McLaren M7A
Anglo American Racers | |||||||||
Notable drivers | Bruce McLaren Denny Hulme Dan Gurney (Anglo) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Debut | 1968 Spanish Grand Prix | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Constructors' Championships | 0 (Best: 2nd – 1968) | ||||||||
Drivers' Championships | 0 |
The McLaren M7A and its M7B, M7C and M7D variants were Formula One racing cars, built by McLaren and used in the world championship between 1968 and 1971. After two relatively unsuccessful years of Formula One competition, the M7A was used to score McLaren's first win at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix.
Designed by Robin Herd and Gordon Coppuck, the M7A was the first McLaren to be powered by the Cosworth DFV engine, which went on to be used by the team until 1983. The M7B had outboard fuel tanks and the M7C a modified chassis, whilst the M7D was powered by an Alfa-Romeo engine.
The M7A made its Grand Prix debut at the second race of the 1968 world championship. After its victory in Belgium, it took another two wins that year, helping to place McLaren second in the Constructors' Championship.
Background
In 1967 Cosworth debuted their DFV engine which was supplied exclusively to the Lotus team. It was immediately successful, winning its first race, and in 1968 it became available for purchase by any manufacturer.[7] McLaren bought five DFV engines at a cost of 7,500 pounds sterling each.[8] Designer Robin Herd was recruited to the team in 1965 before which he had been an aerospace engineer at the National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE) where he worked on the Concorde project. His assistant Gordon Coppuck was another ex-NGTE employee.[9][10] Herd began the design of the M7A towards the end of 1967 but left to join Cosworth before its completion, leaving Coppuck and Bruce McLaren to complete the work.[9][11]
Design
The M7A was an
The outer bodywork was mostly formed by the monocoque, except for the nose and cockpit which were covered by
Fuel was stored in tanks running down the side of the chassis, above the driver's legs and behind their seat, totalling 40 imperial gallons (180 L) capacity. Full capacity was not required for most races so the tank above the driver's legs was usually almost empty.[11] For the M7A's first two world championship races, Bruce McLaren's car was fitted with outboard "pannier" fuel tanks at the side of the cockpit. McLaren had a theory that sports racing cars' handling was superior to that of single-seaters because of the weight distribution of their fuel; the pannier tanks were an attempt to replicate this. According to McLaren mechanic Tyler Alexander this idea was developed in discussion with Lotus boss Colin Chapman. After the car was damaged at the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix, it was rebuilt without the pannier tanks.[16][17]
The 10+1⁄2-inch (270 mm)
During the 1968 season,
The DFV engine, whose development was funded by Ford and which was designed and constructed by Cosworth, was
The works cars were painted in an orange hue known as papaya; it was not a
Variants
M7B
The M7B was a one-off conversion of an M7A chassis with the fuel stored low and centrally in integral tanks at the sides of the cockpit. This was another result of Bruce McLaren's theory about improving the car's handling by altering the fuel weight distribution.[16] Author and former McLaren secretary Eoin Young said that another purpose of the outboard tanks was to make room for a four-wheel-drive system.[12][nb 2]
M7C
The chief distinguishing characteristic of M7C was its fully enclosed monocoque which gave greater torsional rigidity than the bathtub chassis. It was based on McLaren's
M7D
The M7D was commissioned by
Racing history
For the 1968 Formula One season, after two years of driving the team's sole entry,
After Belgium, McLaren's Goodyear tyres suffered a slump in competitiveness and the team and their car fell behind rivals Graham Hill in his Lotus and Stewart in his Matra.[13][34] At the Dutch Grand Prix McLaren crashed out and Hulme retired with ignition failure.[35] After Lotus had begun the first experimentation with wings in Monaco and Ferrari and Brabham had debuted full height wings in Belgium, McLaren fitted a rear wing to their car for the French Grand Prix.[35][36] However, mounted above the engine on the sprung mass of the car, it was not as effective as Lotus's wing mounted on the unsprung suspension components.[13] In France Hulme was fourth, then fifth in Britain but both cars were out of the points-earning positions at the German Grand Prix.[37][nb 3]
An improvement in form came at the
For 1969 McLaren, with an unchanged driver line-up, designed a new four-wheel drive car, the
Meanwhile, the Colin Crabbe Antique Automobiles team bought the M7B and
With McLaren's introduction of the new
World championship results table
(key)
Non-championship results table
(key)
Year | Team | Engine | Tyres | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1968 | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing
|
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | G | ROC | INT | OUL | ||||||
Bruce McLaren | 1 | 2 | DNA | |||||||||
Denny Hulme | 3 | 1 | DNA | |||||||||
1969 | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing
|
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | G | ROC | INT | MAD | OUL | |||||
Bruce McLaren | Ret | 6 | ||||||||||
Denny Hulme | 3 | Ret | ||||||||||
1970 | Bruce McLaren Motor Racing
|
Alfa Romeo 3.0 V8 | G | ROC | INT | OUL | ||||||
Andrea de Adamich | DNA | |||||||||||
Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | Peter Gethin | 6 | ||||||||||
Reine Wisell | 5 | |||||||||||
1971 | Ecurie Bonnier | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 | G | ARG | ROC | QUE | SPR | INT | RIN | OUL | VIC | |
Carlos Reutemann | 3 | |||||||||||
Jo Bonnier | DNA | |||||||||||
A.G. Dean | Chevrolet 5.0 V8 | ? | Tony Dean | 7 |
PC simulation
In 2005, a driveable, detailed replica of the McLaren M7B was released as part of the free '69 Mod' for the pc-based racing simulation Grand Prix Legends.
References
Notes
- ^ A total of 20 Formula One world championship races were held in 1966 and 1967, for each of which a maximum of nine points was awarded.[3][4]
- ^ Young (1995) refers to the "side-tank" version with "pannier fuel tanks" as the M7C,[17] apparently in error, although it is unclear whether the author is discussing the M7B or the earlier M7A with pannier tanks. Elsewhere in Young (1995), the author identifies the version fitted with integral pannier tanks as the M7B, as do Nye (1988) and Taylor (2009).[12][13][16][24]
- ^ Points were awarded to cars finishing in positions from first to sixth.[38]
- ^ Points were awarded separately for each combination of chassis and engine. Therefore McLaren-Ford were fifth in the world championship with 35 points whilst McLaren-Alfa Romeo were 9th with zero points. The McLaren-Ford total includes points scored with other models.
- ^ Points were awarded separately for each combination of chassis and engine. Therefore McLaren-Ford were fifth in the world championship with 35 points whilst McLaren-Alfa Romeo were 9th with zero points. The McLaren-Ford total includes points scored with other models.
- ^ All points were scored with other models.
Citations
- ^ "McLAREN IN FORMULA 1". mclaren.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
- ^ Henry 1999, pp. 15–18
- ^ Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 21 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 19 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ "The M2B". mclaren.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
- ^ Nye 1988, pp. 86–91
- ^ a b Young 1995, p. 107–108
- ^ Williams 1991, p. 24
- ^ a b c Nye 1988, pp. 52–54
- ^ Young 1995, p. 89
- ^ a b c d Nye 1988, pp. 150–151
- ^ a b c d e Young 1995, p. 207–208
- ^ a b c d e f g h Taylor 2009, pp. 48–51
- ^ Nye 1988, p. 158
- ^ Nye 1988, p. 166
- ^ a b c Nye 1988, pp. 154–155
- ^ a b Young 1995, pp. 97–98
- ISBN 1-903706-40-8.
- ^ a b Nye 1988, p. 152
- ^ Williams 1991, p. 25–26
- ^ ISBN 1-84084-037-4.
- ^ Galpin, Darren (22 June 1999). "Customer power: the Cosworth DFV story". 8W. Retrieved 2 July 2010.
- ^ Pritchard, Anthony (1986). Directory of Formula One Cars 1966-1986. Aston Publications. pp. 153–154.
- ^ Nye 1988, p. 161
- ^ Nye 1988, Appendix 2
- ^ a b c d Taylor 2009, pp. 56–59
- ^ Young 1995, p. 193
- ^ Williams 1991, p. 40
- ^ a b Nye 1988, Appendix 3
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 20 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ Hughes, Mark. "Clockwork Orange – McLaren Domination". Bruce McLaren Trust. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ Nye 1988, p. 153–156
- ^ Nye 1988, p. 157
- ^ Williams 1991, p. 25
- ^ a b Nye 1988, p. 156
- ^ "Grand Prix Results: Monaco GP, 1968". grandprix.com. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
- ^ Nye 1988, p. 156–158
- ^ Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 21 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 17 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ Nye 1988, p. 158–159
- ^ Nye 1988, pp. 92–94
- ^ Nye 1988, p. 159–160
- ^ a b Nye 1988, pp. 161–166
- ^ Taylor 2009, p. 290
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 21 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 21 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 21 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 11 July 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 11 July 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 17 July 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- Formula One Administration. Archived from the originalon 28 June 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
- ^ "1970 Italian GP Results (6/9/1970)". Grand Prix Archive. Crash Media Group. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
- ^ "All championship race entries, by Jo Bonnier, in a McLaren". Chicane F1. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
- ^ "1971 German GP Results (1/8/1971)". Grand Prix Archive. Crash Media Group. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 23 June 2010.
Bibliography
- ISBN 1-85960-425-0.
- ISBN 0-905138-54-6.
- Taylor, William (2009) [2008]. ISBN 978-1-902351-34-6.
- Williams, Geoffrey (1991). McLaren: A Racing History. The Crowood Press. ISBN 1-85223-603-5.
- Young, Eoin (1995) [1971]. Bruce McLaren: The Man and His Racing Team. Patrick Stephens. ISBN 1-85260-511-1.