1971 McLaren M8F Spyder

Team McLaren dominated the 1970 CanAm season by winning nine of ten races. It was their fourth championship in a row. For 1971 a new model, the M8F was built for Denny Hulme, the 1970 CanAm champion and his teammate Peter Revson. The F was based on the M8D but differed in several aspects. The aluminum monocoque chassis was 3-inches longer and employed thicker gauge aluminum panels, flush riveted. Wider 17-inch rims were fitted at the rear necessitating different suspension geometry. Brakes started in-board but were relocated outboard by the Elkhart Lake event. Hewland's revised Mark II transaxle was employed with stronger case and side plates. The body work was an evolution too with a reshaped nose featuring a narrow inlet to the radiator which became full width at Mid-Ohio. Also new was the door ducting on Denny's car only which became the Trojan production specification. The fender top fences now extended full length from the rear wing mounts to the tip of the nose, better channeling airflow to the rear wing. A triangular titanium roll bar was unique to the F. Official weight was listed at 1520 pounds.

Chevrolet's big-block power plant was used again, built in house and employing an aluminum block with cast-iron liners. Displacement was 495 cubic-inches producing 740 horsepower at 6400RPM with 655 foot-pounds of torque. Reynolds Aluminum produced its own sleeveless aluminum block enabling larger pistons due to the lack of liners. Displacement was 509 cubic-inches and this power plant was adopted by the team midway through the season. This car is presently fitted with such an engine. Current horsepower is 744 at 5700 RPM although the red line is about 7000 RPM. Maximum torque is 698 at 5300 RPM. Fitted with a Vertex magneto and Lucas/Mackay fuel injection, the engine fires easily and is very loud. McLaren's engine builder Gary Knutson pioneered a new intake trumpet design featuring staggered trumpets of two different lengths which smoothed out the power curve. They found their way on Team McLaren engines during the 1971 season.

This car is chassis M8F-1, one of two Fs built by the McLaren factory. It was built for and used exclusively by Denny Hulme in all ten races of the 1971 CanAm Championship. Hulme won the season opener at Mosport, again at Edmonton and the final race at Riverside. His teammate Peter Revson won five races and the Championship. 1971 was the final year McLaren won the CanAm Championship. By 1972 Porsche's 917-10 turbocharged racer displaced the M8 series as the dominant car. Even though Team McLaren produced an updated M20 for 1972, it only won twice compared to Porsche's six victories. Trojan built nine copies of the M8F in 1972, under license from McLaren. These cars were designated M8FPs and lacked 'works' features such as stainless steel suspension pick-up points, titanium roll bar and bracketry and custom details only one-off hand built cars possess. In many respects, the M8F represents the pinnacle of McLaren's CanAm success and the ultimate big banger. At the end of the 1971 season M8F-1 was sold to Greg Young's All American Raincg Team. It was badly crashed by Young at Edmonton in 1972 and ultimately sold at season's end to the Commander Motor Homes Team in whose possession it was rebuilt. By 1974 Charlie Nearburg owned the car and he installed a small-block Chevy engine. Gary Arnst next owned M8F-1 and completely restored it, installed a correct aluminum big-block Chevy. Then it went to Jim Stollenwerck and in 1987 to George Parlby in Australia and then to Bruce McCaw for whom the current owner acquired it in March of 2002. Duncan Fox of Group 7 Sportscars in New Zealand gave M8F-1 a comprehensive restoration. Duncan and crew did extensive research and returned the car to the configuration in which it raced in during the 1971 season, refitting many original works pieces.

By Daniel Vaughan | Mar 2014