Project Four Racing

Project Four Racing

Founded	1976
Folded	1980 (merged with the McLaren Formula One team)
Team principal(s)	Ron Dennis
Former series	European Formula Two Championship British Formula 3 Championship

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 lives on in the designation of the McLaren F1 race cars and since the 1981 season all McLarens, starting with the John Barnard designed McLaren MP4/1, have carried the "MP4" name. MP4 standing for "McLaren Project Four".

Racing history

Formula Two

The team competed in the European Formula Two Championship. Driving a BMW powered Ralt RT1, Eddie Cheever recorded the teams first race win in 1977 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

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap.)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1976	March 752 762 Ralt RT1	Lancia-Ferrari Hart 420R		HOC	THR	VAL	SAL	PAU	HOC	ROU	MUG	PER	EST	NOG	HOC
			Eddie Cheever	DNQ	4	DSQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret		3	5	8	15
			Jochen Mass	DNQ
			Vittorio Brambilla			Ret
			Gilles Villeneuve					Ret
			Mikko Kozarowitsky							DNQ	17	Ret
			Luciano Pavesi											DNS
1977	Ralt RT1	BMW		SIL	THR	HOC	NÜR	VAL	PAU	MUG	ROU	NOG	PER	MIS	EST	DON
			Eddie Cheever	7	2	Ret	2	3	Ret	17	1	5	Ret	2	3
			Ingo Hoffmann	4	Ret	Ret	7	16	8	9	5	3	3	3	NC	Ret
			Hans-Joachim Stuck			Ret
			Clay Regazzoni				Ret
1978	March 782	BMW		THR	HOC	NÜR	PAU	MUG	VAL	ROU	DON	NOG	PER	MIS	HOC
			Eddie Cheever	4	Ret	3	5	7	Ret	2	Ret	9	2	6	Ret
			Ingo Hoffmann	Ret	4	6	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	4	5	Ret	10	14
1979	March 792	BMW		SIL	HOC	THR	NÜR	VAL	MUG	PAU	HOC	ZAN	PER	MIS	DON
			Stephen South	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	1	Ret	3	8	3
			Derek Daly	2		2			Ret	Ret	2	11	2	Ret	1
			Keke Rosberg		1		Ret
			Andrea de Cesaris					6
1980	March 802	BMW		THR	HOC	NÜR	VAL	PAU	SIL	ZOL	MUG	ZAN	PER	MIS	HOC
			Andrea de Cesaris	3	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	2	Ret	5	Ret	6	1
			Chico Serra	4	4	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	Ret	Ret

External links

McLaren Honda
Founder Bruce McLaren McLaren Technology Group Ron Dennis (25%) TAG Group (25%) Mumtalakat (50%) Head management Jost Capito (CEO) Éric Boullier (Racing Director) Current personnel Tim Goss Neil Oatley Peter Prodromou Andrea Stella Former personnel John Barnard Alastair Caldwell Gordon Coppuck Mike Coughlan Pat Fry Steve Hallam Norbert Haug Robin Herd Paddy Lowe Neil Martin Teddy Mayer Sam Michael Gordon Murray Jonathan Neale Adrian Newey Steve Nichols Jo Ramírez Nicholas Tombazis Martin Whitmarsh 2016 race drivers 14. Fernando Alonso 22. Jenson Button 2016 test and reserve drivers Stoffel Vandoorne Nobuharu Matsushita (Development) McLaren young driver programme Stoffel Vandoorne Nyck de Vries Ben Barnicoat World Champions Emerson Fittipaldi Lewis Hamilton James Hunt Mika Häkkinen Niki Lauda Alain Prost Ayrton Senna Former drivers See category Drivers' titles 1974 1976 1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1990 1991 1998 1999 2008 Constructors' titles 1974 1984 1985 1988 1989 1990 1991 1998
Cars: Formula One M2B M4B M5A M7A M7B M7C M7D M9A M14A M14D M19A M19C M23 M26 M28 M29 M29F M30 MP4 (MP4/1) MP4B (MP4/1B) MP4/1C MP4/1E MP4/2 MP4/2B MP4/2C MP4/3 MP4/4 MP4/5 MP4/5B MP4/6 MP4/6B MP4/7A MP4/8 MP4/9 MP4/10 MP4/10B MP4/10C MP4/11 MP4/11B MP4/12 MP4/13 MP4/14 MP4/15 MP4-16 MP4-17 MP4-17D MP4-18 MP4-19 MP4-19B MP4-20 MP4-21 MP4-22 MP4-23 MP4-24 MP4-25 MP4-26 MP4-27 MP4-28 MP4-29 MP4-30 MP4-31 Formula Two M4A M21 Sports cars Zerex Special M1A M1B M1C M6A M6B M6GT M8A M8B M8C M8D M8E M8F M8FP M12 M20 F1 GTR 12C GT3 650S GT3 P1 GTR USAC/IndyCar M15 M16A M16B M16C M16C/D M16E M24 F5000/Libre M3 M10A M10B M18 M22 M25 Development cars M2A MP4-29H/1X1 Road cars F1 F1 LM SLR (for Mercedes-Benz) MP4-12C P1 X-1 650S 675LT Engines M838T Merged team Project Four Racing Related West Competition