A salute to March F1 co-founder Robin Herd

Robin Herd, the man who designed McLaren's first F1 car and co-founded March Engineering, passed away this week at the age of 80.

A graduate from Oxford University, Herd's first job in motorsport was to design Bruce McLaren first eponymous F1 car, the M2A which ran in its maiden Grand Prix at Monaco in 1966.

Herd's later enjoyed engineering spells with Cosworth and Frank Williams' private team before teaming up with fellow Oxford graduate Max Mosley, and friends Alan Rees and Graham Coaker to from March.

After designing an F3 car in 1969, the ambitious quartet embarked on an F1 endeavor, building no less than five March 701s that would find their way to the grid of the season-opening South African Grand Prix in 1970, with entries for Mario Andretti, Chris Amon and Jo Siffert, and for Ken Tyrrell's Jackie Stewart and Johnny Servoz-Gavin.

March quickly expanded with great success into several categories of single-seater racing, from F2 and F3 in the 70s to Indycar racing in the 80s.

The company's involvement in F1 came to an end in 1977 but Herd returned to the fray in 1981, although with little success.

Thereafter, a partnership was formed with Leyton House in 1987 but Herd eventually sold his interest in March to set up his own consultancy business while also devoting time to his passion for football as the chairman of Oxford United FC.