In the August/September issue of Vintage Motorsport we explore some landmark eras and key moments of one of motorsports’ most enduring and storied teams, McLaren, as it celebrates 60 years since its founding.
A lot’s changed over those six decades, but it’s pleasing to see that McLaren, under the regenerative leadership of Zak Brown, is still competing in multiple series, with Formula 1 still at its core.
That’s exactly how Bruce McLaren planned it when he founded the eponymous Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd. in 1963. By the time of his death in 1970, the team was active in F1, utterly dominant in Can-Am racing, building winning Formula 5000 cars, and embarking on an Indy car journey that would deliver three victories at the Indianapolis 500.
That McLaren is still involved at the top levels of motorsports today, albeit having gone through periods of fundamental change over the past six decades (not least its early 1980s transition into the Ron Dennis era), is very much down to the resilience and spirit of the team and its drivers in the months and years immediately following Bruce’s passing.
Teddy Mayer, Gordon Coppuck, Alastair Caldwell and Denny Hulme, to name just a few, carried the ethos, the DNA, the will to innovate and win instilled by Bruce, and took it into a glorious and extended period of growth and success.
In the new issue of Vintage Motorsport, we’re celebrating 60 years of McLaren with a look at its early years in F1, the 1970s Indy car successes, and an initially unwanted, yet instantly successful foray to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1990s.
Elsewhere in a packed issue, we’re also evoking the spirit of F1’s most iconic and atmospheric venue, the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, and looking back at the fraught, but ultimately successful gestation of Newman/Haas Racing some four decades ago in 1983.
Fast-forwarding to the present, we’ve got reports from the 2023 Le Mans Classic, which this year celebrated a centenary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in grand style, Road America’s WeatherTech International Challenge with Brian Redman, a rain-sodden, but still memorable Goodwood Festival of Speed, and street-racing action from the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix.
Plus, we’re bringing you the latest news and happenings from the racing, concours and auction scenes, including pre-event news from the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion.
The August/September issue of Vintage Motorsport is now mailing to subscribers and already available to read in digital format. We hope you enjoy it. And if you’re not a subscriber, you can go to VintageMotorsport.com/Subscribe or call (877) 425-4103. Single copies can be purchased at our online store HERE. And Vintage Motorsport magazine is also available at Barnes & Noble bookstores nationwide.