Racer - Fall 2013

McLAREN 50

struggled against modern, mid-engined machines, but the event must have further widened his eyes about opportunities here.

Called the Pacific Grand Prix, it was a round of USAC’s professional Road Racing Championship, carrying prestige and prize money. Plus, it enjoyed the support of a big San Francisco newspaper. All that drew an entry featuring Stirling Moss, who would win with a Lotus, along with the likes of series champ Carroll Shelby, Jim Hall, Roger Penske, Indy 500 winner Rodger Ward, even world champion Brabham, McLaren’s F1 partner at Cooper.

From then on, whenever he had a weekend to spare, it seemed that Bruce was in North America racing cars of various kinds for various people. When did he start thinking about racing for himself? Certainly by the summer of ’ 63.

After Brabham had taken two world
titles in a row with Cooper, he left to start
his own operation, so McLaren moved up
to lead driver. He’d scored three GP wins
by now, but Cooper’s fire seemed to be
going out. John Cooper, formerly an
enterprising leader, had been knocked
low by a serious highway accident, leaving
his notoriously short-tempered, tightfisted
father Charles in charge.

McLaren, looking ahead to the early

1964 Tasman series in Australia and New Zealand, wanted Cooper to take best advantage of the series regulations by constructing a pair of new cars slimmer and lighter than regular F1s. His employers balked at the expense, but agreed to let Bruce use their facilities while he built his Tasman Specials on his own.

So he decided to take on the whole
program by himself. In the fall of ’ 63, he and
a few mates formed Bruce McLaren Motor
Racing Ltd. to run their Tasman assault.

McLaren’s Tasman Coopers incorporated much of his own design thinking, were tidy, graceful and fast, and Bruce did win the Tasman championship — although the triumph was darkened by the fatal crash of his teammate, American Tim Mayer.

Racers keep racing. While he continued his F1 duties for Cooper, McLaren steered his own satellite organization into professional sports car racing in both

M8B

1969

Drivers BrUCe MClaren, Denn Y HUlMe

Wins 11 (MClaren 6; HUlMe 5)

CH’sHip positions MClaren 1st; HUlMe 2nD

• A refinement of the monocoque chassis, big-block engine M8A of 1968, but with the notable addition of a rear wing mounted, Chaparral-style, directly on to the rear uprights – this type of wing was banned in F1 for ’ 69, but given a season’s grace in Can-Am.