Mosley managed the commercial side, Rees ran the racing team, Coaker oversaw factory production, and Herd served as the principal designer. The company launched with extraordinary ambition: after building a single Formula Three car in 1969, March announced customer cars for Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Three, Formula Ford, and Can-Am for the 1970 season, alongside works entries in F1, F2, and F3. This breadth of activity was unprecedented for a new constructor and set the pattern of tension that would define the company's history: the constant pressure between developing competitive works cars and producing simple, reliable, profitable customer machinery.
March's Formula One debut was immediate and promising. Jackie Stewart drove the March 701 supplied to Tyrrell to victory at the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix, the marque's first grand prix win. The 1971 March 711, with distinctive aerodynamics by Frank Costin including an ovoid "Spitfire" front wing, saw Ronnie Peterson finish runner-up in the World Championship. Results declined through 1972–73 as the works struggled financially; a brief rally came in 1975 when Vittorio Brambilla won the rain-shortened Austrian Grand Prix — March's second works victory — and Lella Lombardi scored a championship point at the Spanish Grand Prix, becoming the first woman to do so.
Peterson returned to March in 1976 and scored the team's last grand prix win at Monza. After selling its FOCA membership to ATS at the end of 1977, March withdrew from Formula One works competition. A return came in 1981 as a customer car exercise for the RAM team with little success, and a separate sponsored project carried the Leyton House name from 1987 onwards. The March-Judd 881, designed by Adrian Newey who joined in August 1987, was a genuine breakthrough: it scored 22 points in 1988 and its ultra-slim monocoque and aerodynamics were widely copied. The car briefly led the 1988 Japanese Grand Prix when Ivan Capelli passed Alain Prost's McLaren-Honda — the first time a naturally aspirated car had led a grand prix since 1983. The team raced as Leyton House Racing through 1990–91 with Ilmor power before financial difficulties linked to owner Akira Akagi's involvement in the Fuji Bank scandal ended the programme. March resumed the name for 1992 but lacked funding, and the F1 operation closed.
Formula Two became the commercial bedrock of March from 1973 onward. A long working relationship with BMW's Paul Rosche produced dominant cars: Bruno Giacomelli won the F2 title in a March-BMW in 1978, and the 782 in particular was regarded as exceptional. March achieved its pinnacle in American open-wheel racing: Cosworth-powered March Indycars won the Indianapolis 500 five consecutive times between 1983 and 1987, with the 86C winning back-to-back in 1986 and 1987. At one point, 30 of the 33 starters at Indianapolis drove March chassis.
When Formula Two was replaced by Formula 3000 in 1985, March dominated the early years. Christian Danner took the first F3000 championship in 1985, Ivan Capelli won in 1986, and Stefano Modena followed in 1987. The early F3000 cars were developments of the F2 842. However, into the late 1980s Reynard Motorsport's aggressive entry into the market effectively ended March's relevance in the category.
March built a range of IMSA GTP sports prototypes from the early 1980s derived from the unsuccessful BMW M1C, fitted with Porsche or Chevrolet engines. The most significant success came with victory in the 1984 24 Hours of Daytona.
March went public in April 1987, initially valued at £14.5 million. Falling American sales, a weakening dollar, and competition from Reynard undercut the company's position. Leyton House's Akira Akagi purchased the racing operations in 1989. In the early 1990s, following the Leyton House financial collapse, a complex series of buyouts resulted in March and Ralt being sold to Andrew Fitton and Steve Ward. Fitton subsequently wound March up, while Ward continued Ralt independently at a reduced scale. Engineering drawings and design rights covering March's extensive catalogue of customer cars and works F1 cars were later sold to Andy Gilberg and are held through the Marchives archive.
A March Racing Organisation applied to enter the 2010 Formula One World Championship season but failed to secure a place on the initial entry list.
March's most enduring contributions were the Indianapolis 500 dynasty of the 1980s, the talent pipeline generated by its customer car operations across F2 and F3, and the aerodynamic groundwork laid by the 881 under Adrian Newey. The company also holds a singular place in Formula One history as the team for which Lella Lombardi scored the first championship point by a woman driver. Its car designation system — two digits for the year, one for the formula — became a model of rational engineering nomenclature that remained consistent from 1969 through 1991.