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| Full name | RAM Racing Team |
|---|---|
| Base | United Kingdom |
| Founder(s) | Mike Ralph, John Macdonald |
| Noted drivers |  Manfred Winkelhock Jonathan Palmer Philippe AlliotKenny Acheson Eliseo Salazar Mike ThackwellJean-Louis Schlesser Jacques Villeneuve, Sr. Lella Lombardi |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| First entry | 1976 Spanish Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 65 (41 starts) |
| Constructors | Williams-Ford March-Ford Brabham-Ford RAM-Ford RAM-Hart |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Race victories | 0(best finish: 8th,1984 Brazilian Grand Prix) |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| Final entry | 1985 European Grand Prix |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
|---|---|
| Entrants | RAM Racing Team |
| First entry | 1983 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1985 European Grand Prix |
| Races entered | 44 |
| Race victories | 0 |
| Constructors' Championships | 0 |
| Drivers' Championships | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
RAM Racing was a BritishFormula One racing team which competed during the racing seasons of 1976 to 1985. The team entered other manufacturers' chassis from 1976 to 1980, then ranMarch's team from 1981 to 1983, only entering a car entirely their own in 1984 and 1985. They scored no championship points.
The team was formed in 1975 by Mike Ralph and John Macdonald, with RAM derived from their names. After running Macdonald in a GRD in BritishFormula Three, they enteredAlan Jones in aFormula 5000March for 1976. They also bought a pair ofBrabham BT44BFormula One cars, and entered the 1976 World Championship, runningLoris Kessel andEmilio de Villota for theSpanish Grand Prix, where neither qualified. However, both Kessel and another pay-driver,Patrick Nève, qualified for theBelgian Grand Prix, withJac Nellemann,Damien Magee,Lella Lombardi andBob Evans all making appearances in the cars. There were few finishes, and the pay-drivers meant the team were frequent non-qualifiers.
For 1977,Boy Hayje drove a RAM-enteredMarch with little success, and a second "rent-a-car" did no better later in the year when driven byAndy Sutcliffe,Mikko Kozarowitzky orMichael Bleekemolen. However, they had some success runningGuy Edwards in the Shellsport Group 8 Championship inBritain, finishing 2nd overall. For 1978 the team switched to the BritishAurora Formula One series, with Edwards placing 4th overall that year in a March, and 5th overall the following season in aFittipaldi F5A. For 1980, RAM made an investment in a pair of 1979-specWilliamsFW07s, withEmilio de Villota winning the title. Sponsorship included American men's magazinePenthouse. They then entered one of these cars forRupert Keegan in theBritish Grand Prix.Kevin Cogan andGeoff Lees would guest in another car in the last two rounds, but their best finish was Keegan's 9th place at theUnited States Grand Prix.
1981 saw RAM manage and run the returningMarch Grand Prix team, withDerek Daly andEliseo Salazar driving. However, non-qualifications were frequent, and the team failed to score any points, Daly's 7th place at theBritish Grand Prix being their best result.
The combination stayed together for 1982, landing backing fromRothmans, and the newMarch 821 saw design work from a youngAdrian Reynard. With veteranJochen Mass to lead the team, backed up byRaul Boesel, hopes were high, but it was another disappointing year. Mass took 7th place at theDetroit Grand Prix, but as the car proved to be slow he lost motivation, and focused more on sports car racing withPorsche. From theGerman Grand Prix, Keegan took over the car, but RAMMarch once again failed to score points.
1983 saw the RAM name make itself onto the chassis for the first time, withDave Kelly's RAMMarch 01 design. Salazar returned to drive the main entry, while a second car forJean-Louis Schlesser was fielded at theFrench Grand Prix as a one-off. Salazar scored a 15th place in the season opener, but the bulky car struggled to qualify. Financial reasons saw the team skip theDetroit Grand Prix, while they only made theCanadian Grand Prix due to fielding local driverJacques Villeneuve, Sr. and attracting some Canadian sponsorship.Kenny Acheson then took over for the rest of the season, only qualifying once, at the season-closingSouth African Grand Prix, where he took the team's best result of the year, 12th and last.
Astonishingly, the team pressed on into 1984. The partnership withMarch was dissolved, and RAM attracted sponsorship fromSkoal Bandit. Two RAM 02 cars, withHart turbo engines, were entered forFormula Two championJonathan Palmer andPhilippe Alliot. Kelly's new design was disappointing, and the cars were frequent back-markers, and Palmer's 8th place in the openingBrazilian Grand Prix was their best result of the year (and of all time). Indeed, the team drew more notices for the crashes their drivers were involved in.
Alliot remained for 1985, withManfred Winkelhock entered in the second car, and a new RAM 03 designed byGustav Brunner. Winkelhock put in some improved qualifying performances, but actual results were still thin. Winkelhock's death in a sports car event in Canada in the summer was a blow to the team, and Acheson was recalled briefly, before the team slimmed down to a single entry. They missed the final two rounds altogether. Skoal withdrew their backing at the end of the year, the team's best result having been Alliot's 9th place, again at the openingBrazilian Grand Prix.
The team planned to enter a single updated RAM 03 forMike Thackwell (who had stood in for Palmer at the1984 Canadian Grand Prix) for the1986 season, but the funds could not be found, and the team folded over the winter of 1985.[1] The team would have raced as car #9 for 1986 otherwise, per the FIA entry list.
