At the end of teh season, off it went.
What's the alleged provenance, if any known, for the 722 you are asking about? If it was straight to N.America in 1972 I am going to start banging my head into the wall!

Finally: 722-5
Agree an ex Lauda car, but think that the dates on the early history might be out and that there is an extra owner.
Motoring News 21.12.72 p.15 report that Lauda’s car has been sold to Rob Cooper and hopes to be out in car Boxing Day libre race at Brands. Doesn’t feature in results of that race and perhaps DNA.
Cooper then runs fairly regularly in Atlantic races in Britain in 1973, up to late July. After this point he doesn’t feature in entry lists, which I now have a lot of, or results.
Cooper appears again in first race 1974 with a 73B, which I had always taken to be the 722 kitted, but which need not be, given that there were a few real 73Bs around from the previous year in Britain which haven’t been accounted for. However, he only enters the first few races, DNQs most of the time and doesn’t appear after April.

I first have McFeeley in Ireland in a 73B [not a 722 but a car which I’ve always presumed to be a kitted version of something else] in mid 74. Don’t have a record for him in 1973. McFeeley is still driving a 73B in 1975 [appears Mondello in April and then till end season] Appears again at beginning of 76 but not seen after June.

I think that 722-5 might look like this
1972 Works car for Lauda. December 72 to Rob Cooper
1973 Rob Cooper
1974 Kitted by Cooper to 73B spec and sold to Dermot McFeeley in April.
Sold mid 1976 to John Murphy.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Sorry Dan, it's the dyslexic fingers again. The Riley car is a 722P not a 772.

Yeah the Allegro turbo March was a bit of an odd-ball to say the least. Mind you it isn't the first odd engine. How about a Bedford van engine! Or a Thames van!

However the Alvis engine out of an armoured car really does take the biscuit!

[Dan Rear]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson

Sorry Dan, it's the dyslexic fingers again. The Riley car is a 722P not a 772.

Yeah the Allegro turbo March was a bit of an odd-ball to say the least. Mind you it isn't the first odd engine. How about a Bedford van engine! Or a Thames van!

However the Alvis engine out of an armoured car really does take the biscuit!

Steve, were all these engines fitted to 722s, no wonder Chris is struggling to track dwon the histories of them !!

[Steve Wilkinson]

Sorry to disappoint you Dan but the answer is NO