 Project Four Racing | |
| Founded: | 1976 |
| Principal: | Ron Dennis |
| Former Series: | European Formula Two Championship British Formula 3 Championship BMW M1 Procar Championship |
| Folded: | 1980 (merged with McLaren) |
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".[1]
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.
Project Four also raced in the British Formula Three 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. Stefan Johansson won the 1980 British Formula Three Championship driving for Project Four Racing.
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.
(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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | |||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||||
| 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 | ||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||||
| 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 |