F1 Legend To Drive Chevy-Powered McLaren M8D Can-Am
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Those headed to this year’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion can looking forward to hearing the unforgettable, earth-shaking noise of a 1960s-era, race-spec Chevrolet V8 at the event.
McLaren announced today that two-time Formula 1 World Champion Mika Häkkinen will drive the Chevy-powered 1970 McLaren M8D Can-Am race car at the annual Motorsports Reunion at Laguna Seca, performing exhibition laps during the first three days of the four-day event. This will mark the third year in a row the he has participated in the Motorsports Reunion, with the Fin driving a 1974 McLaren M23 in 2017 and the 1995 McLaren F1 GTR in 2018.
“This track (Laguna Seca) is fun, really enjoyable,” said Häkkinen. “The track goes up and down, and some of the corners have great camber. It looks tighter than it is from a distance, so you need a lot of guts to brake later and take the right line.”
The McLaren M8D was driven by Dan Gurney and Peter Gethin throughout the 1970 Can-Am season following the death of team founder Bruce McLaren. Gurney drove it for the first three races of the season, winning twice from pole at Mosport and Mont-Tremblant, while Gethin raced the car for the final seven Can-Am events that year. Gethin won with it at Road America and also scored two other podiums that year.
Powering the McLaren M8D is a 7.6-liter Chevrolet V8 engine. The engine had a silicon-aluminum block sourced from Reynolds Aluminum, a company that also had larger, more powerful 8-liter blocks for sale at the time. McLaren deliberated over throwing the larger engine in the car, but went for the 7.6-liter for reliability purposes. According to McLaren, the V8 is good for as much as 670 horsepower.
Catch Häkkinen and the McLaren M8D in action at Laguna Seca on August 15th, 16th and 17th.
Photos via McLaren
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I worked for the customs broker at Toronto airport during the time Mclaren was using the big block Chevy aluminum race engines. My job was to clear the export and import of the engines to a division of Mclaren just north of the airport. They were shipped to England to be built and tested then shipped back to Toronto. Since iv’e always been a car guy, i went to the warehouse where they were handing new truck chassis parts as a business venture. The guys there were so surprised that i knew everything about the engine. The first L88 aluminum big blocks were cast at the Tonawanda GM engine plant near Buffalo, NY. I dragged raced at the NASCAR drag strip with the same guys who built those aluminum big blocks. Jim Hall ran the same engine in his Chaparrals, but he built his own race engines. I was at every Can Am race at Mosport and saw Bruce drive from the pits. The sound of the big blocks was a lower rumble compared to the small block engines. Roger Penske was also a driver during that series. To be honest, i think they made over 700 HP because they dominated the Can Am series and flew past the lighter small block cars. Those were the days.
Those L-88’s were serious race engines back in late 60’s and 1970. The design of the cylinder heads are still used today. 700 hp was easy to obtain with a L-88 block , forged internals, and the free breathing induction system. Well done Chevrolet
Well there is a bit more to the story of these engines than given. Gary Knutson was the key man building these engines and the race team engines mostly were built in California then shipped to England since they had no dyno.
While based on the production engines these were special production engines that were their own deal.
Here is a bit of the story here and there is even much more to it than this.
These are very special engines and are very rare to find today. There are several books out that also describe these engines in better detail.
Often the details of the story are cloudy since GM had the Official Racing Ban in place for much of these programs.
the book Chevrolet-racing .?: Fourteen years of raucous silence!!
Paul Van Valkenburgh covers many details well.
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/unlimited-rat-motor-racing/