1970 McLaren M8D

This car is pictured on the approach to Lodge Corner in the HSCC Atlantic Computers Historic G.T. Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the Haslemere Sports Cars Ltd's 5-litre 1970 McLaren M8D driven by John Foulston. The car was designed for the Canadian-American Challenge Cup Series (or Can-Am) that was contested from 1966 till 1987. Bruce McLaren died in one of these cars in an accident during a testing session at Goodwood just a few days before the first of the 1970 Can-Am races, but the M8D went on to win 8 of the ten races in the series - 6 by Denny Hulme and 2 by Dan Gurney - and one race was won by Peter Gethin on a McLaren M8B. Tony Dean in a Porsche 908 was the only non-McLaren driver to win a race.

McLarens at the Donington Park Museum

The Donington Park Museum which closed three years ago this month had the largest number of exhibits of any motor sport museum including a comprehensive collection of McLarens, and this is a photograph of a few of these cars that I took on a visit there in March 1996.

The nearest car is the McLaren M7A that was used by the team in the 1968 and 1969 seasons, giving McLaren its first Grand Prix win when Bruce McLaren drove it to victory in the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix. Denny Hulme went on to win two further races that season, in Italy and Canada. In 1969 McLaren together with several other teams built 4-wheel drive cars in an attempt to harness the power of the 3 litre Cosworth engine and the next car is the 1969 McLaren M9A 4-wheel drive car. This car appeared in only one race, the British Grand Prix where it was driven by Derek Bell but retired after 5 laps, after which McLaren abandoned the 4-wheel drive experiment as did all the other teams. The third car is the McLaren M14A that the team raced in the 1970 season, a development of the M7A/C, Denny Hulme having 3 third place and 3 fourth place finishes to end up in fourth place in the World Drivers' Championship. The fourth car in the line is a McLaren M8D which was built to contest the 1970 Can-Am season and has a 7.6 litre Chevrolet V8 engine. Denny Hulme won the 1970 Can-Am Series in one of these cars, winning six of the ten races. It was also in one of these cars that Bruce McLaren died in a test session at Goodwood in 1970 when a part of the rear bodywork came adrift causing him to crash.

McLaren M8D

This car competed in the HSCC Atlantic Computers Historic G.T. Championship race at the Historic Sports Car Club's Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1986.

It's the Haslemere Sports Cars Ltd's 5-litre 1970 McLaren M8D, driven in the race by John Foulston. The car was designed for the Canadian-American Challenge Cup Series (or Can-Am) that was contested from 1966 till 1987.

On 22 June 2016 I showed a photograph of this car, and also of other McLarens, at the HSCC meeting at Oulton Park in 1987.

McLaren Can-Am and Sports Cars

The HSCC Spring Historic Race Meeting at Oulton Park in May 1987 included a race for The HSCC Atlantic Computers Historic GT Championship. Here are a few of the McLarens that were entered in this race.

John Foulston's 1970 McLaren M8D

This car isn't listed in the programme of the event, but it's a 1966 McLaren M1B

Chris Aylett's 1970 McLaren M8E

Martin Bolsover's 1968 McLaren M6B

Don Shead's 1970 McLaren M8C/D