Orange Times Issue 17

The Orange Times Bruce McLaren Trust March/April/May 2017, Issue #17 As this Orange Times goes to press we are in the final stages of the McLAREN documentary process – working with the Australasian distributor and General Film Corporation on the previews and the releases. Whilst the official New Zealand Premiere is on Tuesday 30th May in Auckland, the public release worldwide will be on 1st June. However the first pre-release Private Previews in New Zealand will be held by the Bruce McLaren Trust on the week commencing Monday 15th May. These “McLAREN - see it first with the BMT” previews will be held in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and will be by ‘invitation only’ to members and supporters of the Trust. Invitations will be emailed to all with dates and details as soon as they are confirmed. It is our understanding that other private previews will be held in the UK and the USA and we will endeavour to keep our overseas members and supporters informed of any dates and locations. There are exciting times ahead and I do have to report that the documentary is excellent, emotional, with lots of photos and film that I have never seen. Roger Donaldson, Fraser Brown and Mathew Metcalfe have done a wonderful job. I was privileged to be flown to Melbourne to attend one of the first VIP screenings (a very small audience) and, in the company of McLaren Old Boys Jimmy Stone and Alastair Caldwell, and Zak Brown from McLaren UK, the 90-odd minutes just flew by. I can’t wait to see it again, and again, and again. Jan McLaren In this Issue… McLAREN Movie Update P1 Vale, John Surtees P2 Years Gone By, Trust Visitors P3 Trust Register Update P4 Shield Logo History, Trustee Report P5 General News, Current Calendar P6 General News, Events Calendar P8 Bruce McLaren Trust Vale John Surtees, CBE 11 February, 1934 – 10 March, 2017 John Surtees passed away at St Georges Hospital in London of respiratory failure, aged 83. He was very much a contemporary of Bruce, Denny and Chris. John raced here in New Zealand in the early 60’s winning the Grand Prix at Pukekohe in 1963, one of nine Formula 1 World Champions to compete in New Zealand. The son of a motorcycle dealer, his first race was a grass track event at age 15. He switched from bikes to cars in 1960 driving for Lotus. In 1965 he had a life-threatening accident at Mosport, Canada that left one side of his body four inches shorter than the other. Doctors set most of the breaks non-surgically, in part by physically stretching his shattered body until the right-left discrepancy was under an Book Signing - Kenny, with Michael Clark inch – and there it stayed. while Max Rutherford chats with a young fan John in the winning Lola at Pukekohe, 1963 Famously, John remains the only man to win World Championships on both two and four wheels – four times 500cc World Champion and Formula 1 World Champion in 1964 Angus Hyslop, Jim Palmer and John Surtees, Pukekohe, 1963 Surtees won the inaugural Can-Am series in 1966 driving for Lola. He continued to participate in classic motorcycle Jan’s last catch-up with John at the Rolex Drivers Club, meetings with bikes from his collection and we often caught Goodwood Revival, September 2015. Photo: Mark Donaldson up with John at various meetings at Goodwood. Black & White Photos: Jack Inwood, BM Trust Collection Kevin & Jackie JENSON BUTTON TO DRIVE McLAREN M23 AT MONTEREY MOTORSPORTS REUNION McLaren ambassador Jenson Button will delight fans when he gets behind the wheel of Emerson Fittipaldi’s iconic 1974 world championship-winning McLaren M23 at the Monterey Motorsports Reunion in August. For the full story, ‘click here’. 2 Bruce McLaren Trust ‘Years Gone By’ March, April, May Visitors to the Trust It continues to be both a pleasure to welcome people to March 1997 the Trust and a surprise to find out where their journey This was the date without which you would not be reading started from. this item, because it was 20 years ago in March 1997 that the Bruce McLaren Trust was launched at the Whenuapai Over the last few months our visitors book has included ‘Wings and Wheels’ event. Switzerland, Canada, England, Australia, United States (California, Colorado, Texas, Iowa), Japan, The Czech March 1958 Republic and, of course, many from all over New Zealand and those who live just down the road. The Visitors Book Bruce, having won the inaugural “Driver to Europe” and Mick & Jody contains many amazing comments and frequently we see accompanied by Colin Beanland, flew the first leg of their the words ‘wonderful’, ‘excellent’, ‘what a privilege’ and trip to Sydney and then boarded the P&O Orontes, a 664ft ‘fabulous’. th passenger liner. She sailed on March 18 , making eleven ports of call before arriving at Tilbury, London, on April 26th. The chance to share the stories of Bruce and NZ However, Bruce left the ship at Aden and flew to England motorsport history and heritage is invaluable to the Trust, so that he would arrive in time to compete in his first race as well as great for me. Here are people who may have seen Bruce, Denny and Chris race or have even worked in the UK. for the Team. That was the case of a recent Swiss visitor – he was Denny’s mechanic in F1 for McLaren. His March 1972 signature now graces the ‘MOB’ (McLaren Old Boys) Denny Hulme wins the South African Grand Prix in a section of the signature wall. These stories are always McLaren M19A. interesting. April 1958 McLaren owners, past and present, are regular visitors. Bruce McLaren competes in his first race in the UK at One recent visitor from the USA has owned a works M1, Aintree driving a T45 F2 Cooper. Charlie Cooper insisted driven by Bruce, since 1999. He brought along some that the car was insured which cost £50. Bruce received pictures and more history of the car which have gone £60 starting money and so was £10 up for his first overseas into the M1 archives. race. He finished 13th overall and 9th in the F2 class. A visitor from California remembered being at Sebring in 1967 when he was working on the Ford Mustang as part April 1967 of the 12 hour race – he also lent a hand with the GT40s Bruce and Mario Andretti win the Sebring 12hr race in a with Bruce and Mario’s car needing blocks on the pedals Ford GT40 so the drivers could reach them. Bruce, he said, was Chris Amon and Lorenzo Bandini win the 1000km of Monza very impressed with the GT40. driving a Ferrari 330P4 For many visitors their partner comes along but often May 1962 does not have the same level of interest. A couple from Bruce wins the Monaco Grand Prix driving a Cooper T60 Colorado was a perfect example. When a trip to Australia to judge dogs came up she asked her man what would he like to do in Australia – the answer was to visit us in New Zealand. So they did, and stayed for three hours taking many pictures including the treasures from the safe. Again it was great talking to them about what was going on in the States and comparing the housing prices in Auckland and Colorado. I enjoy engaging with people and finding out who they are and what stories they can share with me and increase my knowledge. So to everyone that takes the time to find us and spend some time around the trophies and memorabilia – thank you. Interaction with our visitors is an extremely important part of the Trust philosophy and I have great pride in being able to welcome visitors and share the stories behind the memorabilia that we display. It is a pleasure and also very humbling to be able to be a custodian of our collections. David Rhodes 3 Bruce McLaren Trust Regarding the later 1970’s F1 McLarens, I especially enjoyed being able to take a close look at the M26 which was in NZ early this year, from the UK, for some Historic race events. Whenever In the first Register article which I wrote, published in the second I look over a pre-1980 McLaren one of the first details I look for issue of The Orange Times (June/July 2014), I said that at that (I just can’t help it!) is the chassis “tag” plate, as in the picture. time we had ownership and/or other details which we are It’s not a reproduction one either! Yes, it is the first M26 built, to completely confident about for 200 pre-1980 McLaren race cars. replace the very successful M23 for the coming 1977 season. On top of that, there were about a further 40 cars which we were not completely confident about and which required more To round off on the later 1970’s F1 cars, I cannot resist a little investigation or information. teaser for readers: How many M27 F1 cars were built by BMMR to replace the M26? The question of course is: How many pre-1980 McLarens, up to the M30 F1 car, were built? Unfortunately, we do not know the precise answer to this, primarily on account of variances arising with the numbers of complete (as opposed to just a replacement chassis/tub for an existing race car which had been severely damaged) customer cars built by Trojan for BMMR.

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