Onyx Grand Prix began life as Onyx Race Engineering in late 1978 as a partnership between old colleagues Mike Earle and Greg Field. Prior to approaching Field and asking him to join him in a new venture, Earle had had extensive experience in open-wheel racing, running the successful "Church Farm Racing" team in F3, F2 and Formula 5000, as well as previously working with Field and driver David Purley in the LEC racing team in Formula Atlantic, F2, European Formula 5000 and occasional Formula One races. In their first foray into team ownership the duo intended to enter their own chassis in Formula 2 for the 1979 season but it turned out to be a largely unsuccessful campaign. They returned in 1980 and 1981 running semi-works Marches for Johnny Cecotto and Riccardo Paletti. After a competitive 1981 season Paletti's sponsors took him to Formula One with Osella. Not wanting to be left behind, Onyx tried their hand at F1 by entering a private March in 5 rounds for Spaniard Emilio de Villota, with de Villota only failing to qualify once. Inspired by this, Onyx planned to enter their own car once again in 1983 but this time taking a step up into the world of Formula One with a returning Paletti. Disaster struck as Paletti was killed at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix and this seemed to curtail Onyx's progression forward.