Talk:March 701

How many lightweight chassis?

There seem to be conflicting reports about the identities of the (possibly) two chassis that were constructed or reconstructed in lighter 20swg alloy sheet. On the one hand, many sources associated with Motor Sport magazine, including contemporary race reports from Denis Jenkinson and more recent summaries by Simon Taylor (both highly respected journalists), cite chassis 701/6 as having been constructed from 20swg alloy right from the start. Jenks does mention that there is some confusion during 1970 as to exactly which chassis is the light one, but it is attributed to a spare car for the works team. This fact is not alluded to in any other serious source that I can find, is notably absent from Mike Lawrence's otherwise excellent book on the team, and is contradicted by Robin Herd's assertion in a couple of interviews and features that the works team never built themselves a lightweight chassis as only Tyrrell could afford the expense. That chassis 701/4 was rebuilt with thinner alloy seems to be reported more widely, and fits with Herd's assertions about the project being a Tyrrell initiative and not a works one. I'm reluctant to remove information cited to contemporary and (normally) reliable sources, but there does seem to be a grey area here. I will perhaps add a footnote when I get time to word it properly. Pyrope 11:40, 19 November 2020 (UTC)