[1] Colin Crabbe is a well-known collector and dealer of historic racing cars, one of his most famous acquisitions being the pre-war Mercedes-Benz W125 now owned by Bernie Ecclestone[2] that had been hidden behind the Iron Curtain for several years.

At the 1969 Race of Champions "Antique Automobiles" made what appears to be the first F1 entry for Colin Crabbe's team, with Roy Pike non-starting due to a fuel pump failure in a Climax-engined Brabham BT23B.

[7][8] Having retained the DFV engine from the wrecked McLaren, Crabbe was approached by Max Mosley, one of the founders of new-for-1970 F1 constructor March, who offered to supply a March 701 chassis if Crabbe agreed to enter Ronnie Peterson,[9] at that time a promising up-and-coming driver who had won the 1968 Swedish F3 championship and the 1969 Monaco F3 race.

Chassis 701/8[10] first became available for the third race of 1970, but with the responsibility of looking after the team's one and only engine, as well as his shortcomings in setting up what turned out to be a difficult car, Peterson was unable to match the pace of the leading 701s driven by Stewart and Amon, although he did compare favourably with experienced works driver Jo Siffert.

Crabbe said of his time in Formula One "I like to think I was the last of the serious privateers in F1, excluding Alexander Hesketh who was in a class apart, and Rob Walker, who had retired by then...