The Orange Times

Bruce McLaren Trust March / April / May 2016, Issue #12

Another 50th Anniversary and a very special one it is. The Bruce McLaren Motor Racing team entered Formula 1 with the debut of the first McLaren F1 car, the M2B, at Monaco in

May 1966. Whilst Bruce had already achieved the ultimate success at Monaco, with a win

in 1962, he was driving a Cooper.

This 1966 entry of a McLaren F1 car at Monaco was therefore a very significant occasion in the team’s history.

The M2B was designed by and for Monaco it ran the Ford V8 developed by BMMR from the Indy V8, reduced to 3 litres and developing around 321 bhp. Whilst the race result was a DNF due to an oil leak in the cockpit on Lap 9, this was still a momentous occasion and was the beginning of the McLaren F1 success story

we know today.

Real Formula 1 success for the fledgling team was still to be some time away but they did manage to gain a Championship point later that year after changing to the Serenissima . We will tell you more about the M2 s and their development in a future edition of The Orange Times.

Bruce in M2B Bruce in M2B 1966 Monaco practice 1966 Monaco practice

In this Issue…

50 Years of Formula 1 P1 Archive Wanderings – 20 Years of BMT P2 Leadfoot Festival Report P3 Bruce and Patty Show P4/5 Trustee Report P6 Trust Register Update P7 General News, Events Calendar etc P8 Bruce McLaren Trust

Just over 20 years ago Ross Jensen and Jan McLaren first got involved in what was to be the beginnings of the Bruce McLaren Trust. A dinner was organised at the Regent by Expo Exhibitions in conjunction with Ross and Jan to commemorate 25 years since Bruce had died – and what a wonderful evening it was with around 225 people attending.

Sadly, so many of those present 20 years ago are no longer with us and those remaining seem to have stopped using Grecian 2000. Whilst some of the ladies haven’t Kevin & Jackie aged at all! They say that every picture paints a thousand words, so we will let the photos tell the story.

Amongst those featured are: Ruth McLaren, Ross Jensen, Rona Hulme, Jack Inwood, Paul Fahey, Jack Johnston, Gus Hyslop , John Seabrook, Tony Roberts, Kenny Smith, , Greeta Hulme, Jo Hyslop, Suzie Frost and last but not least, a McLaren M4 that has just recently seen the light of day – Peter Herbert’s car that was shown for the first time at this year’s NZFMR. Photos: Bruce McLaren Trust - Jack Inwood collection

Mick & Jody

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Saturday dawned wet and I was in the first group - can't say I Experiencing the Leadfoot Festival was looking forward to it. An open car in the wet is not my idea of fun. On top of that, because the car runs four downdraft For those readers who are unaware of the Leadfoot Festival it is Webers, I was having to carry the trumpet covers with me to ’s answer to the famous Goodwood Festival of keep the water out when the engine wasn't running. Speed. Home from many years living in the USA, Rod Millen has built a lovely little driveway up to his hillside house near Hahei on I scared myself a couple of times on the first run. At the top, the the Coromandel Peninsula. Rod being Rod has ensured that his procedure was to chock the wheels (no handbrake), jump out driveway becomes a superb sealed ‘entry by invitation’ hillclimb while the engine was running, then shut down and immediately on one weekend every year, emulating, but quite possibly more put the covers on the carb trumpets. Then head for the shelter challenging than The Earl of March’s famed event! Here is Trust of the trees. Only problem was, the cockpit has no cover, so member Frank Karl’s account of running his McLaren M10B when it came to return to the pits, I was confronted with a F5000 car at this year’s Leadfoot Festival. swimming pool in my seat. My balaclava had just found a new use. So did the exhaust when back in the pit garage; it dried out I had decided last year to do Leadfoot if I could get an invitation. my wet gear in no time at all. My cousin, Rayden Smith, who owns the ex Jimmy Richards Mk1

Twin Cam Escort, and has done it several times, had told me I On the second run, a dry line had formed until you got to the shouldn't have a problem. trees - end result, 5 seconds quicker. There were a few minor incidents, one a little more embarrassing than the rest. Steve Which car was the next decision. The Healey is in a million bits, Cox, in his F40 replica, arrived at the top with grass and so that left the two single seaters. Rayden suggested that, debris stuck in the car's 'possum catcher'. Only thing was, he because I had a set of wets for the McLaren, that would be the came off well after the finish line! choice. There is no way to warm up slicks and the run is over in less than a minute. I looked at the long-range forecast and it There were half a dozen drifters competing and, whether you didn't look good, so the McLaren on wets was definitely the way love them or hate them, they were spectacular, demonstrating to go. what car control is all about, especially considering the narrowness of the road. Wife Maggie and I rocked up on Friday morning, unloaded the car and set ourselves up in our allocated pit garage. The entries had been split up into four groups, and each group had been spread around each of the pit rows to reduce congestion as each group had their run and returned - good thinking.

I completed documentation and scrutineering, deposited the trailer in in the designated area, and then Rayden took me for an exploratory run up the hill. I could see that in the wet, especially through the forestry section, it was going to be interesting drive. I was not wrong. Photo: Budd Stanley Sunday was altogether different - overcast, but dry all the way

up. It is so much more fun in the dry, and considerably quicker Rod and Shelley have been promoting the event as a Kiwi version through the trees – My time improved by 10 secs by the end of of the Goodwood Festival of Speed - albeit on a smaller scale. the day. We all did another run, and after that, the fastest 10 (I This means wearing period garb, so Maggie and I had come think) from pre '65, pre '75, and newer, went into the shoot-outs. suitably equipped. We have a dress-up wardrobe in our attic

(o utfits dating back to my Air Force days - always regretted on While in the holding area, I was told I had qualified to run in the occasions like this not keeping my uniform). I had to let out the pre '75s as well as the ‘Stewards Choice’ group, which I had flared trousers (only a little bit), but my old platform boots still already lined up for. I made the mistake of staying put, not fitted and were surprisingly comfortable. Maggie went down the knowing that that group wasn't going to be timed. I know it was Maxi -dress track with appropriate add-ons. my quickest run, but have no idea by how much. Still, it gave

me a chance to have a chat with current IndyCar champion Scott So, scrubbed and togged-up, we set off for the welcoming party. Dixon who was driving the 1906 Darracq in the same group. A number of people had gone to a lot of trouble with their outfits. There were hippies, Service personnel, rock and rollers, Earlier, Rod Millen and Alistair McRae had tied for FTD - the first and a Lufthansa crew (the colours were close). Good food, good time this has happened! Rod won the toss and chose to go last. company and, all in all, a very enjoyable evening. In the end it was his son Rhys who took the honours, with

Alistair 0.3 sec behind.

Showman of the day had to be “Rrracing Ray” Williams in his newly acquired Capri V8 Perana. He judged the bridge corner a little too finely, and clipped the wall with the right front wheel - it was "all over Rover" and a very red face. Didn't stop him from getting out and taking a bow in front of the cheering crowd!

I'm looking forward to having another go next year, assuming I can get another invite. The M10B is not a hillclimb car, but it would be nice to have a completely fine weekend to find out what she is capable of. Frank Karl

Photo: Richard Opie 3 Bruce McLaren Trust

The Patty & Bruce Show

As our last newsletter went to print just shortly after Patty ’s passing, we were unable to include a suitable tribute to her life and wonderful times with Bruce. We therefore decided that a ‘Patty & Bruce Show’ would be a suitable tribute along with a story about their life together.

There are a few versions of how they met but in Eoin Young’s words - In 1958 Bruce and Eoin Young went to the local dance in Timaru after a days racing at the Clellands Hillclimb about 20 miles from Timaru. This was to be the night that changed Bruce’s life – Eoin introduced him to Patty Broad. Bruce asked if he could escort her home but she explained that she was sorry but she was going on to a party. The boys toured Timaru that night trying to find the party but finally gave up. The next day they tracked down Pat’s phone number and Bruce called round to see her.

They were engaged after the 1960 Grand Prix at Ardmore and in December 1961 they were married at St Paul’s Church in Christchurch.

In Bruce’s own words in “From the Cockpit” he says: The evening after the hillclimb, I went to a dance in Timaru and was immediately attracted by a very pretty blond girl called Patricia and, as the songs say, this was the start of something big. I didn’t realise at the time, but Pat was to become my wife four years later, although a lot of turbulent water was to flow under my bridge before thoughts of matrimony began to catch up with me.

After Laguna Seca in 1961, I flew back to New Zealand to get married – we then flew to Fiji and Tahiti for a two -week honeymoon, with not a motor racing circuit within 3,000 miles. After a fortnight of sea and sunshine I had also started to water ski and I was determined to improve my prowess as a water skier. A passion that was indulged in whenever possible and it was on just such an outing with Bob Jane when there was an unfortunate accident – Patty got knocked out of the tow boat, falling overboard and entangling her leg in the tow rope. The rope then got wrapped around the prop in the ensuing drama and Patty suffered a serious ankle injury from the prop – an injury that was to plague her for years to come.

As Wal Willmott commented recently, far from being a mere spectator to Bruce’s career, Patty would frequently be found at the race track wall keeping a record of lap times or sitting beside him filming laps of various circuits for later study. She became an expert with a stop watch and officials would often come to confirm their times with her.

Continued - P5

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Patty became a key member of the Dog House Club which was the charity founded by the Formula 1 drivers and run by their wives. They ran fetes and other charity events

and, in later years, Patty and Betty Hill became the old guard that the new wives came to for advice. After the birth of her daughter Amanda in 1965 some of these involvements were curtailed as Patty focused on motherhood.

After Bruce’s death in 1970 Patty continued to be closely involved with the team through the 1970s. She continued to follow motorsport throughout the rest of her life and was always seen at all the major events both in the UK and in

New Zealand. Later she became a consulting trustee for the Bruce McLaren Trust until her death. Her love of motorsport never diminished and it is wonderful to see her daughter Amanda continue this passion and work with the legacy left by Bruce.

Photos from The Bruce McLaren Trust collection

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Bruce McLaren Trust

We are always delighted and proud when something is

named in Bruce’s memory and honour and therefore to

see the Taupo circuit renamed as Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park was another special tribute. This project

was handled by Amanda and the late Patty McLaren and Trustee Report May 2016 we look forward to developing a working relationship with Another incredibly busy three months and we are delighted the team at Taupo. to report that great progress is still being made on all fronts.

The manuscript for the ‘Inspired Kids’ children’s book on Bruce is finalised and we are very pleased to advise you all that Sir Colin Giltrap, our Patron, has agreed to write the Progress on the “McLaren” documentary is going at a

foreword for the book. Marketing and Launch dates are all great pace and the team at General Film Corporation is receiving excellent reports on their ‘work in progress’ to on schedule and we are all looking towards the launch dates around the mid to end of October. With an October date. A small percentage of scenes are allowed to be release, this great book will make a fabulous Christmas recreated within a documentary and this has been present for your children or grandchildren – a magnificent extremely exciting – and that’s all we can say at the Roger Wills and a very dapper . Photographer unknown way of letting the younger generation know about Bruce moment. McLaren and teaching them a little more of your own

passion for motorsport.

As of the 1st May, we are now the owners of one of the

Business Units at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. We will now move some of our display material, research material, our 4000+ motorsport magazines and photography collection into an organised space once we have completed a fit-out to our requirements. The first stage will be a mezzanine floor.

We will still maintain ownership of the Hampton Downs apartment which is earning us income, but we will now be able to free up the garage space and rent this out as well. What we can say is that it was very emotional and

exciting to see an Austin Ulster replica running on Muriwai Beach and to be involved in some of the filming. The GFC team is fabulous to work with. It is a pleasure to work alongside them on this documentary, in the same way that we worked alongside the Team BLM movie team in Wellington in the past.

The Trustees

In the immediate future we are still maintaining our Museum and offices at Remuera in the old Service Station

as we wait on future plans from the new owner of the building.

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Information or comments from those who read The Orange Times is always of interest for me. Sometimes it leads to more detail on particular McLaren cars, or corrections to information – and more on that below. A comment in feedback from one of our regular readers has stuck in my mind since Orange Times #2. It has to do with the whereabouts of those McLaren’s with “different” . Just one example being the well-remembered Serenissima V8 in one of the M2 F1 cars, the debut for this engine being at in July 1966. It was this reader comment which was behind my parting shot in the last issue (#11) of TOT: Believe it or not, the car shown in the above photo was built by/for “A McLaren Can-Am car with a Mercedes engine – who can guess between 1976 and 1981 using the chassis tub from the what this was?” former “AMG” M8FP and various Mercedes SLC body panels. It is stated to have been a venture into creating a prototype Group C The McLaren I am referring to here was a M8FP. That is a 1972 car for Le Mans, subject to regulations to come. In the end the production customer car built by Trojan – not to be confused with project lapsed but the car nevertheless retained as built. the M8F which was the BMMR team car for 1971, with just two being built. The story begins with the purchase of an early build Talk about cringe (well, that’s my personal view, as I much prefer new M8FP from Trojan by AMG in Germany with a view to to see McLaren cars kept as originally raced). However the developing a Mercedes based engine, supposedly for Can-Am important positive for me is that there seems to be some certainty cars. But I think that perhaps their main intent initially at least on ownership/history for this car and therefore it is one less on was targeting the Interserie ( the UK & Europe based competition which we have simply no information at all. similar to Can-Am). Bear in mind that AMG was then a young company, having been founded in 1967 by its two original owners, In the last edition of The Orange Times I included a little more specialising initially in performance tuning for Mercedes cars and about the M24 Indy cars and my observation on possibly which still based in its original premises - an old brick mill building. The M24 chassis the car in the 1978 Indy pit stop competition was. “AMG” M8FP appeared with a 6.3 litre Mercedes at the This attracted a response from a reader who is closely involved Imola Round of the 1972 Interserie, driven by Hans Heyer, a well with the current restoration of one of the M24’s here in NZ (mentioned in TOT #9). In essence, he pointed out that the car known German race driver at the time. Put simply, performance was disappointing - certainly compared to “similar” cars such as shown in that particular photo would not have been M24-05 as I the twin turbocharged Morand Chev M8FP driven by Teddy Pilette had suggested. Whilst I apologise for this apparent error on my – ultimately 8.5 litres and 1200HP! This lead to further part, I would like to reassure readers that I do in fact try very hard development with the AMG turbocharged package. However, to verify all information which we have on record. The reality is continuing problems led to a non-appearance at the next that much of the information we get to sift through is not from Interserie Round three weeks later at Silverstone in May 1972 and what I would term a primary source, such as the original records little more was seen of the car. for ownership or sale of a particular car, be it when new or subsequently. Hence I am constantly cross-checking from other information sources both written and verbal when the chance arises and this is why a lot of the content in the BMT Registers is very much work in progress – the M24 Indy cars included.

Now to a little challenge for our readers with the following photo from a set we received a while back:

Not surprisingly, there is scant (more or less nil!) mention of the “McLaren M8FP adventure” in historical articles about AMG. As far as I can find so far there are few available good quality photos of this M8FP in its original race trim as raced at Imola. It appears that it was red with race number 19. If any readers can help with better quality colour pictures than we have, the Trust would love to hear from you. So: What became of this M8FP and where is it now?

The ongoing history for this car is best described as “fuzzy”: To No apology for the picture quality and, no, it is not a “barn find” – the best of our knowledge this McLaren was sold by AMG at some this car has been with same family for decades! The sharp eyed point, either during or subsequent to (late) 1972, to Hans Heyer McLaren enthusiast should be able to recognise what this McLaren whom we understand effectively still had the car as of 2008. is (was!) Just as a small hint: It was not built by Trojan. However, exactly what was done with this M8FP and its possible competition history is another story: Jens Fogelberg

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General News & links Current Calendar May 2016 Roger Wills and a very dapper Scott Dixon. Photo: Mark Donaldson Notice Re Printing rd th To those who do not have email, please be advised that from this June 23 – 26 issue we will be printing only monochrome copies in order to save Goodwood Festival of Speed. Featuring Can-Am Cars cost. So if you normally receive “The Orange Times” by mail, it will th th be in “black and white” from now on. July 8 – 10 th Le Mans Classic. 2016 marks 50 Anniversary of Bruce’s Motorsport Flashback Ford GT40 win Did you know that 40 Years have passed since Kenny Smith MBE won his first (of three) NZ International Grands Prix. 1976 was the July 14th – 17th last year of in New Zealand and Kenny won at Historic Can-Am 50th Anniversary feature race and Park Raceway in his Chevrolet. celebration,

th st July 29 – 31 Silverstone Classic. The world’s biggest classic motor racing festival

September 9th – 11th

Goodwood Revival. The world’s best classic motor racing

festival GT40 Restoration update

You may recall from TOT Issue #6 ‘General News’ the story of the legendary 1966 LeMans winning GT40 P1046 restoration which was about to start at that time. As you would expect, the story has moved on somewhat in the intervening year, so click here to be taken to the RK Motors site for an update. The videos, now up to chapter #4, are worth watching.

Bruce McLaren Village update This Ryman Healthcare Retirement village in Howick, is now complete. The village is home to 450 residents, many of whom are ‘absolutely chuffed’ to be living in a village named after Bruce. For more information click here, or phone the manager, Philip Hanson, on 09 535 0220.

Photo taken in the Village Reception showing one of a number of iconic Bruce McLaren images

Contact Us

Behind The Badge 590 Remuera Road, Remuera, Auckland 1050 PO Box 109 050, Newmarket 1149 An interesting commentary on the origins of the current McLaren Automotive Logo can be found here. It seems that the ‘Swoosh’ is Phone: 09 522 8224

not related in any way to the original Kiwi outline, even though it Mobile: 027 289 7850 looks like it could be! Email: [email protected]

News Ed: [email protected]

www.bruce-.com

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