The champagne drops dried up on the streets of Monaco, where only hours ago an amazing Grand Prix was seen by millions. Roberto Moreno managed to qualify his unqualifiable Andrea Moda S921, with the help of Elf they say, the race finished for the team in lap 11 when he spun-off. Bertrand Gachot finished sixth and gave Larrousse their first point of the season. While Ayrton Senna won the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix. Behind all the racing a tragedy was going on, the tragedy called March F1. The team was struggling financially after Leyton House dropped out due to a huge financial scandal. Would they make it to Montreal? How will they survive it? Nick Underwood came with an amazing idea. He placed and article in the Montreal Gazette titled “March Ilmor team members just hoping for a decent meal”.
It would only you 4000 dollar to be present on the car, we have plenty of space left, on our Miami blue colour faded CG911B. Sadly, this is the reality in 1992 for the March team. There was no money left to give the cars a paint job or to fix the paint on the car. The once sparkling Miami Blue colours were fading away like the team that only two years earlier seemed to have a bright future on the grid.
The story is well known about Akira Akagi. In September 1991 Akira was implicated in a financial scandal with one of his companies and the Japanese Fuji Bank. He was arrested, and the Leyton House team plunged. Ken Marrable did his best to keep the team afloat, which he managed to do somehow. Since the start of the 1992 season, the team had only a couple of sponsors every race weekend. Sometimes, the car seemed to be sponsor less. While especially Karl Wendlinger did a good job with the CG911B during the first races of the season.
It was time for the team to pack their stuff and move to Montreal where the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix would be held the 12th of June. However, the team lacked any form of financial support, the budget for meals was cut in half and it was the question if they could even leave Montreal after the Grand Prix. Luckily, they would, and two interesting things would happen. First of all, Karl Wendlinger finished fourth during the race! Secondly, Nick Underwood did something Huub Rothengatter tried the last time in 1986. Placing an add, well more a sad story, in the Montreal Gazette asking if local companies were interested to sponsor the team.
While the teams arrived in Montreal Nick spoke with Ian MacDonald from the Gazette to see if local companies were willing to sponsor the ill-fated team for the weekend. While he stated that for 3000 dollar you could have your company name on the car, for 4000 dollar, it would be visible on one of the best spots on the car like on the side pods. However, this was not the main goal Nick stated. He was looking for a sponsor that would fed his team with delicious meals, as their lunch money wasn’t that much anymore. He was easily accessible to call the hotel where he staid and be redirected to room 812.
Not even Andrea Moda tried this to gain sponsors like this. It was a good call from Nick in Montreal. As local business owners kept on calling him to sponsor the team. An amount of eleven businesses had applied for a sponsorship deal. Thanks to; Sport Rack Canada, Cheers, Robert Allan, Ville Marie Suzuki, Cellular One, Doscount Rent-a-Car(who supplied the team with free transfers from and to the circuit and hotel), Manager Teens, Fasa Friction Laboratories Inc., Chalet Suisse and Bistro on the Avenue the team could stay on the paddock. Ready to qualify on the Saturday for the team. However, not before the stickers were added on the car and a group’s photo was made at the Player’s Pit stop Affair.
That the car, which was already a two-year-old design, was still competitive. Demonstrated Karl Wendlinger qualifying as twelfth for the race. While Paul Belmondo qualified his car on the twentieth spot on the grid. The race would bring even more joy to the team and the local sponsors. Wendlinger did something no one expected. He led his March CG911 into the points finishing fourth. While his gearbox was mall functioning. There were some sour faces in the paddock. Especially from teams like Benetton who didn’t agree on the sandwich deals the March team made.
