Zak Brown has his own way to celebrate McLaren’s 60th birthday

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has his own way of celebrating the 60^th anniversary of the company he manages. By racing his 1970 McLaren M8D at Monterey Motor Sports Reunion.

Zak Brown’s passion for racing and racing cars predates his tenure as CEO of McLaren. You’d think the current turnaround of the McLaren Formula 1 team would take up all his time, but every now and then, he still finds the time to run some of the impressive classic racing cars he keeps in his personal collection.

Monterey

Just as when we met up at Spa earlier this year, Brown runs his classic racing cars through United Autosports, the team he owns together with Richard Dean. At Monterey Motor Sports Reunion at the end of August, he decided to practice a couple of his cars.

As we know from Brown, he does not race replicas. As a most fitting tribute to McLaren celebrating its 60 year-anniversary, Brown decided to bring out his 1970 McLaren M8D, a car that dominated the Can-Am championship. The McLaren CEO proved his worth, finishing fourth in what is a priceless car.

Bruce and Denny show

The M8D is both loved and loathed with McLaren fans. Bruce McLaren founded the company in the UK in 1963, but it took until 1967 before McLaren started grabbing the headlines as a racer/constructor. His big break came from the United States, with the Can-Am series. The sports car series quickly became known as the ‘Bruce and Denny show’, with Bruce McLaren and Dennis Hulme starting to dominate the series in their New Zealand-orange McLarens.

By 1970, the McLaren company was quickly developing, with programs in Can-Am, Formula 1 and USAC (now Indycar). But on June 2^nd, 1970, fate dealt a cruel blow. Bruce McLaren was testing the new McLaren M8D at Goodwood, ahead of the new Can-Am season. When the bodywork came loose, the car took off. McLaren hit a concrete marshall’s post at high speed, killing him on impact.

Dan Gurney

McLaren had lost its founder, but the team persevered. Denny Hulme carried on, and Dan Gurney replaced Bruce McLaren in the second Can-Am M8D. He would win the first two races of the championship at Mosport and Mont-Tremblant. Apart from one race, coincidentally won by Richard Dean’s father Tony, McLaren and the M8D won all races in the championship. McLaren’s dominance would only come to an end when Roger Penske and Porsche brought in the turbocharged 917/10 and 917/30 with 1000 hp.

Zak Brown’s M8D is the one Dan Gurney raced. United Autosports and McLaren rebuilt the car just before summer.