The very first car to carry the McLaren name was an Oldsmobile-engined sports car, which made its debut at the Canadian Grand Prix at Mosport Park on September 26, 1964. The car had been built by McLaren’s crew in the summer of 1964, using the Oldsmobile V8 engine that McLaren had been using in the Zerex Special that he raced in the British Sports Car Championship earlier in the year, before deciding to design his own chassis. It is often said that this was a Group 7 CanAm car, but initially that was not the case, because neither Group 7 nor CanAm existed until 1966, although later versions of the car would be used in Group 7.
At the time sports car racing was as confusing as it is today and the Canadian Grand Prix was a round of the Canadian Sports Car Championship. The M1A was a space frame chassis built around a 4.5-litre version of the all-aluminium GM215 V8 engine, which Oldsmobile used in some of its production models. Tuned for McLaren by Jim Travers and Frank Coon at Traco in California, this light and powerful engine allowed McLaren to finish third at Mosport and later, during the Bahamas Speed Weeks in early December, he finished runner-up in the Nassau Trophy. This success led to the decision to have the car put into production by Elva – and 24 copies of the car were eventually built.
Another version of the GM215 V8 engine would be used as the base for the Repco F1 engine in 1966, which won the World Championship for Brabham with Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme driving. The engine would also later become the Rover V8.
joeblogsf1 
When I started going to SCCA races in 1969 (aged eight) Jerry Crawford drove a McLaren M1-B in A Sports Racer. I thought it was the most amazing, coolest thing on the planet. Unfortunately he had a bad accident at Thompson Speedways in the early 1970s when the brakes failed, leaving him paralyzed.
Excellent piece, Joe.
The original group 7 car painted black with silver strips had cooper wheels uprights and steering arms plus a Hewland gearbox, it bettered the Zerex record at Goodwood by 3 seconds.
The Frank Nichols Elva cars “McLaren-Elva mark 1” had a 4.7l ford engine, 24 were build, the old’s engine was too small for the class.
As the article explains, it was not a Group 7 car.
The M1A was not a group 7 car, just a sports racing car.
What I was talking about “the original group 7 car” was the M1B.
The Buick V8 was also the basis for the Buick V6, which was unusual for a V6 in having a 90 degree vee angle. This was used in Australia by Holden and adapted for the Formula Holden series, with engines prepared by Repco (who had developed the V8 for Brabham). The Rover V8 was also derived from the GM 215 V8, and widely used in motorsport. I heard, but I’m not sure, that the MG Metro rally car engine was also related to the Rover V8, basically being a 6 cylinder version (just like the Buick V6). The Metro V6 also had a 90 degree vee angle but had twin overhead camshafts instead of the pushrod valve train of the V8 and Buick V6. The Metro V6 was then used as the basis of the Jaguar V6 turbo sportscar engine.
I’ve also read that the Metro 6R4 engine was effectively based,on a sawn-down Rover block. Didn’t it get used in some Group C2 cars too, on account of DFV derivatives generally not being fit for that purpose (FX: Keith Duckworth growling “If they’d asked for an endurance engine I’d have designed an endurance engine”).
I believe the Repco F1 engine used the con-rods out of the 2.5 litre Daimler V8, as used in Jag-alike saloons and the Dart/SP250 sports car.
Joe, really enjoying this FFF series and as a previous Rover V8 user… in my old Rover 🙂 feel good to have a slim connection to this great team. Small world.
Thanks
A most enjoyavle series of pieces, thank you very much. Regarding the Repco engine you mentionsed here, I recall be amazed/amused to read that initially at least the builders used Daimler Majextic Major connecting-rods – from Edward Turner’s very nice V8.
Extending the story earlier… the Zerex Special began life (before the McLaren chassis) as. Cooper T53. In which a certain Roger Penske won (i think) the 1962 sports car championship in the USA. I hadn’t known of the McLaren connection.
The Zerex was I believe built by McLaren from said Cooper chassis
Yes, the Zerex came out of the Cooper T53 originally with a Coventry Clamix engine and then with a 3.5l v8.
Bruce McLaren bought it from Penske and replaced the Climax engine with an Oldsmobile one. He won races using both engines. Goodwood and Mosport I believe.
I think he designed it before that.
Joe’ is it correct that GM tried to purchase the “rights” to the (215) from British Leyland a short period after selling the engine to Rover, but were rebuffed by BL ?
I believe that is true
And we should’nt forget that the 215/3.5 rover v8 became the Leyland P76 4.4 v8 in Australia. The block was higher to accomodate the longer stroke and longer rods.
PK.
Incidently the Rover was a direct duplicate of the Buick version of th GM315. The Oldsmobile version had better valve gear, porting, and combustion chambers and were more suited to modifications for racing. Interesting to note that the 3 versions had a different number of head bolts. The Olds had 3 long bolts that secured the rocker pedistals.and improved ridigity and head gasket sealing, The Rover/Buick didn’t have those extra bolts, and the P76 Leyland did away with whole row of bolts on the exhaust side a well!
PK.
Although the first Mclaren badged car was the sports car as per your article, I believe that Bruce had a very strong hand in the design of the mid-sixties Tasman Coopers as Bruce, Phil Hill and later John Love, in Southern Africa, demonstrated. The T79 was still going strong in ’67 when Love, then 40, finished second in the SAGP, his fastest lap being only a tenth behind the new lap record set by Denny Hulme. At the first domestic F1 race of the South African season some weeks later both he, still in the 2,7 Climax engined Cooper and Dave Charlton (now in a Repco engined Brabham) went under the Hulme lap record. Clearly, this Cooper was something special and a portent of things to come from McLaren.
By ’68 there were five Repco engined cars in SA., three ex works cars, the Charlton Brabham and the Tingle LDS.
Basil van Rooyen who acquired the works BT24 ( I believe the Brabham car, still bearing the Nurburgring scars) was not very complimentary about the standard of workmanship on these engines. He later progressed to a McLaren M7 and achieved some sort of fame by passing Jackie Stewart down the long “old Kyalami” main straight. Stewart could hardly believe that a local privateer could be so fast and had Ken investigate. van Rooyen was an absolute perfectionist and well known for his tuning prowess with Ford, Alfa and Cosworth power units. Sadly his F1 career came to end with a horrific crash during tyre testing at Kyalami, the cause apparently mismatched tyres and rims. A little known fact is that around that time he was in talks with Ken Tyrrell for a F1 seat alongside JS.
In his bio, Bruce McLaren writers that he and Jack Brabham had more to do with designing and building the 1960 Cooper than John Cooper.
That first McLaren sports racing car was one of the prettiest racing cars ever IMO. Body designed by artist Michael Turner I think.
Adding to the information regarding the Zerex Special. Roger Penske bought a Cooper F1 car chassis T53 F1-16-1 from American sportsman Briggs Cunninghan after the car was crashed in the 1961 US GP at Watkins Glen. The car was rebodied to a pseudo two seater and raced in the U.S. by Penske before eventually being sold to Bruce McLaren who installed the Oldsmobile engine and strengthened the chassis.
This is from the excellent website [no links allowed] that has the entire story with pictures.
Ah but do you know the name of the mechanic (at the time) who built the very first M1?
No
Ron Denis, maybe?
PK.
Howden Ganley