The Eifelland Type 21 of 1972 was one of the strangest-looking cars ever to compete in Formula 1. The project was funded by the German Eifelland caravan company, at the behest of its boss Günther Henerici, a racing enthusiast. Eifelland had previously sponsored the promising German driver Rolf Stommelen in junior formulae and had decided to enter Formula 1 with their driver.
Type 21 was a March 721 chassis number four. All resemblance to the factory Marches was lost when Eifelland designer Luigi Colani penned the extraordinary bodywork for the new car. Colani was an unusual designer, believing that every surface should be curved. The new car merited a brief mention in the February 1972 issue of Motor Sport magazine, where Denis Jenkinson wrote;
“The Eifelland caravan firm of Germany are continuing to support Stommelen and have a new March that will be thinly disguised to look like something else, though not a caravan, I hope.”
It certainly didn’t look like a caravan, and neither did it look like anything else on the grid. Type 21 featured a sweeping one-piece rear wing, a curious cockpit with an airbox integrated into its front, and a single rear-view mirror mounted on a large stalk in front of the driver.
Source: formula-1.suite101.com
Images: Colani Design; www.f1rejects.com
