March 713M car-by-car histories
James Hunt on the starting grid for the 1971 British GP support race at Silverstone in his Team Rose Bearings March 713M. Copyright Tim Blackburn 2019. Used with permission.
The March 713M was a monocoque Formula 3 car, using the same tub as the Formula 2 712M. Roger Williamson was very successful in his 713M, winning the MCD Lombank F3 championship, and James Hunt also won two races in his works car.
The March 713M was built on the same jigs as the Formula 2 car, and differed principally in engine and fuel capacity. The monocoque was made from 18 gauge aluminium alloy skins riveted to cast aluminium bulkheads, with the Ford twin cam engine bolted to the back of the monocoque and supported by detachable multi-tubular frames. Suspension was entirely orthodox all round, with twin front wishbones, rear radius rods and outboard springs, and cooling was via a top-ducted water radiator housed in the nose, and a rear-mounted oil radiator. The sidepod fuel cells contained 15 gallons in foam-filled bag tanks, and the F3 car had 10-inch front and 12-inch rear wheels. Complete with Hewland Mk 8 gearbox but less engine, the 713M cost £2,425.
Eifelland Caravans bought the first 713M for highly-rated female driver Hannelore Werner, but bought spaceframe 713Ss for the rest of the team. Roger Williamson bought a 713M with Holbay engine on a hire purchase deal, with no real hope of making the repayments until he won the financial support of Tom Wheatcroft. Other early customers included Tom Walkinshaw in a car entered by Ecurie Ecosse. In June, March reorganised their works effort for James Hunt in a 713S, and put him in a team run by Chris Marshall and entered as Team Rose Bearings with Baty Group. Two 713Ms were built for the team, the second for Brendan McInerney. Williamson was one of the discoveries of the year as he won ten races and comfortably took the MCD Lombank F3. He finished second in the other two British F3 championships behind the official Gold Leaf Team Lotus entry of David Walker.
As all March F3 cars from the 713M onwards had very similar monocoques, it was possible for later owners to update their cars to something very close to the latest specification. March swapped backwards and forwards between front and side radiators over the next few years, so updating a 1971 car to 1973 specification was a popular and relatively simple option.
If you can add anything to these histories, please contact Allen Brown (allen@oldracingcars.com).
Rolf Stommelen testing Hannelore Werner's March 713M at the Nurburgring in 1971. Copyright Udo Klinkel 2019. Used with permission.
New to Eifelland Wohnwagenbau for Hannelore Werner to race in German and European F3 in 1971. To Heinz Lange (Neuburgweiler, Baden-Württemberg) at the end of the season, and used in the Italian F3 series where Lange hired a Brabham BT35 from Scuderia Italia and the 713M was raced by Piergiovanni Tenani, Clois Avigni and "Shangri-Là" (Romano Martini). It may have been raced once by Livio Franzoso in 1973, but apparently retained by Lange that year. Sold to Werner Fischer (Waiblingen, Baden-Württemberg) for 1974, then to Biagio Brandi (Bad Homburg, Hesse) in 1978, and then to Marcel Biehl (Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia), who posted pictures of the unrestored car on Facebook in November 2013. Immaculately restored and raced by Biehl in 2015. Sold to former owner Werner Fischer in 2016, and raced by him in the German HRA series in 2017 and 2018.
Driven by: Hannelore Werner, Heinz Lange, Piergiovanni Tenani, Clois Avigni, Romano Martini ("Shangri-Là"), Livio Franzoso and Werner Fischer. First race: Nürburgring, 12 Apr 1971. Total of 21 recorded races.
New to Charles McIntosh-Reid and entered by him for Tom Walkinshaw in three early-season British F3 races. Sold to Chris Oates in mid-May but not raced by him. Sold to future RAM boss John MacDonald during the summer and raced by him in F3 from August onwards. Hired out to James Hunt for the October Castle Combe race, but damaged before it even arrived at the circuit, a record even for Hunt. Retained by MacDonald for 1972 until replaced with a Brabham BT38C late in the season. Then sold to Chris Venning (Colindale, London) and raced at Thruxton at the end of the 1972 season. Advertised by Venning in January 1973 complete with Vegantune engine and Hewland Mk 8 gearbox, and with a mass of spares, including a tub. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Tom Walkinshaw, John MacDonald and Chris Venning. First race: Brands Hatch, 20 Mar 1971. Total of 19 recorded races.
New to Wheatcroft Racing to Roger Williamson to race in F3 in 1971. Raced almost every weekend from March to November, winning ten races. Retained by Tom Wheatcroft and on display in the Donington Museum. Still in the museum in March 2015. After the museum closed, the car was in storage in January 2019.
Driven by: Roger Williamson. First race: Mallory Park, 14 Mar 1971. Total of 43 recorded races.
New to Sloan Marshall Garage and raced in F3 in 1971 by Tim Goss. Advertised by Stokely Automotive in January 1972, with Holbay engine and transporter from a Kentish Town, London phone number. Subsequent history unknown, but maybe the second 713M run in 1972 by Chris Marshall of Sloan Marshall Garage as Equipe La Vie Claire Internationale, with sponsorship from the French chain of health product stores.
Driven by: Tim Goss. First race: Brands Hatch, 20 Mar 1971. Total of 21 recorded races.
New to Cavan Riley and raced in British F3 in 1971. To Adelmo Fossati for Italian F3 in 1972, but quickly sold to Antonio Stalfieri, who raced it in Italian F3 from 1972 to 1974. This is likely to be the March "743" that Stalfieri raced in Italian F3 in 1975, 1976 and 1977. Subsequent history unknown, but in December 1994, Fabio Montani (Milan) advertised a March 713M given as "713 M5" which had a Novamotor engine and was complete with 743 bodywork. A car with this chassis number and an Italian history advertised by Luigi Moreschi Motorsport (Quingentole, Italy) in July 2015.
Driven by: Cavan Riley and Antonio Stalfieri. First race: Crystal Palace, 18 Jun 1971. Total of 21 recorded races.
New to John Bisignano (Denver, CO) and raced in British F3 in 1971 with support from Liggett & Myers L&M tobacco brand. Sold in October 1971 to Roger Hurst (Folkestone, Kent) of Lenham Hurst and raced in F3 in 1972 and 1973. By 1973 the car was being described on occasion as a 723, a 733, a March Falconer, and even as a Lenham LM1. Last raced by Hurst in November 1973. In March 1974, the car was advertised by Low Cost Racing who mentioned that it had Falconer bodywork and was fitted with a Holbay R70 engine for Formula 4. Its history over the next five years is unknown, but in 1979 and 1980, Tony Harris and Colin Brook raced 713M-6 in F4. Subsequent history unknown. A car with this identity was advertised in Italy in 2012.
Driven by: John Bisignano and Roger Hurst. First race: Silverstone, 16 May 1971. Total of 29 recorded races.
New to Jim Gleave's MRE (Bourne End, Buckinghamshire) according to March records but MRE do not run a 713M in 1971. Believed to be the car raced by Dietmar Flöer (Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany) in European F3 in 1971. Retained for 1972 and for 1973, and reppeared again as late as 1975. Likely to be the "712M" that Flöer raced in a German national F2 race in August 1975, then the March 713M he raced in F3 at Wunstorf in 1976 and Diepholz in 1977, and may well be the F3 Eigenbau he raced at Hockenheim in May 1980. Subsequent history unknown.
Driven by: Dietmar Flöer. First race: Diepholz, 18 Jul 1971. Total of 10 recorded races.
Key Ayers in his March "742X" in the paddock at Oulton Park, probably in April 1978. Copyright David McQueen Johnston 2020. Used with permission.
Ken Ayers in the second iteration of his March-BDA at Bouley Bay in July 1979. Copyright David McQueen Johnston 2020. Used with permission.
New for James Hunt, replacing the 713S he had raced earlier in the season. The 713M was run as part of a newly constituted team run by Chris Marshall, based at his Sloan Marshall Garages in London and entered as Team Rose Bearings with Baty Group. Hunt won first time out, at Crystal Palace in June, and also at Brands Hatch in August, but the car was heavily damaged in a crash during practice at Snetterton in October. Repaired and used by Bob Evans in the Boxing Day meeting at Brands. Bought from the March factory by Anthony Binnington and raced in F3 through 1972. Then to Nick Crossley for one race early in 1973 before his new 733 was ready. To Peter Stahl (Ascot, Berkshire) and raced in the 1600cc class in hillclimbs in 1973. Stahl later went abroad on business and his wife sold the March to Geoff Deakin (Penrith, later Carlisle) who hillclimbed it between 1975 and 1977. It was in 742 bodywork by 1977, and Deakin called it a "742X". Deakin recalls selling the car to a fellow hillclimber who crashed it badly the following year, taking out one side of the monocoque. Photographs show that Deakin's car exactly matches the "742X" hillclimbed by Ken Ayers (Twyford, Berkshire) in 1978 and crashed by him at some point. After this accident, the car was rebuilt on another 1971 March tub, and run with 1975 bodywork until a second accident at Le Val des Terres in July 1979. The car was then rebuilt using a 1975 March monocoque and 76B bodywork, effectively ending its link to the original 713M.
Driven by: James Hunt, Bob Evans, Anthony Binnington, Nick Crossley, Peter Stahl, Geoff Deakin and Ken Ayers. First race: Crystal Palace, 18 Jun 1971. Total of 41 recorded races.
Paul Tickner's March 713M, seen here at Silverstone in 1985 looking a lot like a 733. Copyright Keith Lewcock 2019. Used with permission.
New to Brendan McInerney as part of the new Team Rose Bearings with Baty Group team run by Chris Marshall. Also raced once by teammate James Hunt when his own car was being repaired. Retained by Marshall's Sloan Marshall Garages for 1972 and run under the Equipe La Vie Claire Internationale banner for French drivers. Identified by the Formula One Register as the car raced by Philippe de Henning. This car is unknown after October 1972 until early 1975, when it was in Falconer bodywork and being raced in Formula 4 by Jim Burrows (Ilford, Greater London). He sold it to Lew Wright (Godalming, Surrey) for 1976 and 1977. Wright sold it to Paul Tickner, who raced it for some years until it was sold in to the historic racing fraternity and consumed in the construction of a new March 712M.
Driven by: Brendan McInerney, James Hunt, Philippe de Henning, Jim Burrows and Lew Wright. First race: Crystal Palace, 18 Jun 1971. Total of 31 recorded races.
Bob Sellix's March 713M at HSCC Silverstone in August 1995. Copyright Keith Lewcock 2019. Used with permission.
New to Bev Bond (Fareham, Hampshire) in August 1971 for British F3, after he lost his seat in the works Ensign. Unknown in 1972. To Glenn Hyatt of Low Cost Racing for 1973 and raced in Formula 4. History then unknown until raced by Nigel Fright (Frythe, Kent) in Historic F3 in 1988. Later owned by Bob Sellix in the 1990s. Bought from him by Jim Parsons and used in the Classic F3 Championship until sold to Maurice Levy in 2002 or 2003. Raced by his son Chris Levy, in 2003, winning the championship, and in 2004. Sold to Frans Kinkel (Utrecht, Netherlands) and used in the HMR Championship in Germany from 2005 to 2013. It was not raced again and was advertised on motorsportsmarket.com in 2015, showing as sold by early 2016. Kinkel owned and raced the car until 2015, when it was sold to an unknown French owner. In early 2018, it was sold from France to Nozawa Masao (Nerima, Tokyo, Japan), who intends to race it in Japanese historic events in 2019.
Driven by: Bev Bond and Glenn Hyatt. First race: Brands Hatch, 15 Aug 1971. Total of 14 recorded races.
New to Matt Spitzley (Aspen, CO) and used in British F3 late 1971 and through 1972. Reappeared in 1973 for Spitzley after he rolled his new 733 at Silverstone while testing. This car may have been effectively consumed into his 733/74B over the next two years.
Driven by: Matt Spitzley. First race: Thruxton, 19 Sep 1971. Total of 13 recorded races.
March 713Ms in 1972
In 1972, nine of the eleven 713Ms can be tracked: Eifelland's ex-Werner 713M-1 was sold to Heinz Lange but quickly moved to Scuderia Italia; John MacDonald retained his ex-Walkinshaw 713M-2; Tom Wheatcroft retained his ex-Roger Williamson 713M-3; Cavan Riley's 713M-5 went to Antonio Stalfieri in Italy; Roger Hurst retained his ex-John Bisignano 713M-6; the MRE-supplied 713M-7 is believed to have stayed with Dietmar Flöer in Germany; the ex-James Hunt 713M-8 went to Anthony Binnington; the ex-Brendan McInerney 713M-9 was retained by Sloan Marshall Garages; and Matt Spitzley retained his 713M-11. That leaves two cars that cannot be traced: the Sloan Marshall Garage 713M-4 raced by Tim Goss; and Bev Bond's 713M-10.
The two puzzles still to solve for 1972 are the Swedish car of Ole Fall, and the second Sloan Marshall Garages 713M entered under the Equipe La Vie Claire Internationale banner for Jean-Claude Alzérat. At one point it was believed that Alzérat's car had been observed carrying the chassis number "7-2", which led to some confusion about its identity, but that has been reviewed and found to be a misunderstanding. One possibility is that it was 713M-4, the ex-Tim Goss car that had also been run by Sloan Marshall Garages in 1971. If Alzérat was in the ex-Tim Goss car, then that would leave Bev Bond's 713M-10 to be Ole Fall's car. Fall only runs his car for one year, 1972, and there is no sign of it in Sweden in later years, so this is consistent with 713M-10 re-emerging in Formula 4 in 1973.
An unidentified March 713M run in F3 in 1972 by Chris Marshall of Sloan Marshall Garage as Equipe La Vie Claire Internationale. Raced at first by Jean-Claude Alzérat, but taken over at the Monaco GP by James Hunt, who had fallen out with the March F3 team. Raced by Jean-Pierre Jarier later in the season, and also by Dave Brodie at a couple of races. Sold to David Jackson for 1973, and fitted with a 1-litre Novamotor engine for Formula 4. Then likely to be the "ex-Hunt" 713M raced by Ronnie Griffiths in Formula 4 in 1974.
Driven by: Jean-Claude Alzérat, James Hunt, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Dave Brodie, David Jackson and Ronnie Griffiths. First race: Monte Carlo, 13 May 1972. Total of 15 recorded races.
Ole Fall ran a March 713 in Swedish F3 races in 1972, starting either from the SSK race at Mantorp Park on 14 May, or at Mantorp Park's F3 championship race a few weeks later on 4 June. He was sponsored by Polarvagnen, a Swedish manufacturer of caravans who were later the title sponsors of the 1975 Swedish GP. Fall had raced a Brabham BT28 in 1971, and progressed to a Brabham BT41 in 1973. There is no sign of a March 713M running in Swedish F3 in 1973 or 1974, so it is possible that the car was sold to England when Fall acquired his new Brabham BT41.
Driven by: Ole Fall. First race: Mantorp Park (R2), 4 Jun 1972. Total of 9 recorded races.
March 713Ms in 1973
In 1973, eight of the eleven 713Ms can be tracked: the ex-Eifelland, ex-Werner 713M-1 remained in Italy; Tom Wheatcroft placed Roger Williamson's 713M-3 in his new Donington Museum; the ex-Cavan Riley 713M-5 remained with Antonio Stalfieri in Italy; Roger Hurst retained his ex-John Bisignano 713M-6; the MRE-supplied 713M-7 is believed to have stayed with Dietmar Flöer in Germany; the ex-James Hunt, ex-Anthony Binnington 713M-8 went to Peter Stahl for hillclimbs; the ex-Bev Bond 713M-10 reappeared with Glenn Hyatt in Formula 4; and Matt Spitzley retained his heavily updated 713M-11. Two cars disappeared after the 1972 season: the ex-Tom Walkinshaw/John MacDonald 713M-2 and Sloan Marshall Garages' ex-Brendan McInerney, ex-Philippe de Henning 713M-9. They are added to the car that could not be traced the previous year: Sloan Marshall Garages' 713M-4 raced by Tim Goss, but this may be explained by the ex-Alzérat car that was with David Jackson in 1973. Also Ole Fall's car disappeared after 1972, and may have returned to England, which is consistent with its suspected identity as the ex-Bev Bond 713M-10.
Bruno Eggel appeared in 1973 with a F3 March which was previously shown on this page but has now been confidently identified as a March 723.
Mystery March 713Ms from 1974 onwards
The first UK-based mystery cars make an appearance in 1974, but by that time all the cars that had remained in service in England had been significantly updated: Roger Hurst's 713M-6 had been fitted with Falconer bodywork and moved to F4 in 1974; Peter Stahl's hillclimbing 713M-8 was looking 73B-ish; Matt Spitzley's 713M-11 was now a 733 and on its way to being a 74B. Meanwhile, Tom Wheatcroft's 713M-3 was in the Donington Museum. Glen Hyatt's 713M-10 cannot be traced in 1974, but was probably still in or around Formula 4, as was the ex-Alzérat car, now raced by Ronnie Griffiths. That leaves several cars that had been missing for a while by the time the 1974 season started: the ex-Tom Walkinshaw/John MacDonald 713M-2 and Sloan Marshall Garages' ex-Brendan McInerney, ex-Philippe de Henning 713M-9, both of which disappeared after the 1972 season; and Sloan Marshall Garage's 713M-4 that had been raced by Tim Goss in 1971. One of these will also explain Ole Fall's car, seen only in 1972.
The 713M mystery to appear in 1974 is the car of Maurice Ogier. The only clue here is that Ogier had raced in Formula 4 in 1972 and 1973, before appearing with a 1900cc BDA-engined 713M in 1974. So one possibility is that he had acquired Glen Hyatt's 713M-10, but another is that he had acquired the ex-Philippe de Henning 713M-9 that went into F4 a year or so later with Lew Wright.
In December 1975, Peter Bloore advertised a March 713M with Ford twin cam engine and Hewland Mk 8 gearbox. That specification could mean the car had not been used since its F3 days.
In July 1974, Channel Islands hillclimber Maurice Ogier (Vale, Guernsey) appeared at Harewood and at the two Channel Island hillclimbs in a March 713M with a 1900cc engine. This would presumably be the March "713M/732" advertised from a Chew Magna, Somerset, phone number in Autosport between May and October 1975, mentioning that it had a 1930cc BDA engine and Hewland FT200 gearbox. Nothing more known.
Driven by: Maurice Ogier. First race: Harewood (R7), 7 Jul 1974. Total of 3 recorded races.
In 1976, Eryl Davies (Watford, later Keithley, West Yorkshire) appeared in hillclimbing with a March 713M fitted with a 1100cc Cosworth BDJ engine. The car was updated for 1977, when Davies called it a March 73D. He raced the car again in 1978, before buying a more modern Anson F3 car and transferring his engine into that. Nothing more known.
Driven by: Eryl Davies and Alan Clennell. First race: Harewood (R7), 4 Jul 1976. Total of 13 recorded races.
James Hunt, namesake of the 1976 World Champion, was a garage owner from Preston, Lancashire who raced in Formula Libre events at Aintree, Longbridge, and sometimes further afield at Croft and Donington Park. He ran the Haslam Park Garage in the Preston suburb of Ashton in the 1970s and 1980s. Some time between 1974 and 1976, he bought a 1971 March somewhere near Bristol that came with a Ford twin cam engine and a Mk 5 gearbox. His good friend Paul Gardner rebuilt the car for him with side radiators and 1974 March bodywork, and Hunt used it in the BRSCC Northern Libre series, entering it in 1977 as a 713M. He kept the car until the late 1980s, when he sold it to a new owner who rebuilt to F2 712M specification for the HSCC series. Hunt died in 2008.
Driven by: James Hunt (II). First race: Croft, 11 Apr 1977. Total of 4 recorded races.
In addition to the above, unknown March 713Ms were driven by Gavin Hooper and Derek Statham.
Acknowledgements
As with many of the Junior Formulae cars on OldRacingCars.com, much of the work on the individual car histories has been done by Chris Townsend. We are grateful to Wolfgang Neumayer, Adam Ferrington and Philippe Demeyer for information from their archives, to Simon Hadfield for technical details of the early March production cars, and to Richard Page at the Formula One Register for his assistance, notably on the cars that went into Formula 4 in 1973. Thanks also to Keith Lewcock and Tim Blackburn (via Alan Cox) for permission to use their pictures, and to David McQueen Johnston for his recollections of Ken Ayers' car.
If you can add anything to these histories, please contact Allen Brown (allen@oldracingcars.com).
These histories last updated on .