Maco

Maco cars were the brainchild of Ernst Maring who was a quite successful F2 and F3 driver in his own right. Maco began by producing Super Vee cars and then with the change in F3 regulations in 1971 Maring decided to enter this class of racing. For the next few years Maco produced a succession of often attractive, competitive cars. They mostly raced in the German Championship with the occasional foray to races like Monaco and Maring seemed to have a knack for landing sponsorship deals that meant they were well financed. They never quite made that final breakthrough and eventually as other marques came up Maco departed the scene.

Appearing right at the end of the 1971 season, the Maco 371 was raced at the Nurburgring in October by Ernst Maring himself.

Two 372s were built for 1972 and raced by Maring and Felix Martin, results were disappointing when up against the more usual March/GRD/Brabhams etc. of the the other runners, reliability was also a problem and there were a number of retirements.

Once again several cars (at least 4) were constructed for use in the German F3 rounds, they had several reasonable results including a win at Niederstetten.

The Maco 374 apparently resembled a GRD and was powered initially by a Nova-Ford twin-cam unit. Ernst Maring himself was the main driver and managed a few promising outings.

At the beginning of the season the more individually styled 375 was powered by a Nova-Ford twin-cam unit but the switch to Toyota power was soon made although occasionally a BMW engine was used. Maring himself was the most successful Maco driver with with 2nd places at the Nurburgring, Ulm and three times at Hockenheim.

The 376 was a tidied up version of the 375 and results weren't so easy to come by as manufacturers like Ralt and March began to dominate. Best finishes were a second place each at the Nurburgring for Maring and Korten although a few other top 6 places were achieved.

The 1977 car was a cosmetically enhanced version of the 376, lower engine cover, ducted radiators etc. Results were reasonable with Niggemeier and Korten going well in the German championship with Korten getting a 2nd and 3rd as well as a 4th in the European Championship round at the Nurburgring. For this year the change was made to the improving BMW engine.

Although a new car was produced for 1978 results for the 378 weren't good, Korten managed a 5th in heat in a Euro round at Zolder. For this year Maco seemed to have reverted to Toyota power.

For 1979 Ernst Maring returned to the driving seat in the Toyota powered 379 and managed 4th place in the German Championship. Best result of the season was probably the 6th place finish in the final round of the European Championship at Kassel-Calden in October.

Ernst Maring took part in the last few 1980 races in the new 381 winning a non-championship race at Hockenheim amongst a very average field. Into 1981 the car was very much a midfield runner, the only highlight being a seventh at Siegerland in a German Championship event. The 381 would seem to be Maco's swansong in F3 racing.