McLaren celebrated their 50th anniversary in great style throughout 2013 with the Goodwood Festival of Speed as the absolute highlight. To round off the year, we have taken a very close look at the very first McLaren; the M1A. Built around a spaceframe chassis and powered by a choice of American V8s, it was first raced by the McLaren works team with some success in 1964. In addition to the three works cars, a further two dozen were constructed in 1965 by Elva for customers. These cars were raced on both sides of the Atlantic where they were faced with the altogether more sophisticated Lola T70, which boasted an aluminium monocoque chassis. Of these original McLarens only very few have survived but fortunately, these are regularly raced in historic events. Over the years we have seen six different examples, which are pictured in a 75-shot gallery. Two of these were seen at the Festival of Speed where a large number of important McLarens were in action. Among these was the 1970 Can-Am winning M8D Chevrolet, the all-conquering MP4/4 Honda Formula 1 racer and the 1995 Le Mans winning F1 GTR.
We would also like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers Happy Holidays and the very best for the coming New Year.
Enjoy the links:
1964 - 1965 McLaren M1A Oldsmobile - Images, Specifications and Information
1970 McLaren M8D Chevrolet - Images, Specifications and Information
1988 McLaren MP4/4 Honda - Images, Specifications and Information
1995 - 1996 McLaren F1 GTR - Images, Specifications and Information
2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed - Report and Slideshow
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