March 86G


The March 86G was a Group C and IMSA GTP sports racing car built by March Engineering. Built as simply a chassis with no engine, it was branded as one of three cars, the BMW GTP, the Buick Hawk or the Nissan R86V depending on which engine was placed in the chassis and which team was running it. There were a number of subtle bodywork changes to reflect the manufacturer which ran the car.
11 of the chassis were built, four sold to BMW, five to Nissan and a remaining three were sold to private teams affiliated with Buick. The car was used from 1986 until early 1989, scoring one race victory in the hands of the BMW team in 1986, and 5 pole positions in the hands of Nissan.
Unlike normally done with yearly-updated racing chassis, the 86G found a lot of use after the 87G model was released, the Buick Hawk being developed in 1987, the Pearson Racing Team, Hoshino Racing Team and Hasemi Motorsport using their older R86V cars in the 1987 JSPC season, the Person Racing Team updating the car to a March 88S in 1988 and Nissan Motorsport themselves modifying two cars to R88C designation in 1989, with varying degrees of longevity and success.
ChassisCar BrandYears RanChampionship
86G-1BMW GTP1986IMSA Camel GT
86G-2BMW GTP1986IMSA Camel GT
86G-3BMW GTP1986IMSA Camel GT
86G-4BMW GTP - Buick Hawk1986, 1987, 1988IMSA Camel GT
86G-5Nissan R86V - Nissan R88C1986–87, 1989JSPC - WEC
86G-6Nissan R86V1986JSPC - WEC
86G-7Nissan R86V - Nissan R88C1986–87, 1989JSPC - WEC
86G-8Nissan R86V - March 88S1986–88JSPC - WEC
86G-9BMW GTP - Buick Hawk1988IMSA Camel GT
86G-10BMW GTP - Buick Hawk1988IMSA Camel GT
86G-11Buick Hawk1987–88IMSA Camel GT

BMW GTP

Chassis 86G-1 through 86G-4 were purchased by the BMW IMSA team and renamed the BMW GTP. The cars were entered in the 1986 IMSA GTP season and were driven by Davey Jones and John Andretti in car number 18 and John Watson and David Hobbs in car number 19.
BMW North America attempted to debut the car at the 1986 24 Hours of Daytona, which opened the IMSA GT season; however, a fire during a Road Atlanta test left the only completed car too badly damaged to race. Instead, the BMW GTP made its debut at the Grand Prix of Miami, with Davy Jones and John Andretti driving one car, whilst David Hobbs partnered John Watson in the other. Although the Jones/Andretti car crashed out after 41 laps, resulting in the pair being classified in 25th, Hobbs and Watson brought their car home in ninth, having completed 122 laps. At the 12 Hours of Sebring, BMW North America attempted to run three cars, but they withdrew after Bobby Rahal's car was involved in a big accident. Only one car was entered at the Grand Prix of Atlanta, which Watson drove; the car lasted just one lap before retiring, resulting in Watson being classified 23rd overall, and 15th in the GTP category. Following the stream of mechanical failures experienced by both the BMW GTP and the Brabham BT55 F1 cars, BMW withdrew from the Lime Rock Grand Prix. They returned for the Watkins Glen Grand Prix, with the same two-car entry that had competed at the Grand Prix of Miami; this time, both cars held together, with Jones and Andretti taking fifth, a lap ahead of Watson and Hobbs, who took sixth.
At the Portland Grand Prix, Andretti retired after 39 laps, and was classified in 20th overall, and 16th in the GTP category; however, Watson and Hobbs took fourth overall, and finished on the lead lap. Fortunes for the two pairs of drivers would reverse at the California Grand Prix; Watson and Hobbs retired after 59 laps, and were classified 18th overall, and 14th in the GTP category, whilst Andretti and Jones took fifth overall, again finishing on the same lap as the leader. However, the Road America 500 saw a dramatic disintegration of the team's recent form; Jones crashed out after just two laps, and was classified 60th and last overall, whilst Watson and Hobbs experienced a fuel system failure after 71 laps, and were classified in 43rd overall, and 12th in class. At the New York 500, Watson and Hobbs retired after 67 laps, and were classified in 21st, and 11th in the GTP category; however, Jones and Andretti won the race by just over 24 seconds, and took the fastest lap in the process. The penultimate round of the season, which was the Columbus Grand Prix, saw both cars retire within the space of four laps; Jones and Andretti after 70 laps, which saw them classified 26th overall, and 15th in the GTP category, whilst Watson and Hobbs lasted the extra four laps, and were classified two places ahead overall and in class. Things improved at the Daytona Finale, which was the final round of the IMSA season; Jones and Andretti lasted for 83 laps before retiring, and were classified in 20th overall, and tenth in the GTP category, whilst Watson and Hobbs finished the race and were classified ninth overall, and seventh in class, after 91 laps. In the driver's championship, Andretti was the highest classified BMW GTP driver; he finished 22nd, with 37 points, whilst Jones took 25th, and Hobbs and Watson shared 28th. However, BMW withdrew from the IMSA GTP series at the end of the season. The car's career had not quite ended, however; BMW entered two cars at the opening round of the ADAC Würth Supercup season in 1987, which was held at the Nürburgring; however, they never actually competed in the race, and the BMW GTP was never used again.
Chassis 86G-1 earned the only race victory for a March 86G at the Watkins Glen 500 Kilometers, 86G-2 having its best finish of 4th at Portland. 86G-3 never finished a race and 86G-4 never appeared at a race meeting as a BMW GTP, being sold to Gianpiero Moretti in 1987 and being rebranded as a Buick Hawk, before finally ending up in the hands of the HP Racing team in 1988.

Nissan R86V

Nissan had purchased chassis 86G-5 through 86G-8 and renamed them to Nissan R86V. 86G-5 was given initially to the Hoshino Racing team, though leased to the Nissan factory team for Le Mans in 1986, 86G-6 and 86G-7 being run by the factory Nissan team, with 86G-7 being sold to Hasemi Motorsport at the end of 1986 and 86G-8 was owned by the Pearson Racing Team.
The first race for the R86V was at the 500 km of Suzuka, entered by the lone Hoshino Racing Chassis 86G-5. The car caught fire and didn't start the race. The Person Racing Team car managed to qualify 10th and finish 5th in their first race, the 1000 km of Fuji, again, the only Nissan car to enter the event. Nissan Motorsport bought the 86G-5 Chassis for one race, the 24 hours of Le Mans 1986, failing to finish with gearbox failure after qualifying a distant 24th on the grid. Pearson Racing and Hoshino Racing both brought a car each to the Fuji 500 Mile race, the Person chassis 86G-8 qualifying 8th and finishing 12th and the Hoshino Racing car earning the pole, but retiring due to tire failure. The Hoshino car would gain its second pole position in a row at the Suzuka 1000 km, with the Person car qualifying 2nd on the grid, as well as the factory-backed Nismo Sport car gaining 8th on the grid. Despite this, neither the Hoshino or Person cars nor the Nissan factory run car managed to finish the race, both the Nismo Sport and Hoshino cars retiring with clutch failures, the Person car having tire troubles. The Fuji 1000 km saw the streak of pole positions come to an end, yet also the streak of failing to finish a race coming to an end too, with the Hoshino car qualifying 4th and finishing 10th, the Nismo Sport factory car qualifying 5th and finishing 11th and the Person car qualifying 9th and suffering an engine failure. At the 500 km Fuji race, the last round of the 1986 season, the three cars managed to once again dominate the front row of the grid in qualifying, with the Nismo factory car taking pole, the Hoshino car scoring 2nd and the Person car qualifying 4th, though none of the three cars could finish this race either, with two transmission failures for the Hoshino and Nismo cars and a brake failure on the Person racing car.
At the end of the 1986 season, Nissan's works Nismo team would abandon their R86V chassis, selling 86G-7 to the Hasemi Motorsport team. The Person team and Hoshino Racing Teams persevered into 1987 with their 86G's chassis, the Hoshino and Hasemi teams campaigning their older 86G-based cars alongside more modern 87G-based cars, dropping their older cars early in the season. Person Racing and Hasemi Motorsports both entered the first round of the 1987 JSPC season, the Person car qualifying 4th and retiring after an oil leak and the Hasemi car qualifying 7th and finishing 8th. The Hasemi Motorsport 86G-7 was retired from competition after this race, the team purchasing a R87E and campaigning that for the rest of the season. At the Fuji 1000 km, Hoshino Racing returned, joined by the Pearson team, the Hoshino car qualifying a distant 24th but rallying back to an 8th-place finish and the Person racing car qualifying 9th and falling out of the race with suspension problems. This would be the last time the Hoshino team would run their 86G-5 chassis, switching to an R87E like the Hasemi Motorsport team had done for the rest of the season. Chassis 86G-8 was brought to Le Mans for 1987, entered as the Italya Sports team. The car was 5th fastest in Le Mans testing, qualifying 24th on the grid in the race and failing to finish with accident damage. The Person Racing Team returned to Japan, the only team to do with an R86V. They entered their car into the final three races of the year, finishing all three races and earning two pole positions at the final two Fuji rounds, finishing a best of 4th in the Fuji 500 Kilometers to close the year. March-Nissan came 4th in Manufacturers points, with 22 overall, defeating Jaguar and losing out to Mazda, Toyota and Porsche.
In the course of its running, the car earned 5 pole positions, though the highest result it could obtain was 4th in the last race it ran as a Nissan R86V