March Racing Academy is pleased to announce the launch of the March 09 Recreation (09R) designed for the prestigious Sports 2000 Duratec Championship.
Inspiration for the 09R has been the original 1975 Le Mans prototype MARCH 75S and the new design captures the style of the original 75S yet has been completely modernised to create a highly competitive and technically advanced race car.
The design has been carried out by Kieron Salter of K W Motorsport Ltd, an experienced race car designer who has developed a range of proven successful modern LMP cars.
Using sophisticated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Finite Element Analysis, normally associated with the design of today’s F1 race cars, and after months of several hundred programme iterations, the new march 09R has been designed to create superior aerodynamic performance whist retaining the unmistakable style of the original MARCH 75S.
Alan Hudd, founder of the March Racing Academy is bullish about the new car and claims, “We believe that the attention to detail in creating this aerodynamic performance is unique and probably makes the march 09R the most advanced aerodynamic sports race car in existence today for club racing”.
Kieron Salter, Managing Director of K W Motorsport added, “‘Morphing’ techniques of the race car body surfaces has created an aerodynamic package with an efficiency exceeding 4:1; achieving sufficiently low drag to meet the top speed expectations for the Duratec engine without compromising down force.”
Complementing the modern aerodynamic performance has been the attention to the design of the chassis and mechanical grip performance of the car. Salter commented on his brief to design a race car, “Our philosophy throughout the design has been to maintain the style of the March 75S, achieve a competitive performance and exceed the safety requirements of a club racing car”.
Hudd reinforces the point by adding, “The 09R is built on a strong aluminium monocoque tub based on original MARCH race cars, creating a very stiff structure. Safety has been a strong feature of our design criteria. Along with a strong monocoque tub, extensive FEA design of the nosebox under impact leads us to believe that the 09R is probably the safest race car in club racing”.
The first 09R chassis #1 will be displayed at the Autosports show. Chassis #1 will be used as the works development car during the 2010 season. 09R/01 will be known as “Lita-Maria” after Hudd’s wife and as a tribute to all the long suffering wives of motorsport enthusiasts.
To see the brand new march 09R visit the Sports Racing Car Club (SRCC) Sports 2000 stand 7160 at the Autosports show.
