HINDSIGHT 1971 MARCH 711
Forward thinking
Thwarted by a lack of budget and development time, the March 711 paid the price for being aerodynamically ahead of its time
By Alan Lis
in F1 in the early 1970s is an eye-opening exercise. A prime example of the diversity of approaches in use at that time is the 1971 March 711 which, even 40 years after its introduction, remains startling and instantly recognisable. The March 711 broke new ground with
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its aerodynamic confi guration. Pre- eminent automotive aerodynamicist Frank Costin was consulted on this during the design phase. Starting in the 1950s, Costin established his reputation through
“The most startling feature was a full width elliptical front wing”
urrent Formula 1 chassis designs may seem, to the outsider at least, to diff er only in their livery, so a look back at the cars that raced
his work with Vanwall in Formula 1, and the likes of Lister, Lotus and Maserati in sportscar racing. By the time he was contacted by March, he had also designed and built cars in his own right as the ‘Cos’ in Marcos, and had produced the radical Protos Formula 2 racecar in 1967, which featured a plywood chassis and all- enveloping bodywork. On the March 711, Costin’s role was
the design of the wings and the shape of the monocoque and bodywork. ‘I went up to see Frank in his workshop near Caernarvon castle and we talked about the car as I envisaged it,’ recalls March Engineering chief designer Robin Herd. ‘While low drag was defi nitely a target, it wouldn’t be true to say that it was more of a priority than downforce. It was really a combination of the two. The 711 front wing was pretty damn big and we had a decent sized rear wing too, so there was plenty of downforce available.’ When the March 711 was unveiled to
the press it caused a sensation. Breaking with the F1 fashion of the time, the car was clothed in bodywork from the tip of its bulbous nose to the rear of its Cosworth DFV engine. Its side-mounted coolers were cowled and the driver was protected by a cockpit surround that one writer at the time described as looking like the conning tower on a submarine. The most startling feature of the 711,
however, was a full width elliptical front wing mounted on a central strut rising from the nose. According to Herd, the front wing was Costin’s idea, although the March man had been thinking of a similar aerodynamic concept already (see photo caption P73).
Media interest Having created a lot of media interest at
its launch, the March 711 ran into trouble almost immediately. During the fi rst meaningful tests in the high ambient temperatures and high altitude of the
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