This gorgeous 1962 Shelby ‘Factory Competition-Specification’ Cobra is heading to auction this weekend, on the 18th of January, at RM Auctions’ Arizona sale.
It was originally purchased by one of motorsport’s great storymakers, grand prix driver and founder and principle designer of the Scarab racing team; Lance Reventlow. He based his custom specification on the competition cars, fitting aluminum rocker covers, racing tires, racing oil pan, aluminum intake manifold, roll and sway bars and a competition ignition system.
As this very special car moved through a series of owners it received a number of authentic modifications, including a 289 cubic inch Ford “Hi-Po” motor, which would later receive four twin-choke Weber carburetors, painted wire wheels, side pipe exhausts, and side vents.
The car’s immaculate from an aesthetic standpoint, with a well-documented and significant history, and could easily be prepared for vintage racing. It’s expected to fetch between US$750,000 and $950,000.
RM Auctions’ Arizona sale will be held at Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa on the 18th of January with preview held the morning of and day before.
Held over the 10th to the 13th of January, 2013, the Autosport International brought together every level of motor racing; from karting to Formula One legends, for a four-wheel motorsport extravaganza.
Intrepid Motorsport Retro correspondent Tim Surman was there to take in some of the show floor and presentations, and brings us today’s gallery from Derek Bell and Emanuele Pirro’s chat about Le Mans and the Jackie Stewart display and presentation. Enjoy!
Held for a full week, from the 13th to the 20th of January, 2013, Barret-Jackson’s Scottsdale Auction is in the process of putting over 1200 stunning and rare machines up on the auction block.
These are five of our favourites.
1968 Chevrolet Corvette L-88 Owens/Corning Racecar
This Chevrolet Corvette L-88 comes with serious racing providence, having been campaigned by Tony DeLorenzo, Jerry Thompson, Don Yenko and Gib Hufstaeder to great success.
In its day it took out the 1969 and 1972 SCCA National ‘A’ Production Championships, claimed GT Class wins in the 24 Hours of Daytona in ’69 and ’70 and piled up an impressive collection of wins wherever it was entered. Since then it’s moved on to a prestigious career at events like Pebble Beach and Amelia Island.
1927 Nash Speedster
Built by the editor of Goodguy’s Gazette magazine, this stylish machine from another era has a 194CID 6-cylinder motor under the hood running triple Weber carburetors and an Offenhausser head.
The Original #1 Batmobile
Does this need any introduction? This is the 1966 Batmobile, by George Barris, from the original Batman series. A television, motoring and popular culture icon.
1986 Porsche 959 Prototype
In the late ’80s there was Ferrari’s F40, and Porsche 959′s. Two supercars with two very different ethos – one raw, brutal and seemingly simple; one refined, technological and incredibly complex.
This 959 Prototype is one of just four remaining. An astonishingly rare example of one of supercar history’s rarest and most magnificent machines.
3/4 Scale Tribute Miniature GT-40
This little monster is awesome. Built by McLaren Classic Restorations, it has a three speed transmission with reverse, custom stereo and even an alarm system.
Designed by Adrian Newey and raced in the 1991 and 1992 Formula One World Championships, the Williams FW14 was seriously advanced, and spectacularly competitive.
It put power to wheels through a semi automatic gearbox, before transferring it to the ground via active suspension and traction control, and held a clear technological advantage over its rivals.
1991 saw Mansell fight with Senna for the title in a clearly competitive car, but ultimately lose out to struggles with the reliability of its complex gadetry, which saw both Williams drivers drop out of races from the lead. By 1992 the car was sorted, however, and Mansell won a record nine races on his way to the drivers’ title and, with teammate Riccardo Patrese, a constructors’ title for Williams.
In this video Mansell takes us for a walk around the car and chats a bit about what makes it so special.
Very few people know of rally ace Lars-Erik Torph, who lost his life in 1989. He was on the verge of international success before his life was cut short in unique and truly bizarre circumstances.
By Andy Hallbery
Swedish rally driver Lars-Erik Torph holds two unenviable records set during his brief World Rally Championship career before losing his life in Monte Carlo in 1989. The 28-year-old, remains the only driver to die, along with co-driver Bertil-Rune Rehnfeldt on the Monte – and they weren’t even competing!
You could not make this story up…
Torph’s career was going places as the 1989 World Rally Championship began in January 1989. He already had four podium finishes to his name, and pushing Toyota team mate Bjorn Waldegaard had on a few events.
Torph on the Safari Rally
The Monte – the championship’s traditional annual opener – began without Torph and Rehnfeldt. They, instead, kept themselves busy preparing for the 1989 season with Volkswagen by taking ‘ice notes’ (marking road conditions) for compatriot Freddy Skokgah.
Unbelievably, despite its massive challenges (ravines, cliffs, speed, steep drops, crowded roads, long night stages and frantic crowds), the event had never, in some 90 years, taken the lives of competitors during the event.
The unseasonably sunny weather and dry roads, left the ‘ice note crews’ largely unemployed. They had no ice to mark!
On day two of the 1989 rally, Torph became the event’s only driver fatality.
As the rally headed towards Monte Carlo’s world famous casino, Torph and Rehnfeldt’s numbers were most definitely up. On stage five, they were watching as Lancia’s Alex Fiorio’s Lancia arrived in their sight out of control coming down an embankment at almost 100mph, hitting, and killing, the two spectating competitors instantly. The roulette ball was out of control for them.
The wreckage of Alex Fiorios Lancia
But for the grace of God that sunny January day, Torph would have gone onto greater things in the rally world.
Instead he is consigned to a fluky set of coincidences which cost him his life, and left us with the annual event, (the Lars-Erik Torph Memorial Trophy rally, which itself draws a star-studded entry of the world’s best.)
Racing Legends is a business built by people for whom motorsport is a way of life, and they’ve made it their mission to source and stock clothing and accessories for people who are passionate about motorsport. Like us!
They draw from motorsport’s marvelous history, feature brands like Martini Racing, Gulf Racing, Retro Formula 1, Aston Martin racing and more, and stock stylish, well made clothing that’ll have you looking groovy while wearing your historic motorsport heart on your sleeve.
The shirt featured above, from the Gulf Le Bleu Series comes, with a button-down collar, appeals by its look and colour combo. The contrast stitching, two stripes, orange-stitched button holes and the “007 – Speed Club France” application on the back all add to its sporty look. Racing Legends love the great fit and premium cotton, giving you everything you ever wanted in a shirt.
For those who prefer to wear apolo shirt rather than a T-Shirt, Racing Legendscan offer this classic looking Aston Martinpolo shirt (below) with a modern twist – as opposed to a button down neckline we have a quarter zip. All of the logos feature as a high quality print and we’ve also added a small zipped chest pocket. Part of the iconic Gulf racing brand.
MARTINI RACING, without doubt one of the greatest motor sport-sponsors ever, had always dressed their drivers and team-members in style. Racing Legends are proud to offer an officially licensed replica 1975 Team jacket in the legendary MARTINI RACING colours. Complete with wide zippers, adjustable arm width and original embroidered patch on the chest, this jacket brings back the real pit lane-look of the seventies. The short-cut blouson-type jacket is produced in Europe and officially licensed.
The Singer 911 is the purest expression of one of the greatest sportscars of our time – the Porsche 911.
And their factory is a wonderland. There they search for and develop the best bits from all of the best 911s, and seek to combine them in the creation of the ultimate 911.
This video from CHRIS HARRIS ON CARS tours that wonderful place, before heading out for a road test and then hitting the track all the sideways gusto you’d expect from a brilliant 911.
When the 2013 Formula One World Championship kicks off at Albert Park in Melbourne in March of this year, we’ll be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, held in 1953.
The 1953 race was a Formula Libre event and was contested over 64 laps of the public roads which made up the Albert Park circuit. Doug Whiteford won the race in a Talbot-Lago T26C by formidable five laps. Stan Jones, father of 1980 Formula One World Champion Alan Jones, took part in the race, setting the fastest lap in his mighty Maybach Special Mk. 1 before retiring with mechanical gremlins.
This video celebrates the anniversary and the history of the circuit, with Alan Jones driving his dad’s Maybach around some of the original circuit and reflecting on a great Formula One event.
Starring Al Pacino in a role for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor, Bobby Deerfield is not quite a Grand Prix or Le Mans.
It was, however, shot throughout the 1976 Formula One season, and features the likes of James Hunt, Mario Andretti, Arturo Merzario, Carlos Pace and Patrick Depailler, giving it some racing authenticity.
This little clip features fun racing action, brilliant cars, a tremendous soundtrack and a crash that is.. something else!
Below is an extract from Circus Life – Australian Motorcycle Racers in Europe in the 1950s by Don Cox.
The truth is regularly held to account for being stranger than fiction. It can certainly be more colourful. Take two incidents from the rich Continental Circus career of Eric Hinton.
Sunday, May 4, 1958 in St Wendel, West Germany. The spark-plug lead of Hinton’s NSU Sportmax comes loose during the 250 race. He rolls to a stop, dismounts and uses the only available “tools” to strip the insulation material from the plug lead – his teeth.
He bites through the insulation and wraps the bare copper wire around the plug. Then he restarts, a lap behind race leader Dieter Falk’s works Adler. Hinton closes on Falk at five seconds per lap and betters the fastest lap set in the 350 race. But he runs out of laps, finishing one second behind the German rider.
Aussie ingenuity? “One of the advantages of being Australian is you can think from an outside position, looking in,” Hinton says.
One week later at the super-fast Hockenheim, Hinton has another, more dramatic adventure. He is flat on the tank at 190km/h, when the NSU snaps sideways. The sump plug has fallen out. “The bike just turned hard right and speared off into the pine forest, between the trees. I broke both ankles without falling off.”
Eric reckons people wouldn’t believe half the stuff that happened during his four years as part of the 1950s Continental Circus. Had he been a cricketer, he might have had a several books of amazing memories published. As it was, he had a great time and occasionally is asked to talk about it.
These are just two stories from Circus Life, Australian Motorcycle Racers in Europe in the 1950s, by Don Cox. Want more? Visit Autobookworld, Pitstop Bookshop or buy direct by sending a note to circuslifebook@gmail.com
1982: Jochen Mass flies into the crowd at the French Grand Prix
Mauro Baldi and Jochen Mass go tangled up and Mass’s car landed upside down in a spectators enclosure and caught fire. Thankfully, no one was killed
1994: Brundle almost gets his head knocked off by Jos Verstappen in Brazil
Eddie Irvine was banned for one race for triggering this crash that ended with Martin Brundle being whacked on the helmet by the wheel of a flying Benetton.
1981: Geoff Less gets knocked out by the catchfence in South African GP
Catch fencing was supposed orginally designed to help in an accident, but in this clip Geoff Lees is knocked out by a catch fence pole,
1993: Gehard Berger somehow doesn’t get T- Boned by Derek Warwick at Portugal
A best not to think about what could have happened had Derek Warwick collected Berger at this speed.
1992: Patrese almost lands in the pit lane in Portugal
Berger and Patrese collide and Ricardos Williams takes off, narrowly avoiding the bridge across the straight and thankfully not landing in the pit lane.
Shannons is offering motoring enthusiasts the opportunity to win a trip for two to the 2013 British F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The competition runs from January 20th 2013 to March 28th, 2013 and includes:
2 economy airfares to London, UK
4 nights twin share accommodation in London
7 days hire of a Mercedes-Benz E Class*
2 tickets to the 2013 British Formula 1 Grand Prix (Friday – Sunday)
2 tickets to the Brooklands Hospitality Suite at the 2013 British Formula 1 Grand Prix (Saturday & Sunday)
5 nights twin share accommodation in the Silverstone region, UK
1 night twin share accommodation in Weybridge, UK & 2 tickets to the Brooklands Museum
2 economy airfares from London, UK to Australia
£500 spending money
All you need to do to enter is give Shannons a call on 13 46 46 or hit their website here at shannons.com.au and get a car, bike, or home quote before the 28th March 2013.
“It was a bespoke, beautiful, stunning, fast bike. And today I’m going to get the opportunity to ride it. Dreams do come true.”
This video from MCN looks at the design, philosophy and technology of the Britten V1000, a bike way ahead of its time, before warming it up and hitting the track for a ride. Beautiful bike; great video.
January 2013, the latest chapter in the Lotus F1 book was written with the launch of the E21. And what a long, extraordinary, tangled, successful and intriguing story the marque has produced since its first F1 win 1958.
by Andy Hallbery & Rich Fowler
Chapter 1: New kid and an engine block
By 1963, Lotus was in control, seven wins for Jim Clark, saw Clark take his and the first titles for Team Lotus. The team was led by the renowned innovator Colin Chapman. That ’63 season was dominant, Clark scoring almost twice as many points as his closest chasers, Graham Hill and Richie Ginther, and it just the start of great success to come for the Hethel, Norfolk team. It was the first of six Team Lotus drivers titles between 1963 and1978.
The ground-breaker was the Cosworth DFV engine built with Ford for 1967. It was soon the obvious “must have” engine plant, and clinched the 1968 constructors with the subtle addition of front and rear wings to the Lotus 49, another first in Formula 1. A derivative of the record-setting engine was still winning races in 1983.
Team Lotus and the Scotsman won again in 1965 and Hill took the crown in 1968 after Clark’s death. Further driver titles for Jochen Rindt (1970),Emerson Fittipaldi (1972), and Mario Andretti (1978) completed ‘Chap-man-ter’ One era in the Team Lotus history book – largely dominated by the Lotus 72 and its offspring;
Innovations & stars: Ford Cosworth DFV, wings, monocoque, Jim Clark, Graham Hill
Chapter 2: The only way is down(force)
Team Lotus won the 1973 constructors title before a period of relative struggle during the mid 1970s. For 1974, Lotus lost Fittipaldi to McLaren, and the legendary Lotus 72 was out of date, having finished its winning ways. Chapman suddenly had a big hill to climb.
The 78, and especially the gorgeous 79, exemplified the thoughts and strengths of the DFV and ground effect, culminating in a neat and tidy car which brought the team back to superiority. Innovations came and went, unsuccessfully (twin chassis, all carbon cars etc). Elio de Angelis won in 1982 (the first since Chapman’s death), but that was a champagne blip in a downward trend. Peter Warr took over the team, Gerard Ducarouge the technology.
The next major step for the team was in fact human, in the arrival of Ayrton Senna. The cars were evolutions, not breaking down new doors. Senna won in 1985, and was generally considered fastest, if the car was not, the package still took race wins, and the next ‘tearing up of the tried and trusted’ arrived am before it ith a whole new way of thinking.
Before his death, Chapman had begun work on a revolutionary active suspension system, and it is fair to say it was a disaster, and set the team further back as the car had a handling mind of its own. However it was finally developed into a race winner as Senna won with it on the streets of Monaco and Detroit in 1987. But the good old days had gone……. the end of the ‘86 season when the iconic black & gold John Player livery was replaced by the violent yellow of Camel was a symobolic change. During the period Senna had persuaded Honda to join, so the ingredients were there, but had failed to deliver as a unit. That was the end of Team Lotus being winners.
Innovations & stars: Twin chassis, active suspension, ground effect, Mario Andretti, Honda power, Ayrton Senna
Despite subsequent drivers of the quality such as Nelson Piquet, Mika Hakkinen and Alex Zanardi, the results, disappeared and the Lotus name was a failing brand and quickly becoming a laughing stock. Owners, designers, management came and went, and the halcyon winning days seemed long ago. Honda became Judd, then Lamborghini, Mugen and finally back to Ford. It was a mess. As the results disappeared, so did the funds. Woefully in debt, the team stumbled on until Belgium’s Phillipe Adams took the team to a new low, paying to drive, and failing to qualfy
Hakkinen took two fouth places during his Lotus spell from 1991-1992 (image- Cahier Archive)
In Sept 1994 Team Lotus applied for Administration with debts between $10-16m to avoid creditors. Tom Walkinshaw bought Herbert, placed him at Benetton, then Ligier, then Benetton again. Benetton is a family tree of its own. Team Lotus, meanwhile joined with Pacific, but the flame was now an ember. It was snuffed out completely at the end of 1995.
Zanardi failed to score a point in 1994 (image- Cahier Archive)
Innovations & stars: No innvoations, Hakkinen
Chapter 4: Sliding doors, new beginnings and a return to winning ways
Benetton sponsored the Toleman of Teo Fabi in 1985 (image- Cahier Archive)
Whilst 1994 and 1995 were Team Lotus’s darkest days, the team that would eventually become the Lotus F1 team, Toleman, were hitting their straps, taking back to back drivers titles as Benetton. Toleman joined F1 in 1981, with little success. In 1985 Benetton, an Italian knitwear firm joined the team as the major sponsor. Benetton bought the team outright in 1986 and the teams fortunes improved, culminating in Schumacher winning the championship in 1994 and ’95 amid rumours of rule-bending. By its final race in 2001, Benetton had an impressive record. 27 wins, two drivers world championships and the 1995 constructors title.
Schumacher captured two titles for Benetton in 1994-1995 (image- Cahier Archive)
The team was sold to Renault for $120m in 2000 and rebranded Renault F1 in 2002. The team was back on the rise. Fernando Alonso joined in 2003 and by 2006 became (at the time) the youngest ever double world champion after also taking the title in 2005. At the end of 2009, Renault sold its majority stake, opening the door for the Lotus return.
Alonso went back to back in 2005-2006 (image- Cahier Archive)
The name “Lotus” returned to the F1 grid in 2010, under the Lotus Racing banner. This was the Proton project (Group Lotus) run by Tony Fernandes, and is now called Caterham F1. (Previously Lotus Racing in 2010, Team Lotus in 2011 and Caterham F1 in 2012)
Bruno Senna ran in the iconic black and gold livery for Lotus Renault GP in 2011 (image- Cahier Archive)
In 2011 there were two “Lotus” teams on the grid! Group Lotus, with a new CEO and a change in strategy, joined the Renault F1 Team as a sponsor and the team became “Lotus Renault GP” complete with black and gold iconic livery. Tony Fernandes (Lotus Racing) frustrated by what he saw as a breach of contract from Group Lotus, acquired the “Team Lotus” name from David Hunt,(who had acquired the name when the original Team Lotus went bust in 1995) and the result was mass confusion. The fights over the name are an entire other story, but for 2012 sanity prevailed and there would only be one “Lotus” on the grid.
Heikki Kovalainen ran under the Team Lotus name with green and yellow colous in 2011. It was confusing for fans. (image- Cahier Archive)
Innovations: Traction control? Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Ross Brawn, and nine other key staff.
Chapter 5 and beyond: The Kimi “leave me alone” era
Raikkonen retuned Lotus to the top step of the podium (image- Cahier Archive)
For 2012 the Lotus F1 team retunrned to the top step of the podium with 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen delivering the team a victory in Abu Dhabi.
This week the team launched its latest challenger the E21 and a new chapter will be written
“Life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.” – Bruce McLaren
McLaren has spent the past fifty years racking up wins in pretty much any form of four-wheeled motorsport its talented ladies and gentlemen have entered, and along the way have made some of the greatest sportscars the world has seen. And, on the second of September of this year, it’s time to celebrate their half-century.
Celebrations will not be limited to that significant day, however. McLaren kicked off the launch of the new MP4-28 Formula 1 car today with a parade of famous cars and celebrations will continue throughout the year including the release of an eagerly anticipated heritage video.
Read on for the full word from McLaren, and stay tuned for more!
“Life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.” – Bruce McLaren
When a 27-year-old Bruce McLaren penned those words in 1964, his new company, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, was less than a year old.
In those days, Bruce’s vision was shared by fewer than half a dozen loyal souls, who slogged across the world to race his self-made cars. Nowadays, the McLaren Group employs more than 2000 people, all of whom still share Bruce’s ideals of combining sportsmanship with solid engineering practice and cutting-edge technical expertise.
On September 2nd 2013, the McLaren Group will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
If we were to follow Bruce’s words to the letter, there’d be little time for recollection, but on the eve of our half-century there’s surely time for the briefest of breaths and the opportunity to take a look behind us at the sweeping vista built up in the indelible shadow of our founder:
Our Formula 1 team has become a global household name; since our arrival in the sport, at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, we have won more races (182) than any other constructor, started from pole position 155 times and scored 151 fastest laps. In 2012, we achieved the fastest-ever time for a Formula 1 pitstop (2.31s at Hockenheim), recorded our 58th consecutive points-scoring finish, an all-time record, and have now led more than 10,000 racing laps.
The exploits of our greatest world champions will always bring F1 to life: Emerson Fittipaldi ignited the passion of his native Brazil; James Hunt created as many headlines on the front pages as on the back; Niki Lauda and Alain Prost turned sport to science; the burning intensity of Ayrton Senna will live on for ever, while Mika Hakkinen and Lewis Hamilton will always be remembered for their raw speed and fearless aggression.
Our legacy in North American sportscar racing is writ equally large: in the heyday of the mighty CanAm series, we steamrollered the opposition, lifting five successive championship trophies (1967-1971) and winning an incredible 43 races in our iconic, thundering V8-engined sportscars.
We went to the Indy 500 for the first time in 1970, returning with greater strength until we won the USA’s most famous motor race in 1974 with Johnny Rutherford. We repeated the feat with Rutherford in 1976, too.
Today, every single car in Formula 1, the Indycar Series and NASCAR relies upon McLaren Electronics’ standardised ECUs to control their engines and feed data back to the garage.
Introduced back in 1993, the McLaren F1 road car has lost none of its unique appeal and is still considered by many to be the automotive world’s definitive supercar. To this day, it remains the fastest naturally aspirated production car in the world. In GTR racing guise, it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, also scooping third, fourth and fifth places on its debut in 1995.
The next road car project was with German manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, and saw the successful build of the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, which became the best-selling carbon-based car ever.
Since its launch in 2010, McLaren Automotive has developed into a world-class road car manufacturer, successfully developing and building the 12C and the 12C Spider high performance sports cars. Both models exploit our unparalleled understanding of carbon fibre and electronic driver systems to create a groundbreaking product of unequalled weight, strength, performance and driveability.
In a return to our sports car roots, the debut of the 12C GT3 was an unqualified success, scoring 19 victories on its competitive debut in 2012. In September, as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes crossed the flag to win in Monza, McLaren’s GT cars also took top spot at races in British, French and Spanish championships – an incredible achievement.
Fittingly, this year, McLaren Automotive stands poised to open its 50th global dealership ahead of the worldwide launch of the P1™ – our newest model and a machine that’s set to rewrite the definition of the modern supercar.
Away from the track, McLaren leads the world in the application of Formula 1 technology and expertise to other industries. McLaren Applied Technologies helped British cyclists, rowers, sailors and canoeists win 15 gold medals last summer. We worked alongside Specialized to design Mark Cavendish’s world championship-winning S-Works Venge bicycle. Working with Birmingham Children’s Hospital, we have improved the monitoring of sick children in intensive care. McLaren has also designed systems to help the Bay Area Rapid Transit railway in San Francisco to run more efficiently and to reduce the CO2 emissions from plane movements at airports.
It’s all a long way from that small south London lock-up back in 1963. But Bruce wouldn’t wish for us to merely look backwards without looking forwards, too.
Accordingly, echoes of our past will reverberate throughout a series of unique events and celebrations to be held across our anniversary year.
From the McLaren 50 logos we’ll proudly sport on our team shirts, through our specially commissioned heritage video features, to the launch of our new MP4-28 Formula 1 car with Jenson Button and Sergio Perez on January 31st, every lap, every corner, every mile and every road we take will be an opportunity to revel in McLaren’s present while recalling our 50-year past.
Ron Dennis CBE, executive chairman, McLaren Group and McLaren Automotive, said: “McLaren’s history is long and storied, but McLaren’s legacy is harder to define – and that’s because it’s still being vividly written every day by the dedicated men and women who work at the McLaren Technology Centre.
“Bruce McLaren wrote the beginning of the story, and the legend is going to continue for many years to come. I’m only a chapter, not the book, and I want other people to come in and write their own chapters as time goes by.
“This is a book that’s still being written, and that, perhaps, is the greatest legacy of McLaren.”
Please join us via www.mclaren.com to share the path of this journey. It’ll be fun and it’ll be fast.
Somewhere up there, we hope Bruce is smiling down on us, still gunning that throttle…
This is the first of three short films that celebrate McLarens heritage as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.
Below is the official blurb:
Instead of focusing on the high-tech, high-octane world of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team, or even the Group’s new Automotive division and its groundbreaking 12C and McLaren P1™, the short film sheds light on McLaren’s very human back-story – namely that of Bruce McLaren, who founded his racing team five decades ago.
Directed sensitively by Marcus Söderlund, a leading music-video maker from Sweden, the short film forms part one of the 50th anniversary trilogy following the ghost of Bruce McLaren as he retraces the scene of his crash at the Goodwood circuit in 1970 – the crash that took his life at the tragically young age of 32. Shot in Söderlund’s trademark, dreamlike state, it is accompanied by a spine-tingling Bruce McLaren monologue, ending poignantly with the words:
“…What might be seen as a tragic end was in fact a beginning. As I always said, to do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. Indeed, life is not measured in years alone but in achievement…”
Marcus Söderlund said: “This is Bruce McLaren’s film. I love that Bruce McLaren is revisiting his crash-site, like an angel from a Frank Capra movie. The script for this film made me shiver and I wanted to recreate that feeling. I wanted to fill the film with emotions. I am obsessed with gestures. These things that reveal who we are and the physical spaces that we inhabit. Films can change the way you look at the world by showing you how another person sees it. This is how I imagine that Bruce McLaren looked at the world.”
Ron Dennis CBE, executive chairman, McLaren Group and McLaren Automotive, added: “McLaren’s history is long and storied, but McLaren’s legacy is harder to define – and that’s because it’s still being vividly written every day by the dedicated men and women who work at the McLaren Technology Centre.
“Bruce McLaren wrote the beginning of the story, and the legend is going to continue for many years to come. I’m only a chapter, not the book, and I want other people to come in and write their own chapters as time goes by. This is a book that’s still being written, and that, perhaps, is the greatest legacy of McLaren.”
Parts two and three of the McLaren short film trilogy will be released in due course.
