1983 RAM March-Cosworth 01

Offered by Mecum | Monterey, California | August 2024

RAM Racing was founded in 1975 by Mike Ralph and John Macdonald. They first appeared on the F1 grid in 1976 with year-old Brabham chassis. Then they ran March and Williams chassis in 1977 and 1980, respectively. For 1983, they debuted the RAM March 01.

It was a derivative, or evolution, of the March 821 F1 car and was the first RAM chassis designed/built in-house. Power is from a 3.0-liter Ford-Cosworth V8 that makes 530 horsepower. The 1983 season was a disaster, with the 01 failing to qualify for all but three races it entered. It made the first two events in 1984 before being replaced by the RAM 02. In 1985, they ran the RAM 03 before folding.

The competition history for this chassis, whose number is not provided, is said to include:

1983 Brazilian Grand Prix – 15th (with Eliseo Salazar)
1983 South African Grand Prix – 12th (with Kenny Acheson)

Both Jacques Villeneuve, Sr. and Jean-Louis Schlesser both DNQ’d the car during that season. This former F1 car has since been used a fair bit in historic racing and now has an estimate of $400,000-$650,000. More info can be found here.

1984 March-Cosworth 84C

Offered by Mecum | Indianapolis, Indiana | May 13-21, 2022

Photo – Mecum

We are making our way back through time with these March Indy Car chassis. Eventually we’ll get back to 1981’s 81C, but for now we have March’s 1984 chassis: the 84C. This one is Cosworth-powered, with a turbocharged 2.7-liter DFX V8 mounted behind the driver.

This car was supposed to be A.J. Foyt’s ride at Indy in 1984. He took the green in qualifying and then blew the engine. So he hopped in George Snider’s car and put it into the show. A.J. Foyt Enterprises swapped a new Cosworth engine into this car for Snider to go make a run in. He made the race as well, finishing 11th.

It’s been restored and is being offered out of Ray Evernham’s collection. You can read more about it here.

Update: Sold $104,500.