The M6A didn't have any, as Can-Am did not require them, but they were included in the 24 Hours of Le Mans requirements as it involved was night driving too. The vent layout in the nose and on the front hood remained largely the same, but the M6GT was fitted with headlamps. The front end retained most of the race car's design, with muscular wheel arches flanking a low-slung nose. It’s believed Bruce drove his M6GT to Goodwood on the day he died while testing the M8D race car in June 1970.Ī Streamlined M6A Race CarDesign-wise, the M6GT borrowed some cues from the M6A. Two of the three prototypes were later converted for road use, and one of them became Bruce McLaren's personal car. However, McLaren failed to build more than three prototypes, and Bruce's dream of seeing the M6 hit the Circuit de la Sarthe against Ford and Ferrari was put on hold. McLaren decided to develop the project further and homologate the car for FIA Group 4 regulations in order to race it at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This secondary venture eventually spawned a closed cockpit version of the M6A. But the British company commissioned Trojan to built replicas and sell them to privateers without an engine. In 1968, McLaren retired the M6A to develop and M8A. The Race-Bred SupercarSo what's with all the Can-Am talk since this is about a road car? Well, McLaren's first street-legal sports car is actually deeply rooted into the M6A, the race car that brought Bruce McLaren his first Can-Am title. His success came to a halt in 1972, when Porsche joined the series with a 917-based race car. From then on, the New Zealander dominated the series for four more years with developments of the M8. Also powered by a Chevy V8, the M6A was better suited to go against the Lola T70, and McLaren won the championship. Bruce himself took third place in the drivers' championship, but that was just a taste of the success that was to follow.īruce returned in 1967 with a brand-new car. Having joined Formula One in 1966 with the M2B, McLaren tackled the Can-Am series that same year with the M1B. McLaren joined the Formula One series in 1966 to become one of the most successful teams in history, but the brand's racing saga began as early as 1963 when Bruce built the M1.Īn open-top Group 7 car built around a modified Elva chassis and fitted with a small-block Chevrolet V8, the M1 was raced in North America and Europe and paved McLaren's way toward success in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am). Bruce McLaren, a New Zealander racing driver, founded the company that eventually became McLaren Racing Limited in 1963. At the time, McLaren was already operating as a racing outfit for more than 20 years. McLaren's road car division, originally known as McLaren Cars, was established in late 1985.
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