The Orange Times

Bruce McLaren Trust August / September / October 2015, Issue #9

Monterey Report I always wanted to race at Laguna Seca! The stories I had heard of the ‘corkscrew’ and the images of Hulme and McLaren racing there in the Can-Am days made it even more attractive.

The USA F5000 President, Seb Coppola, had organised for the F5000s to race at the prestigious Rolex Motorsports Reunion event in August. This was the first time that the F5000 class had been to Laguna Seca since 1976, so it was something of a novelty to the regular classes that compete there. To put it in perspective, this is the biggest historic race meeting outside of Goodwood with 500 carefully selected entries. There were rows and rows of exotic cars including rare pre-war specials and regular Bugattis, Alfa Romeos and others.

There was a big field of original Trans-Am cars. These are not replicas, but the genuine period article; Camaros, Mustangs, Challengers and other American classics. Toss in a large field of pre 1980 Formula 1 cars, plus all kinds of sports cars, and the meeting attains new heights!

When we arrived on the Friday morning we were welcomed by the sight of forty F5000s lined up facing each across a courtyard between the long marquees. Fellow McLaren racer, Poul Christie, was alongside in his M10B and Bruce Leeson had his M10B just a couple of cars further down. Californian, Tim Arnett had brought his M10A, which is under restoration, to support the F5000s at Laguna Seca. The Kiwis had managed to bring twelve cars to California, which was a great effort. The Australians had brought four cars and the balance was mainly from . Twenty one cars, approximately 50% of the field, were the older ‘A’ series F5000s that were raced before the end of 1971, while the balance went through to 1978.

In this Issue… Monterey Report, by Tony Roberts P1/2 Trust Register Update . P3 Allan’s Indy 500 Report, part 2 P4/5 A tribute to Phil Kerr - 1934 - 2015 P6 Goodwood Revival, McLaren Documentary P7 General News, Current Calendar P8

Bruce McLaren Trust

We had two weekends of racing, so the first weekend included both practise and racing and gave us a good chance to learn the circuit and settle in. The competitors tended to slip into different categories of how hard they pushed and we had dire warnings from the organisers if we did anything wrong! I managed to achieve 3rd in the

‘A’ class for this weekend and totally enjoyed the circuit.

Mid-week there was a number of activities that we could partake of and the 60s-themed party was one that Sue had brought some old clothes from NZ to compete in. Clint Eastwood and Marilyn Monroe were the judges and we managed to win a couple of nice bottles of wine for our troubles! The picture doesn’t do it justice!

Come the final day of racing on the Sunday and I was

feeling pretty good and knew the circuit well by then.

I had qualified approximately 14th and got a good start, passing a couple of cars on the first lap. Then on the third lap of the morning race I decided I could take the crest on the front straight at full noise (don’t be a girl I told myself), as I had been easing off and then on again. The McLaren stepped out at the rear at 240 kph and stayed out! There simply wasn’t enough opposite lock to cope with the long slide and the car gently eased its nose into the wall, putting a small hole in the radiator, which put me out for the day. Quite frustrating really, but I figured it could have been a lot worse! I would like to take this opportunity to thank my McLaren friends, Duncan Fox, Roger Williams and Paul Hunter for putting my helmet on the right way and general assistance!

At the end of Sunday we packed the cars and spares into the containers, thanked our hosts for the experience and their great hospitality and headed back to our motel in Salinas. After two and half weeks as our home base it was quite sad to move on!

Coming up next year is a celebration of Can-Am cars at four historic circuits, a celebration of 50 years since Can-Am started. This will be a series of events not to be missed!

Tony Roberts

2 Bruce McLaren Trust

Back to McLaren “Indy” cars, this time the M24 which was the third, and last, generation McLaren built for the Indy In the course of research for Register additions or updates 500. The M24 engine was the 2.65 litre DFX I frequently run into interesting stories and, in the last turbocharged V8 which was the new popular engine for Register article - in The Orange Times #8, I touched on the 1977 Indy, the first Indy 500 for the M24. Just seven M24s were built, the last being the one and only M24B the pleas from others for a drive in the BMMR team spare Mick & Jody M8B during the later 1969 Can-Am Rounds. BMMR’s new team car to be driven by for the 1978 Indy 500 – and again in 1979. The Trust is Behold: At the round, Jack - a surprise excited to know that one of the M24 cars has recently late entry in a Ford G7A car - was less than happy, been landed in NZ for some restoration work for its especially with the G7A engine. After qualifying on the 5th private owner. More on this particular M24 at a later row Bruce offered him another qualifying drive using the date. BMMR team spare M8B - amazingly, also decaled with Jack’s G7A racing #15. Surely this would be unheard of Another M24, last raced in 1982, has been on display for nowadays! Jack recorded a time four seconds faster than some years at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of with the G7A, which would have put him on the second Fame Museum. The picture of this car, shown here, was row of the start grid. However, for the Michigan race taken at the Indy 500 in May by Mark Donaldson. itself, BMMR agreed for , whose McLeagle had engine problems, to drive the spare M8B. Dan had to start off the rear of the start grid, but swiftly moved up into third place soon after passing 12 cars on the first lap! Dan politely - in the circumstances - finished third, a miserly

0.05 seconds behind . To get this into perspective, Denny’s race time was 1 hr 48 min 14.1 sec.

Meanwhile, a tricky one for readers: Which McLaren M24

car (chassis # and its driver) was officially recorded as the

first ever to achieve an over 200 mph average lap

at Indianapolis?

Now to those M2 questions for you in the last issue of The

Then, after his engine failed, again, pre-race at the Orange Times: “Where would you have gone to look at an

M2B and what happened to the only M2A to be built, Laguna Seca round, was given the spare M8B being the very first McLaren single seat and F1 car”? to drive as #3 for the race, also having to start off the rear Those of you who have visited the Donington Collection in of the grid. Chris proceeded to pass eight cars on the first lap but, unluckily, suffered a DNF after the differential may recall viewing the M2B on display there for failed - and this was just the second failure in 20 starts for many years. This was the first M2 which Bruce McLaren th the three BMMR team cars. debuted, at Monaco on 20 May 1966, when the engine failed. The other completed M2B, which Bruce placed 5th In case some of you are not familiar with where this in its debut race at Watkins Glen in October 1966, has somewhat famous McLaren is now, the short answer is been privately owned in the US for many years and is that it is in fact the M8A restored by the Trust over many undergoing restoration. As for the M2A, BMMR used it years and sold in 2014 to an American enthusiast who has during 1965/66 for Firestone tyre testing plus some acquired a number of iconic in recent years. engine testing and it was not raced at all until 1967, after

These include the M15 “Indy” car and the M2 F1 car it had been sold by BMMR. Sadly, in November 1969, it mentioned in the last Orange Times. The genealogy for was destroyed by fire in the garage of its last owner. this M8 is outlined in more detail under “Trust's M8A/The Jens Fogelberg History of M8A-2” on the Trust website (click here). 3 Bruce McLaren Trust

Experiencing the “Indy 500”… Part two, race weekend Saturday morning was perfect, a beautiful day with no wind, and we were inside the speedway bright and early to attend the Indy 500 Memorabilia Show. All sorts of stuff on sale here, with about 90 traders offering everything from genuine certified Indy speedway bricks to model cars and aircraft. Plenty of books, magazines and apparel also going cheap. We had to drag Mark out of there before he spent all of his ‘allowance’ - both baggage & financial! Besides we needed to be back at the camp to be ready for our next excursion, that being the 500 Grand Parade, another local tradition. Scott & family, !

That afternoon we also caught up with Shaun Summerfield and the TV3 camera crew, there to report on Scott’s progress in the 500 this year. Wayne was duly interviewed by Shaun and ‘Fort Palleson’ filmed. This was then featured on the Sunday evening TV3 News as part of Shaun’s Indy report.

Sponsors ‘Skywriting’

We were in the downtown Indianapolis well before the Grand 500 Parade start time to ensure we got a viewing position for this legendary event. The Americans sure know how to put on a good parade, augmented by flawless Historic Lotus continual sky-writing in the clear blue sky from sponsors

and advertisers. Sunday, Race day, was a perfect day weather-wise and we had high hopes for a Kiwi winner of the great race! Our parking / camping lot was by this time full and at around 7 a.m. we were amazed how early many people were Parade in heading into the speedway (gates opened at 6!). full swing Having reserved seats in Stand ‘A’ right opposite the No. 1 pit position we were in no particular hurry, especially as once inside you cannot get a pass out on race day. However there is such a build-up to the race it literally takes hours, with activities starting at 7 a.m. for the actual start just after midday.

Armed with our stand tickets There were High School marching bands, floats, every and backpacks filled with dignitary you could think of, including famous old racers water bottles, sandwiches such as . All the IndyCar drivers, with their (no junk food for us healthy partners and families, were paraded in convertible Chevy old buggers!), foam cushions

Camaros in qualifying order, with , on pole, (for the bleachers) and sun being the last through. screen, we wandered in around 9:30 a.m. and settled into our seats just in time for Later, back at the speedway, in the Plaza (just behind the the ‘Festival Princess’ lap followed by an All-American start/finish line and Pagoda) we came across a special Marching Band playing “On the Banks of the Wabash”. The display of Lotus IndyCars. These historic cars, which race cars were gridded up at 10:15 and from then on it was changed the 500 forever, are normally resident in the Hall continuous activity including Driver Introductions, “America of Fame Museum that we had visited on Wednesday the Beautiful”, "God Bless America”, “Taps”, “National morning. Anthem”, the chest beating list goes on! 4 Bruce McLaren Trust

“Drivers to your cars” announcement was at midday, then He was understandably a little stressed and tired by the the traditional “Back Home Again in Indiana” anthem is time we stopped for lunch and to empty our waste tanks sung before the famous command is given by Mari Hulman and fill up with LPG and fuel about 70 miles out of Chicago. George “Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines”. After a couple of laps behind the Corvette Z06 Pace Car the race actually started at 12:12pm. Everything went perfectly to schedule except for a parachute drop that was mistimed by a minute or two.

There was some concern from the teams prior to the race due to the problems being experienced in practice and qualifying with cars becoming airborne, possibly due to the extensive new ‘aero’ package being used on all cars, which Dump Station makes them look even more like Batmobiles! It should be noted that all current IndyCars have identical Dallara We were back at the very comfortable Rosemont O’Hare chassis, running either or power plants. Hilton by late afternoon in time for a well-earned rest before Presently the Chevy seems to have the edge and that is we all went out for a group dinner that evening, but not what Ganassi is using this season. before a fun few beers at the ‘Chicago Hofbrauhaus’ just

around the corner. Next Morning, after breakfast, it was time for the group to start splitting up as we went our separate ways. As most were heading for Los Angeles we stayed together on the same flight, which arrived at LAX around the middle of the day local time. With some hours before our evening flight to Auckland, Wayne had organised a special ‘extra’ for us and we set off across Orange County in a rental van to visit the Day Family Classic Car Museum and Saleen Automotive in Corona.

We enjoyed tours of both the Saleen production line and the Classics Museum, these provided a fitting end to our Indy 500 experience. Saleen is a niche manufacturer of

American ultra-performance vehicles and parts, while the The cars all look pretty much identical except for livery of Day Family Museum nearby is a California icon, with an course, and at 200 plus mph as they go past you see only incredible collection of mainly American classics and a blur anyway. From our seats we could watch the cars memorabilia. disappear around turn one and that was about it although there was a good view of the race on the nearby giant screen. There were a few incidents, which brought out the Pace Car, but no ‘low flying’ as was suspected. It was fantastic to actually be there and soak up the atmosphere. The noise is not too bad, nothing like F1 used to be! And it was especially great to watch Scott Dixon's pit stops just across from where we were seated. As most We had only an hour at each place, not enough really, will know, Scott lead for large parts of the 200 lap race and especially the Museum. was always in the hunt, but unfortunately fell back in the last 30 or so laps with various issues, eventually finishing Back at LAX it was not long before we were saying our fourth behind winner . goodbyes to Wayne, who was off to Europe to scope out future tours (like Le Mans, lucky him!), and boarding the Needless to say, we were a little hoarse and tired after all flight home. Arrival in Auckland was a bit of an anti-climax the excitement and so, after watching the victory parade, it after the great tour, but you’ve got to go home sometime! was back to camp for a relaxing few beers and another great charcoal fired BBQ, while most other campers and Thanks to my buddies, Graham and Mark, I had an RVs slowly packed up and disappeared from around us. awesome time experiencing the 99th Indy 500. Thanks to Wayne Palleson at Iconic Adventures. This was Next morning we broke camp after first dismantling ‘Fort an excellent way to experience a major motorsport event Palleson’ and readied ourselves for the longish drive back with like-minded people. to Chicago. The weather had deteriorated a little and

Graham, who was on driving duties, had to struggle with a Le Mans is next on the list… gusty crosswind all the way. Not easy with the RV’s large flat sides and vague power steering! Photos: Mark Donaldson Allan Horner

5 Bruce McLaren Trust

Phil became a regular feature on my radio show over the next few years – he was the perfect interviewee in that he

was highly intelligent and articulate, clear of thought and blessed with an ideal ‘radio voice’. We never had a script but he could effortlessly drift from talking about the good old days to the most up to minute developments. He remained extremely well informed and that, combined with the insight of a man who had ‘been there, done that’ meant he was always excellent for a phone call.

Phil Kerr 1934 - 2015 Phil’s contribution to the McLaren legacy was acknowledged Phil was involved very much at the business end of motor by boss saying that the squad owed Kerr a racing in Europe for over a decade and a half and told his great deal of gratitude. “Speaking on behalf of all at own story in his superb autobiography To Finish First with McLaren, I am very sorry to hear the news that Phil Kerr has passed away. Phil was a McLaren stalwart from the much of his involvement being with the McLaren team where he operated as joint managing director from 1968 to company’s very earliest days, having met Bruce McLaren in

1975 when he returned to . McLaren had the early 1950s when they were both racing Austin Sevens entered both Formula 1 and Can-Am in 1966 but it wasn’t in their native New Zealand”. until Denny Hulme joined Bruce in 1968 that they became a two car F1 operation. Phil came with Denny from Brabham “At Brabham, Phil and Denny Hulme, one of the greatest and so, in joining McLaren as they started to grow, was Kiwi racers of all time, became good friends – and, after very much involved in the formative years. Denny had won the world championship for Jack’s team in 1967, he and Phil decided to move together to McLaren to Phil had met Bruce at a hillclimb that they were both rejoin Bruce. competing in and they quickly became close friends. In 1958 a ‘Driver to Europe’ scheme was promoted by the “From then on Phil was an inspirational force for good, New Zealand International Grand Prix Association and the helping Bruce and Denny establish McLaren as a successful winner would be decided from three finalists – Phil Kerr, going concern. Merv Mayo and Bruce McLaren. In 1959 Phil, having completed accountancy and management exams, also “Now, decades later, the 3000 people who make up headed to Europe but to use his qualifications and skills in McLaren therefore owe Phil a debt of gratitude. On behalf operational and logistical areas rather than from behind the of us all, I consequently extend heartfelt sympathy to his wheel of a racing car. At around six foot four, Phil’s height family and many friends. May he rest in peace.” would have been a definite issue as racing cars became increasingly smaller through the sixties. We wish to extend sincere condolences to Patricia. Phil and Pat met through motor racing and not only is she an Phil had met and in 1959 he became his accomplished photographer (many of her superb manager and ran his garage business on the edge of photographs feature in his autobiography), she is a genuine . Phil remained with until the end of race fan. Godspeed PLK. 1967 and during that time championed to his boss the Michael Clark attributes of a tough compatriot that he sensed had a real future. Unfortunately Jack did not share Phil’s enthusiasm Reprinted with permission - M.Clark & NZ Classic Car for Denny as a world-class driver but Phil kept plugging [Type a quote from the document or the summary of an away until the chance came and Jack relented. The rest, interesting point. You can position the text box anywhere as they say, is history. in the document. Use the Drawing Tools tab to change the My first contact with Phil came in 1995 when I was formatting of the pull quote text box.] preparing both a magazine article and a radio tribute to th mark the 25 anniversary of the death of Bruce McLaren. I phoned Phil, introduced myself and discovered that the passing of 25 years had not lessened his genuine affection for a much respected and loved mate.

He agreed to join me live on air and told the listeners of the day that Bruce had died, and the days that followed at the factory where everyone was given the day off while he and fellow managing-director would try to figure out how they might carry on – “Teddy and I arrived at the factory the next day to find the entire workforce already there, hard at it. We knew then that this team had Phil & Bruce. Pre ‘Race of Champions,’ 1968 a future.” 6

Bruce McLaren Trust

Goodwood Revival 2015 The McLaren Documentary

As you may already know, Jan, accompanied by fiancé Mark Production has started on a new film about the life of Donaldson, attended the Revival and took part in the Bruce legendary race car driver Bruce McLaren, with assistance McLaren tribute. A full report, complete with photos, will be from the Bruce McLaren Trust. Roger Donaldson, who included in the next issue of Orange Times. directed The World's Fastest Indian, is directing the documentary McLaren. The New Zealand Film Commission

funded General Film Corporation to make the feature documentary about McLaren's life and work. "My enthusiasm for making a film about Bruce McLaren comes from my long held passion for motorsports - a passion that was passed down to me from my father and grandfather," ScreenDaily website quoted Mr Donaldson as saying.

ScreenDaily said Images and Sound, Giltrap Group Holdings, ANZ Bank and the New Zealand government's

Screen Production Grant also helped fund the documentary. The start of production comes five years after British

feature documentary Senna, about former McLaren driver Roger Wills, Jan and Howden at the Bruce McLaren Memorial , won critical acclaim and screened at festivals including Sundance. Also attending for the Trust as “Official Photographer” was Dave Williamson who, last year, said he would never go back to McLaren was born in Auckland in 1937 and established his Goodwood again. But he did. Here is his brief story – “Stopped in my Tracks” own racing team before he died in a 1970 accident testing a Can-Am car at Goodwood, England. "Although he never Hi folks, ruled as 's World Champion, that did not diminish his greatness one bit," the International The real reason I chose to ‘go back’ on my statement about “not Motorsports Hall of Fame said. going to the Revival again” was quite easy. Following last year’s event, I was convinced that I had seen every car, every driver and The above story is from the NZ Herald. Here is a link to the other every display, every race and every car auction that I ever wanted News Group, “Stuff.co.nz” version of the story. to see.

It was only when I learned that the tribute this year was going to be for Bruce McLaren that I was literally “stopped in my tracks”. THE ROAD TO MONACO When I was around 12 years old I was living in Koraha Street, We still have copies of Howden Ganley’s excellent Remuera, which is quite near the McLaren Service Station. I was going to Remuera Intermediate School at the time and rode my book available for sale on our website. Get your bike past the service station twice a day. copy now!

I would stop when going home, lean my bike on the eastern brick wall and wander over to the garage doors, peering in to see if there were any race cars. Sometimes Bruce was there and so I would coyly say “Hi” to him. He would smile and say something in reply, like ”G’day”. On rare occasions we would talk very briefly and then I would leave for home.

That was the very limited amount of our relationship, but it was something that has stayed in my mind ever since....he made the time to talk to me.

I saw him once at Seddon Tech when he went back for some reason one Thursday night. We said “Hi” to each other and once again he smiled and said something in reply.

I followed his career over the years and was SO proud of Bruce’s driving achievements around the world’s circuits.... let alone his engineering skills.

Written by Howden Ganley. Published by Denley I, like many, was “stopped in my tracks” at his passing. So I think you can imagine how I felt when I learned of this year’s Goodwood Publications. Hard cover, 448 pages. Tribute. NZ$99.95 That is why I changed my mind. Order on our website here Regards, Dave 7 Bruce McLaren Trust

General News / Links

New F1 Grand Prix Drivers Club website Howden Ganley, current President of the F1 Grand Prix Drivers Club, advises us of their brand new website, www.f1grandprixdriversclub.com/, which can be viewed here. Lots of interesting reading, plus a Forum. Check out the News section story; ‘Howden loses his Record’.

New addition to McLaren.com A new article about the Bruce McLaren Trust has been added to the news section of the McLaren Honda International website. Read it here. Current Calendar

as at September 2015 Recent McLaren Ramblings

 F1 Supercar sale by Sothebys at Pebble Beach; Click *Designates probable Trust involvement here. th th nd th  McLaren Personalisation Division shows off what it January 15 – 17 & 22 – 24 2016 can do with the 650S at Pebble Beach. *NZFMR Porsche Festival, Hampton Downs

February 6th -7th *Leadfoot Festival, Hahei, Coromandel

th st Feb 17 -21 Art Deco Weekend, Napier Did You Know… Denny Hulme was the oldest of the “Trio at the Top”, th th  March 17 – 19 but the last to make his Formula 1 debut – that came VHRR Classic Racing at Phillip Island, Victoria 50 years ago at Monaco. st th  When Denny was named to drive in the French Grand April 21 – 24 th Prix on June 27th, it was the first time that Bruce Historic Can-Am 50 Anniversary, Road Atlanta, USA

McLaren, Chris Amon and Denny Hulme ever July 7th – 10th appeared together in a F1 Grand Prix. Historic Can-Am 50th Anniv., Mont Tremblant,

th th July 14 – 17 th Historic Can-Am 50 Anniv., Road America, USA

August 18th – 21st Goodwood Revival 2015 Historic Can-Am 50th Anniv.,Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca As previously advised, the special tribute parade in honour of

Bruce was held each day during the lunch break at this year’s Revival earlier in September. In case you missed the video, it Contact Us can be found here. A fitting tribute we would say. 590 Remuera Road, Remuera, Auckland 1050

Speaking of Goodwood… PO Box 109 050, Newmarket 1149

Here is another exciting ‘in-car’ video of Kenny Brack showing Phone: 09 522 8224 how it’s done in a rather wild GT40 on the Mobile: (Jan) 027 289 7850 in damp/wet conditions. From 2013. Click here. Office: [email protected]

OT Editor: [email protected]

www.bruce-.com

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