The Orange Times Bruce McLaren Trust April / May 2014, Issue #1 Welcome to ‘The Orange Times’ This is the first of what we intend to be a regular bi-monthly newsletter to keep all supporters club members up to date with Trust activities, history, events, and general news. As Jan has mentioned, we have not met our commitments in recent times in terms of newsletters, due mainly to a lack of time and resources. This is about to change. Celebrating 50 Years of Hello, my name is Allan Horner, and as a long term life member of the Trust have often threatened Jan with the McLaren Racing promise of giving up some of my time to assist once I th 2014 marks the 50 Anniversary of the first managed to retire from full time business. Well, that time year of racing for the Bruce McLaren Motor has finally arrived, so I have volunteered to edit and produce Racing Team (BMMR), so it is appropriate to ‘The Orange Times’. cover some of the important landmarks achieved by the team in 1964 as we go We would welcome ideas and feedback on how we can better through 2014. communicate with you in the future. Please contact Jan or myself with your ideas and contributions, emails below. For As a fresh new team headed by Bruce, the instance, we came up with the name for the newsletter in obvious first race series contested was the general conversation about content. If you think you have a new Tasman Series in Australia and New better name let us know, we would love to consider it. Zealand, running the Cooper T70 with Climax 2.5 litre engine. [email protected] [email protected] Bruce won 3 races (NZIGP, Lady Wigram Trophy and Teretonga International) and was on the podium for all others except the Australian Grand Prix at Sandown where he retired on lap 39 with engine failure. The BMMR had its first series win! The photos show Bruce with the winner’s th trophy at the Teretonga International on 25 January, and number two team driver Timmy Mayer at the Levin International. Sadly Timmy was killed at Longford, Tasmania in the last race of the series. Tasman Cup Series 1964. Results for Bruce McLaren, Series Winner 4 th Jan. 6 th Levin International. 3rd 9th Feb. 29 th AUS Grand Prix, Sandown. DNF 11 th Jan. 11 th NZ Grand Prix, Pukekohe. 1st 16 th Feb. Warwick Farm, Sydney. 2nd 18 th Jan. 13 th Lady Wigram Trophy, Wigram. 1st 23 rd Feb. Lakeside, Brisbane. 3rd th th st nd nd 25 Jan. 7 Teretonga International, Teretonga. 1 2 March. Longford, Tasmania. 2 Bruce McLaren Trust When some of our members asked if we would be there, we reminded them that we don’t have any problem with Ferrari - after all we don’t mind who we beat! In fact McLaren and Ferrari have been two of the most competitive teams in the sport with Enzo forming his team in 1926, and Bruce in 1963. Since 1950 Ferrari has won 15 World Championships and McLaren 12. McLaren have also won 5 Can-Am Championships, won 3 times at the Indy 500 and once at Le Mans. Ferrari has won 9 Le Mans races but only the McLaren team have wins in all four race types. The Festival was also about gathering as many Ferrari’s in one place as possible with a record attempt on the first Saturday. 141 Ferraris lined up on the grid with examples of every significant model represented – and many of them were red. As always the NZFMR has the support races that make it two weekends of fabulous classic motor racing. The special demo cars this time were two 1985 turbo era F1 cars the 156/85 V6 turbo developing 780 hp in race mode and 1000 + hp for qualifying at 12000 rpm. The third F1 car was a 1994 V12 412. While not turbo V6 Turbo F1 Ferrari it put out 820hp but at 15800 rpm, which meant that the V12 screamed as it went around the track, not even the F5000’s made that sort of sound! The Trust had its marquee on our usual spot overlooking turn 9, with our member and invited guests viewing area being well patronised over the two weekends. Fantastic to see the 1963 T66 F1-6-63 1.5L V8 Climax Cooper in our tent again. This was kindly displayed by MOTAT especially for the NZFMR. Raced as a works F1 car by Bruce and Phil Hill, until a serious fire in Austria destroyed the car. Bruce Abernathy secured and rebuilt the wreck with a 2.5L V8 to race in the 1965 Tasman Series. The car was then successfully What’s better than an F40? Two F40’s ☺☺☺ campaigned in the series in1966 & 1967 Kevin & Jackie by Dennis Marwood. In our opinion… The best Ferrari’s? • One with a Bruce McLaren Motor racing logo on the rear window • One with a wooden tow ball!?! The best Tattoo? • ‘Cavallino Rampante’ worn by our own CEO - Jan. Southward Museum displayed the fabulous ex Ken Wharton Monza-Ferrari David Rhodes Mick & Jody 2 Bruce McLaren Trust th 50 Anniversary Black From the Desk of the CEO… April 2014 Polo Shirt Features the 50 th Anniversary logo and It is with great pleasure that I welcome Allan Horner as our released in January at the NZFMR meeting new Editor and our #1 issue of the “The Orange Times” – Allan to mark the first races of the Bruce McLaren is a most welcome addition to our Trust Team that give regular Motor Racing team in January of 1964. help and assistance around the office and we now look forward to regular newsletters, starting on a two monthly basis. Black with pocket and fine black and white chequer trim on the collar and sleeves. Since our letter to all members in January regarding the future of the McLaren M8A, we have had amazing support from the $65.00 (less 10% Members Discount) majority of our members who understand our situation and why Available direct from the Trust, or from the this decision had to be made. Be assured that the decision was not made lightly. There has been much discussion with Sir website www.bruce-mclaren.com Colin Giltrap and other business advisors and that in making the decision our heartstrings have been stretched to the maximum. It has been an emotional time for all the Trustees over the last two years and we therefore fully understand those of you who have felt strongly opposed to our decision. The M8A is an absolute treasure and will always be a wonderful icon and recognizable tribute to the work of the BM Trust, the support and donations from all our members and the wonderful restoration work of Duncan Fox. Wherever the M8A goes, it will always be recognized as the car the Trust and the members restored and that history will always travel with it. Our last 12 months of reducing costs, condensing the office size at Remuera, moving our storage facilities to cheaper ones, repacking and resorting memorabilia, etc. has been worthwhile and we have managed to reduce overheads considerably, albeit the office is a little crowded. We have also since December, started receiving sponsorship from Mobil and they are now providing our monthly petrol running costs, so another very much appreciated supporting partner. The 50 th Anniversary year which McLaren started marking in September 2013 is ongoing still and we will mark a few more events throughout this year as we track that first racing year of 1964 for the fledgling team. As we start this new financial year, we look forward to increasing our income, more events and more involvement with our members – we welcome your feedback and regular contact and I look forward as always to hearing from you all. Jan McLaren 3 Bruce McLaren Trust The Zerex Special To further our 50 th Anniversary theme, McLaren’s first real sports car and forerunner to the fabulous Can-Am cars, was purchased by the team in early 1964 from Roger Penske. Zerex, a producer of coolant antifreeze, originally sponsored the car and its development, hence the name. The ex F1 Cooper chassis was running the original climax engine and had the sports car body, albeit with a single seat cockpit, when purchased after Penske had had a successful run with the car in US events. Current Calendar as at April 2014 *Designates probable Trust involvement th st April 18 – 21 (Easter Weekend) Highlands Festival of Speed / Warbirds over Wanaka th th April 25 – 27 V8 Supercars ITM 500, Pukekohe th May 9/11 Monaco Historics & Classic Auction May16th The team set about further developing the car *Workshop Austin 7 launch, Nelson with chassis modifications and a proper two seater sports car cockpit. After the first couple of May 25 th races, in April/May of 1964 it was repowered with Indy 500, Indianapolis Motor Speedway a 3.5 litre Oldsmobile V8. th th June 26 – 29 Otherwise known as the ‘Cooper Oldsmobile’ or Goodwood Festival of Speed & Classic Auction ‘Jolly Green Giant’, the car was an immediate success for BMMR, with Bruce enjoying wins at th July 12 / 13 Aintree, Silverstone and Mosport, Canada. *Kartsport Secondary School Champs – Manawatu July 19 / 20 th *CRC Speedshow, Auckland August 15 th & 17 th Laguna Seca Monterey Historics August 31 st /September 7 th (tbc) *Annual BMT Coast to Coast run, Auckland 4 Bruce McLaren Trust The Workshop Austin 7 – ‘Rusty Wreck to Restored Roadster’ We all know about Bruce’s famous Austin 7 Ulster, currently in pride of place at the McLaren Technology Centre, but before seeing this I for one had no idea there was a second, almost as famous Austin 7 in the McLaren Remuera Road Service Station in those days.