Project Four Racing


Project Four Racing was a British Formula Two and Formula Three team. The team was founded in 1976 by former Brabham mechanic Ron Dennis. At the end of 1980, the team merged with the McLaren Formula One team.
The team name lived on in the designation of the McLaren F1 race cars from to the season, all McLarens, starting with the John Barnard designed McLaren MP4/1, had carried the "MP4" name, with MP4 standing for "Marlboro Project 4" and later "McLaren Project 4". The road car McLaren MP4-12C also carried the prefix until it was dropped for the 2012 model year. From onward, after the departure of Dennis from McLaren, the team began to designate their cars with the name "MCL".

Racing history

Formula Two

The team competed in the European Formula Two Championship. Driving a BMW powered Ralt RT1, Eddie Cheever recorded the team's first race win in in the second of two races making up Round 4 at the Nürburgring on his way to finishing second for the round. Cheever then went on to win Round 8 at the Rouen-Les-Essarts circuit. He finished the season in second place, 12 points behind René Arnoux.
Over the next three seasons, Project Four would win just four more races before the team moved into Formula One with its last win coming thanks to Andrea de Cesaris who won Round 8 of the 1980 season at Misano in Italy driving a March 802-BMW.

Formula Three

Project Four also raced in the British Formula 3 Championship. Its first win came thanks to Chico Serra who won the opening round of the 1979 championship on Silverstone's Club Circuit driving a Toyota powered March 793. Serra won five of the seasons twenty races to win the championship from Andrea de Cesaris who drove a March 793-Toyota for Tiga.

BMW M1 Procar Championship

For the BMW M1 Procar Championship, all cars were built to identical standards, although their origins varied. BS Fabrications constructed five cars for the BMW factory team, while cars for other competitors were constructed by Project Four Racing or the Italian constructor Osella. The racing cars, designed to meet Group 4 technical regulations, shared only some basics from the M1 road cars.
In 1979, Procar constructor Project Four entered a car for Niki Lauda when he was not in the factory entries. Lauda won 3 races for P4, and the series, before retiring from F1 racing in late September. In 1980, Hans-Joachim Stuck won two events for P4, finishing 3rd overall.

Complete European Formula Two results

YearChassisEngineDrivers12345678910111213
March 752 762
Ralt RT1		Lancia-Ferrari
Hart 420R		HOCTHRVALSALPAUHOCROUMUGPERESTNOGHOC
March 752 762
Ralt RT1		Lancia-Ferrari
Hart 420R		 Eddie CheeverDNQ4DSQRetRetRetRet35815
March 752 762
Ralt RT1		Lancia-Ferrari
Hart 420R		 Jochen MassDNQ
March 752 762
Ralt RT1		Lancia-Ferrari
Hart 420R		 Vittorio BrambillaRet
March 752 762
Ralt RT1		Lancia-Ferrari
Hart 420R		 Gilles VilleneuveRet
March 752 762
Ralt RT1		Lancia-Ferrari
Hart 420R		 Mikko KozarowitskyDNQ17Ret
March 752 762
Ralt RT1		Lancia-Ferrari
Hart 420R		 Luciano PavesiDNS
Ralt RT1BMWSILTHRHOCNÜRVALPAUMUGROUNOGPERMISESTDON
Ralt RT1BMW Eddie Cheever72Ret23Ret1715Ret23
Ralt RT1BMW Ingo Hoffmann4RetRet716895333NCRet
Ralt RT1BMW Hans-Joachim StuckRet
Ralt RT1BMW Clay RegazzoniRet
March 782BMWTHRHOCNÜRPAUMUGVALROUDONNOGPERMISHOC
March 782BMW Eddie Cheever4Ret357Ret2Ret926Ret
March 782BMW Ingo HoffmannRet46Ret4RetRet45Ret1014
March 792BMWSILHOCTHRNÜRVALMUGPAUHOCZANPERMISDON
March 792BMW Stephen South5RetRetRetRetRet81Ret383
March 792BMW Derek Daly22RetRet2112Ret1
March 792BMW Keke Rosberg1Ret
March 792BMW Andrea de Cesaris6
March 802BMWTHRHOCNÜRVALPAUSILZOLMUGZANPERMISHOC
March 802BMW Andrea de Cesaris3RetRet2Ret2Ret5Ret61
March 802BMW Chico Serra44RetRetRet8RetRet4RetRetRet