Aeronautical Heritage

Mackson 500 F3

Arrested Development - McLaren M26/1

The McLaren M23 was already a four year old design when Gordon Coppucks successor the lower and lighter McLaren M26 was launched in the summer of 1976.



Unfortunately the development of the M26 was almost immediately stifled as James Hunt in his M23 and the team were waging one of the fiercest championship battles in the history of the World Divers Championship to that point in time.



The M26 did race at the Dutch Grand Prix driven by Jochen Mass in 1976 but it was quickly decided that the design needed serious development that was best postponed until the end of the season.



James subsequently won the 1976 World Drivers Championship. I am not sure why the M26 was not ready for the start of the 1977 championship but the older M23 was pressed into a fifth season of competition and it was not until the 10th round of the 17 race Grand Prix schedule that both front line McLaren drivers James Hunt and Jochen Mass had the M26 available to race.



Nearly a year after it was launched, now featuring a radiator mounted in the nose, the car was competitive and at the British Grand Prix in 1977 James recorded the first of three victories driving the M26 model, not enough to defend his World Drivers championship but a respectable achievement none the less.



James was not known for his testing skills in the same way as the much vaunted Niki Lauda and so it is perhaps no surprise that for the following 1978 season the development of the M26 did not significantly improve performance.



In 1978 the M26 was, like most of the opposition, simply outclassed by the dominant Lotus 79 design which introduced hitherto unimaginably superior handling to Grand Prix racing thanks to the venturi in it's side pods. Hunt left the McLaren Team to rejoin former Hesketh designer Dr Harvey Postlethwaite at Wolf Racing for the 1979 season.



The car featured in these photographs is thought to be chassis M26/1 which was first raced by Jochen Mass in Holland in 1976. The best result for M26/1 was fourth place scored by Jochen Mass behind winner James Hunts similar model at the 1977 British Grand Prix.



The vehicle is seen here being driven by owner Frank Lyons is expected to take part in this weekends Silverstone Classic race for Formula One cars on Sunday.

My thanks to NZALPA, VINCE H, David Lawson, Tim, Murray, Tony Gallagher, Alan Cox, Pink Snail, David Lawson, hipperson and Geoff Butcher at The Nostalgia Forum for their help identifying the chassis number and driver.

Hope you have enjoyed the Arrested Development edition of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again for a look at a Fittipaldi in Wolf clothing tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !§

Caution Wide Vehicle - McLaren M23 M23/6

The Ford Cosworth DFV powered McLaren M23 driven by Denny Hulme was designed by Gordon Cuppock, based on the lessons learned from the successful McLaren M16 Indy car. It burst onto the Grand Prix scene in 1973 with a pole position on its debut in South Africa. Denny scored the first win for the model in Sweden and Peter Revson followed that with wins in Great Britain and Canada in 1973.

For 1974 Denny who won his last race in an M23 in the season opening Argentinian GP was joined in the McLaren team by 1972 World Champion Emerson Fittipaldi who won in Brazil, Belgium, and Canada on his way to becoming the 1974 World Champion. McLaren also won the World Constructors title in 1974.

Jochen Mass joined Emerson in the McLaren team in 1975 winning the shortened Spanish GP while Emerson won in Argentina and Great Britain to finish 2nd in the World Drivers Championship.

1976 would prove to be the chassis most successful year in terms of wins with James Hunt, who replaced Emerson in the team crossing the line first in Spain, France, Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Canada and the United States.

However 1976 was a year of high drama and comedy in Formula One first James was disqualified from the Spanish Grand Prix because his car was 1.8cm less than an inch too wide. In 1975 the McLaren had been used as a base model too set the dimensions for the 1976 Formula regulations.

McLaren successfully argued that when the tyres on the car were moving they were taller as a result of the centrifugal force taking up the slack on the side walls of the tyres and that this accounted for the discrepancy. The governing F.I.A. accepted this argument and the win was reinstated with a $3,000 fine, when the M23's next appeared they had a slightly narrower rear track.

On the first corner, Paddock Bend, of the opening lap of the British Grand Prix James Hunt was the innocent victim in a crash with Ferrari's Clay Reggazoni. The race was stopped and James who's car was severely damaged took a short cut to get back to the pits when the race was stopped.

Come the restart the organisers initially refused to allow James to line up on the grid because the team had worked to repair his car while the mess was being cleared up. However people power intervened and fearing a riot from the partisan crowd the organisers relented, James took the win, he and the partisan crowd partied long and hard into the night and later the F.I.A. disqualified both Hunt and Clay Regazzoni from the event for having failed to complete the opening lap.

Up until this point reigning Champion Niki Lauda had dominated the 1976 Championship with four wins three seconds, the last of which became 1st after Hunt's disqualification from the British GP and a third. The next race was the ill feted German Grand Prix in which Niki was eliminated in an accident that triggered an inferno from which he was lucky to escape with his life.

James won the German Grand Prix and the Dutch GP while Niki recuperated and 39 days after the inferno at the Nurburgring Niki and James met again at the Italian GP. At the end of practice for the Italian GP James and Mclaren team mate Jochen Mass and John Watson at Penske were found to be running with a fuel octane rating that was too high and had their Saturday times disallowed.

Since it had been raining during the first practice sessions on the Friday Hunt, Mass and Watson had effectively failed to qualify, however the 13 second plus off pace Otto Stuppacher was already on his way home to Austria when the announcement and the Marlboro sponsored Art Mezario withdrew as did Englishman Guy Edwards allowing Hunt, Mass and Watson to start.

Hunt crashed trying to make time and was applauded for doing so by the Tifosi and Lauda came home a remarkable 4th in his first race back.

James won both the Canadian and US Grand Prix while the brave Niki could only amass a further three championship points. Going into he last race of the season the Japanese GP Niki had a 3 point lead over James.

For the race James qualified 2nd behind Andretti with Niki just one place further back. I remember getting up at some unholy hour to watch this race live on TV in the UK and remember the disappointment when I saw the monsoon that unfolded on the track.

After much debate amongst the driver the race started and Niki who had lost his eyelids in the German inferno and yet to have them replaced through plastic surgery had little choice but to retire in the near zero visibility conditions. James took an early lead in the race but as the rain stopped and the track started to dry Hunt started losing ground dropping to 5th after a pit stop to replace a punctured tyre with just a few laps to go.

James charged back into the race managing to regain two positions which left him in third position when the flag came out for Mario Andretti to win by just over a lap from Patrick Depailler, with James Hunt, who had no idea what his position was in the race, right on his tail.

Hunt only learned that he had become champion after he got out of the car and stopped shouting at team manager Teddy Meyer for a less than perfect pit stop.

Hunt won the 1976 World Drivers title by just one point and Great Britain had it's first World Champion since Jackie Stewart had won his last crown in 1973.

The McLaren M23 was pressed into service again in 1977 but its competitiveness was on the wane James winning a non championship race before committing fully to the M26 successor which had gone through a troublesome one year gestation period before coming on song.

The works M23 had a final swan song when it introduced Gilles Villeneuve to the world of Grand Prix racing in Great Britain and Bruno Jack'O'Malley in Italy towards the end of the 1977.

I have done my best to find out exactly which of the 13 M23 chassis this is, The Donington Museum blurb identified this car as McLaren M23/8 and said it was used to win the '76 Spanish and US GP's however M23/8 was destroyed in 1975. The car was then given a new tub with the chassis number M23/8-2 and the old tub was apparently eventually repaired to 1975 tall airbox spec and now resides in the United States.

M23/8-2 went on to become one of the stars of the 1976 season being used to win the controversial Spanish GP along with those in Canada and the US GP. M23/8-2 is said to belong to BCE the man responsible for running the the whole Formula Show since 1981.

It is said that the vehicle in my photograph appeared at the 60th Anniversary celebrations of the World Grand Prix Drivers Championship in Bahrain last year, it is also suggested that the M23 which appeared at Bahrain belongs to the brave octogenarian who started a modelling career with Hublot earlier this year however I have no firm evidence of the ownership of the vehicle in the photograph at the top of this post
at this time.

Most likely the vehicle above seen at the Donington Park Museum is M23/6 which seems to meet many of the criteria hinted at on various threads of The Nostalgia Forum and who's whereabouts is listed as unknown by the respected Old Racing Car site.

M23/6 was used by Denny Hulme to win the Agentine Grand Prix in 1974 then in 1976 James Hunt drove it to win the French Grand Prix, cross the line first in Great Britain only to be disqualified .

At the next race the German Grand Prix I saw James win in this chassis which became one of a rare set of vehicles that crossed the line first in three consecutive races, though it was disqualified from one of them.

In 1977 Emilio de Villota drove M23/6 with little success in Grand Prix events, 2 starts three DNQ's, but did win two rounds of a British series open to all single seat racing cars.

My thanks to Michael Ferner, Wouter Melissen, Steve Holter, Simon Hadfield, Slurp1955, at The Nostalgia Forum for their valuable contributions to todays blog.

Hope you have enjoyed today's 1976 edition of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Three Time Winner - McLaren Offy M16

The McLaren M16 was designed by Gordon Coppuck in 1970 and took essential design queues from the Lotus 72, that was dominant in Formula One, including the chisel nose and side mounted radiators.



On it's Indy debut in 1971 M16's of Revson, Donohue and Hulme qualified 1st, 2nd and 4th for the 500, the race was won by repeat winner Al Unser with Peter Revson coming home a career best 2nd. Mark Donohue driving for the private Penske team said of the M16 that it "...obsoleted every other car on track..." and proved it with a win in 1972.



In 1973 Johnny Rutherford, seen driving the M16C/5 here at Goodwood Festival of Speed, took pole position again in his works M16 though the Eagles of Johncock and Vukovich Jr took first and second in the race that was called early due to rain. The following season driving the same car Rutherford started 25th on the grid and went on to win the first of his three Indy 500's.



Photo Ed Arnaudin

In 1975 Rutherford drove the #2 Gatorade M16E/1 qualifying 7th and coming in second.



Photo Ed Arnaudin

Lloyd Ruby drove the #7 Allied Polymer Group M16E/2 qualifying 6th and finishing 32nd in 1975 and in 1976 Rutherford dominated the Indy 500 with a victory from pole in this ex Ruby chassis. Cliff Hucul raced this same car at Indy from '77 - '79 qualifying a best 18th in '79 and finishing a best 22nd in '77.



Photo Ed Arnaudin

Bob Harkey seen in the #33 Dayton Walther M16C/2 here in 1975 qualified 23rd for the Indy 500 and after 18 laps handed the car over to Salt Walther who's own M16 had experienced turbo failure after 2 laps. Salt was flagged in 10th at the conclusion of the rain affected race. In 1976 David Hobbs nade his fourth and final Indy start in this car starting 31st and finishing 29th.

In 1978 Jerry Karl modified M16C/2 fitting a Chevrolet stock block motor, Karl made three starts in '78, '80 and '81 recording best start positions of 28th in '78 and '80 and a best finish of 14th in '78. This car still fitted with a Chevy stock block but now with orange #15 bodywork as used by Peter Revson resides in the Matthew Collection.

My thanks to Steve Arnaudin for scanning his Dad's photographs and to everyone who contributed to the M16 thread on The Nostalgia Forum for providing the chassis details.

Hope you have enjoyed today's chisel nose edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

The Kiwi Bear - McLaren Offy M15

This is the only photo to have so far surfaced by Ed Arnaudin at Indianapolis from 1970.




The car is a McLaren M15, based loosely on the Can Am dominating M8 chassis, Gordon Coppuck incorporated numerous parts from the M8 Can Am car into the design of the M15. The stressed aluminium monocoque chassis was held together with 3 steel bulkheads with the 4 cylinder Offy turbocharged engine bolted directly to the rear most and supported by two a frame running form the bulkhead to the bell housing.

The drivers of the cars were originally scheduled to be 1967 world champion Denny Hulme known as 'The Bear' in the #73 and Chris Amon in the #75, though team founder, Bruce McLaren also turned a few laps in the #79 spare car on the first day of practice running in a three car line astern McLaren train with fellow New Zealanders Denny and Chris. Bruce however never had any intention of taking the start.

The #73 of Denny caught fire during practice as a result of a fuel leak from a quick release breather cap that had not been properly secured. As Denny slowed the car down the intensity of the largely unseen methanol flames increased forcing to jump from his car while it was still moving at an estimated 70 mph !

Denny was to miss the 500 due to the burns his hands received, meanwhile Chris Amon was not happy about the Indianapolis track set up, his speed was 3 mph slower than Bobby Unser who tested the #75 and the extent of the injuries received by Denny convinced him to withdraw from the race.

Teddy Meyer team manager drafted Carl Williams into the #75, he qualified 19th and finished 8th, while Peter Revson was drafted into the #73 qualifying 16th he retired from the race with a broken magneto classified 22nd.

2 days after the 1970 Indy 500 McLaren founder Bruce McLaren was killed testing the latest incarnation of the McLaren M8 Can Am car leaving Denny Hulme and Peter Revson to become the back bone of the McLaren team in Formula One, USAC and Can Am series until 1974.

Thank you for joining me on this Team Kiwi edition of 'Gettin' a lil psycho on tyres' I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don't forget to come back now !

Forgotten Marque #1 - Warwick 350GT

It's not everyday I stumble upon a vehicle manufacturer I have never heard of but at last weekends Race Retro I came across two such manufacturers the first the subject of today's blog is Warwick.



The origins of the Warwick lie in Peerless Cars Ltd founded by John Gordon and James Byrnes, Peerless built approximately 325 fiberglass vehicles with tubular space frames designed by Bernie Rodger around Triumph TR3 running gear. A Peerless GT Coupe driven by Peter Jopp and Percy Crabb finished 16th in the 1958 Le Mans 24 hour race.



Peerless Cars Ltd failed in 1960 and Bernie Rodger upgraded his design with a stiffer chassis, one piece forward hingeing bonnet and marketed it under the Warwick name though the vehicles were actually built in Colnbrook, Berkshire. Around 40 Warwicks are thought to have been manufactured from 1960 to 1962.

Meantime Peerless founder John Gordon teamed up with Jim Keeble to carry on manufacturing vehicles based on the original Peerless chassis with Chevrolet motors and completely new bodywork designed by Guigiaro and built by Bertone marketed under the Gordon - Keeble brand.



In 1961 Warwick manufactured two prototypes with all aluminium 3.5 litre / 215 cui Buick (BOP) 215 engines, the four tail pipes on this vehicle are evidence that this is one of those two prototypes.

The Warwick appeared at Race Retro on the Central Scanning stand, a company that specialises in scanning old parts so that they can be reverse engineered, thus making it theoretically possible to remanufacture almost any part for any vehicle that has ever been built so long as an original copy exists to be scanned.

I hope you have enjoyed today's Forgotten Marque edition of 'Getting a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you will join me again tomorrow for another forgotten marque. Don't forget to come back now !

05/09/11 Looking into the name of this model I have come to realise it is properly called a Warwick 350GT not 305GT as originally published. Apologies for any confusion.

Gordon MacKenzie's Cockpit - #52 C-type Jaguar XKC 030

It's a great pleasure to share another of Ed Arnaudin's photographs on 'Gettin' a lil pyscho on tyres' sticking with this weeks Jaguar theme today we have Gordon Mackenzie's C-type Jaguar in the paddock at Lime Rock in April 1959.



The C-type is the competition version of the XK 120 with a lightweight aerodynamic aluminium body built around a tubular frame. 52 C-types were built powered by a 205 hp version of the XK engine one of which driven by Peters Whitehead & Walker won Le Mans in 1951.

In 1953 with an engine tuned to 220 hp, thanks to a switch from triple SU carburettors to Webbers and a chassis fitted with disc brakes Duncan Hamilton & Tony Rolt drove their C-type to Jaguars second Le Mans win.

XKC 030 had been raced by amongst others by David Hirsch and both Virginia and Loyal Katsee, when after rolling his XK 120 in 1957 Gordon McKenzie acquired it and subsequently used it with varying degrees of success all the way through to 1962.

Gordon MacKenzie came home 5th behind the #25 Ferrari TRC of G Andrey and 2 spots ahead of Bob Grossman's 250 GT California on this particular day.

John Aibel informs me that Gordon McKenzie was a well known racing instructor in the North East States and is still active in Vintage SCCA events.

My thanks to Ed & Steve Arnaudin for the photograph, John Aibel and Terry O'Neil for background information.

Hope you have enjoyed to today's lightweight edition of 'Gettin' a lil' psycho on tyres' and that you'll join me again tomorrow for two cats in a Hollywood studio. Don't forget to come back now !