McLaren M2B

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McLaren M2B
manual transaxle
Power300–315 hp (224–235 kW) @ 9,600 rpm[1]
221 lb⋅ft (300 N⋅m) torque
Weight535 kg (1,179 lb)
TyresFirestone
Competition history
Notable entrantsBruce McLaren Motor Racing
Notable driversNew Zealand Bruce McLaren
Debut1966 Monaco Grand Prix
Last event1966 Mexican Grand Prix
RacesWinsPolesF/Laps
6000
Constructors' Championships0
Drivers' Championships0

The McLaren M2B was the McLaren team's first Formula One racing car, used during the 1966 season. It was conceived in 1965 and preceded by the M2A development car. Designed by Robin Herd, the innovative but problematic Mallite material was used in its construction. The car was powered by Ford and Serenissima engines but both lacked power and suffered from reliability issues.

Driven by team founder Bruce McLaren, the M2B had a short Grand Prix career, entering six races and starting only four. It scored the team's first point at the British Grand Prix and two more points at the United States Grand Prix.

Background and development

test bed.[8]

At the factory in Colnbrook, construction started on at least two M2B chassis, whilst a third was possibly started but not completed.[nb 1] By December 1965 the M2A had completed over 2,000 miles (3,200 km) of testing and two race engines were ready to be installed in the M2B, Bruce McLaren testing the car at Goodwood Circuit.[5][11] Also that month, the design team was joined by Herd's former NGTE colleague Gordon Coppuck; Coppuck later became chief designer at McLaren.[12] In February 1966 further testing was carried out in California, United States in anticipation of the start of the world championship season in May.[9]

Design

The M2B was a

Glass-reinforced plastic bodywork covered the nose, cockpit and engine.[15] Fuel was stored in rubber bag tanks situated within the moncoque.[10]

Herd's knowledge of aerodynamics and Bruce McLaren's experience with

Zandvoort circuit in November 1965, two and a half years before the Brabham and Ferrari teams eventually debuted wings in a Grand Prix.[16][17][18] The team intended to use the wing on the M2B, but the engine problems that occurred prevented this.[17]

The suspension was a conventional

wishbone-based arrangement with inboard coilover springs and dampers at the front and outboard coilover springs and dampers at the rear.[11][15] Braking was provided by Girling discs within 13 inches (330 mm) diameter magnesium alloy wheels.[15] The wheelbase measured exactly 8 feet (2,400 mm), and front and rear track was 4 ft (1,200 mm) and 4 ft 10.75 in (1,492.2 mm), respectively.[19]

Ford's Indianapolis 500 engine proved to be unsuitable for Formula One.

For 1966 the Formula One engine capacity limit was increased to 3.0 litres from the 1.5 litres of the previous five seasons.

gearboxes and a Borg & Beck clutch were employed.[15][26]

The M2B was originally intended to be raced in a

New Zealand's traditional racing colour scheme of green, black and silver designed by Michael Turner. However, short on money, the McLaren team made a financial deal with the makers of the film Grand Prix – a drama that included actual race footage – which involved the car being painted white with a green stripe (edged in silver) in order to represent the film's fictional Japanese "Yamura" team.[27][28]

Racing history

McLaren, driving a Serenissima-engined M2B, leads a train of three cars during practice for the 1966 Dutch Grand Prix

The Ford-powered M2B made its debut driven by McLaren at the world championship season-opening Monaco Grand Prix. There he qualified 10th on the grid and ran as high as sixth but retired after nine laps due to an oil leak.[8][29][30] After Monaco McLaren decided "it looks as though we're going to have to make some fairly drastic moves in the engine room", and so for the next race in Belgium the Serenissima engine was used. The replacement unit did not provide an immediate solution though, terminally damaging its bearings in practice. With no spare, McLaren was unable to start the race.[31][32] The team missed the next race in France,[33] but at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch the M2B finished sixth to score McLaren's first championship point.[24][34] Another non-start resulted when the Serenissima failed again before the Dutch Grand Prix,[35] and the entries for the German and Italian Grands Prix were withdrawn in anticipation of the improved Ford engine being readied.[33][36] Thus equipped at the United States Grand Prix, McLaren drove to fifth place and two more points.[36][37] At final event in Mexico, the rear bodywork was cut away to help prevent overheating but the engine failed during the race.[36][38][39] McLaren had intended for Chris Amon, who was already racing sports cars for the team, to race a second car but the engine problems prevented this.[24]

World Championship results table

Year Team Engine Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Points[nb 2] WCC
1966 Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ford 406 3.0 V8 F MON BEL FRA GBR NED GER ITA USA MEX 2 9th
Chris Amon DNA DNA DNA DNA WD
Bruce McLaren Ret 5 Ret
Serenissima M166 3.0 V8 DNS DNA 6 DNS 1 11th
Refs [10][33][40][41] [42]
Key
Colour Result Colour Result
Gold Winner White Did not start (DNS)
Silver 2nd place Light blue Practiced only (PO)
Bronze 3rd place Friday test driver (TD) - 2003-2007 only
Green Points finish Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Blue Non points finish inc. non classified finish Injured or ill (inj)
Purple Did not finish (Ret) Excluded (EX)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not arrive (DNA)
Black Disqualified (DSQ) Withdrew entry before the event (WD)

Legacy

Despite the M2B's lack of success Herd said of the team, "Everyone was ten times more determined to do better the following year."[43] On the design of the car he reflected that, "our emphasis tended to be more on the elegance of the chassis structure rather than on the design of a really quick racing car" and that, "we ... tended to go towards technical ingenuity and bullshit rather than racewinning engineering".[6] Team member and later manager of the organisation Teddy Mayer said, "Our main problems were with the choice of the Ford engine."[44] Bruce McLaren's personal secretary and author Eoin Young concurs.[45] The winners of the 1966 Drivers' and Constructors' championships, Jack Brabham and his eponymous team, used a Repco-modified and badged Oldsmobile engine. It produced approximately 290 bhp – less than the Ford – but its light weight and reliability rendered it effective. Despite having used the Oldsmobile in sports racing cars, the McLaren team discounted it. Afterwards, Mayer said, "We considered it, but the kind of modifications which Repco did were well beyond our resources, and I doubt very much if we could have done any more with it than we did with the Indy Ford."[20][44][46]

McLaren's later cars abandoned Mallite in favour of conventional aluminium construction; the Ford and Serenissima engine also saw no further action.

Cosworth in 1967.[48]
McLaren have since become one of the most successful teams in Formula One.

The M2A was sold on to be used by various private racers in the United Kingdom before being destroyed by fire in 1969.

Donington Grand Prix Exhibition.[10][49]

References

Notes

  1. ^ Nye (1988) and "The M2B" state, without qualification, that three chassis were started but only two completed whilst Taylor (2009) says that it "seems probable that just the two cars were built" but that the existence of a third chassis is "possible".[5][9][10] Young (1995) makes no mention of a third car.
  2. ^ Points were awarded separately for each chassis and engine combination. McLaren-Ford were 9th with 2 points; McLaren-Serenissima were 11th with 1 point.

Citations

  1. ^ "Engine Ford • STATS F1".
  2. ^ Henry 1999, pp. 15–18
  3. ^ Nye 1988, pp. 65–85
  4. ^ a b Henry 1999, p. 18
  5. ^ a b c d e f "The M2B". mclaren.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  6. ^ a b Young 1995, p. 89
  7. ^ Nye 1988, p. 83
  8. ^ a b Young 1995, p. 67
  9. ^ a b Nye 1988, p. 88
  10. ^ a b c d e Taylor 2009, pp. 24–25
  11. ^ a b Nye 1988, p. 86
  12. ^ Nye 1988, p. 53
  13. ^ Tremayne & Hughes 1998, p. 209
  14. ^ "M2B". Bruce McLaren Trust. Archived from the original on 24 May 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  15. ^ a b c d Young 1995, p. 202
  16. ^ Nye 1988, pp. 52–53
  17. ^ a b Young 1995, pp. 90–91
  18. ^ Tremayne & Hughes 1998, p. 210
  19. ^ Pritchard 1986, p. 152
  20. ^ a b Tremayne & Hughes 1998, pp. 223–224
  21. ^ Brown, Allen. "McLaren M2B car-by-car histories". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  22. ^ a b c Young 1995, pp. 103–105
  23. ^ "Monaco Grand Prix - 1966". mclaren.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2008.
  24. ^ a b c Nye 1988, p. 90
  25. ^ Williams 1991, p. 11
  26. ^ Henry 1999, p. 19
  27. ^ Henry, Alan (2006). Autocourse: 2006-07. Crash Media Group Publishing. p. 153.
  28. ^ "The Colours of McLaren". The Bruce McLaren Movie Official Website. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
  29. ^ "Grand Prix results, Monaco GP 1966". grandprix.com. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  30. ^ a b "Formula One – hard and unforgiving". Bruce McLaren Trust. Archived from the original on 24 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  31. ^ "Grand Prix results, Belgian GP 1966". grandprix.com. Archived from the original on 2 July 2007. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  32. ^ Nye 1988, pp. 88–90
  33. ^ a b c Nye 1988, Appendix 3
  34. ^ "Grand Prix results, British GP 1966". grandprix.com. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  35. ^ "Grand Prix results, Dutch GP 1966". grandprix.com. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  36. ^ a b c Nye 1988, p. 91
  37. ^ "Grand Prix results, United States GP 1966". grandprix.com. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  38. ^ "Grand Prix results, Mexico GP 1966". grandprix.com. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  39. ^ Williams 1991, p. 13
  40. Formula One Administration
    . Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  41. ^ Taylor 2009, p. 290
  42. Formula One Administration
    . Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  43. ^ Young 1995, p. 70
  44. ^ a b Nye 1988, p. 35
  45. ^ Young 1995, pp. 88–89
  46. ^ Young 1995, pp. 106–107
  47. ^ Young 1995, pp. 203–215
  48. ^ Nye 1988, pp. 53–54
  49. ^ a b Nye 1988, pp. 91–92

Bibliography

External links

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