1969 McLaren M6GT - Images, Specifications and Information

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After his arrival in Europe Bruce McLaren worked his way up from the youngest ever Grand Prix winner to a highly successful racing car manufacturer in a remarkably short time. The New Zealander also found time to score Ford's first 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966. In the following season the 'Group 7' McLaren M6 dominated the Can-Am Challenge Series and in 1968 Denny Hulme scored McLaren's first Formula 1 victory. These successes strengthened a long lingering desire that had strongly nestled in the back of Bruce McLaren's head; a 'Group 6' McLaren production car that could double as a road car and most importantly a Le Mans contender.

Realising the dream was made increasingly difficult by new regulations that took into effect in 1968, limiting displacement for Group 6 prototype racing cars to just three litres. This forced McLaren to set his sights on Group 4, which required a homologation run of fifty cars and a displacement limit of five litre. In 1968 McLaren had established a partnership with the British Trojan company to build the production Group 7 Can-Am cars, so they could be used to build the run of cars required for homologation. The displacement limit was more worrying as the Chevrolet engines used in the Can-Am cars were really only competitive with higher displacements. The lower octane fuels available in Europe made things ever worse.

In spite of these potential problems, Bruce McLaren went ahead with the development of the Group 4 racer. He kept the cost and risk for his company down by using the existing and well proven M6 chassis for the new car. Considering the advanced design and track record of the M6 this was in no way a compromise. Designed in just eleven weeks, the M6 had been McLaren's first full length monocoque car, designed to house an American small-block V8 engine. With double wishbones, front and rear, the design was very straightforward. This made it very easy for Trojan to adapt it for (mass-) production in 1968. To distinguish the customer car from the McLaren built Works racers, it was known as the M6B.

With the chassis readily available, the work on the Group 4 car could focus on the required coupe body. Typical for McLaren a simple, but effective shape was penned. The design was reminiscent of the contemporary Group 6 car from Ferrari. Specialized Mouldings went ahead and started mass producing the fibreglass. It is believed that they produced all fifty necessary bodies in one batch. Trojan assembled the first car using a M6B chassis and it was launched in January of 1969 as the McLaren M6GT. By that time the homologation limit for Group 4 had been dropped to 25, which opened the door for the likes of Porsche. McLaren quickly realised that the M6GT would be no match for the new Porsche 917 and the plans to run the car at Le Mans later in the year were quickly shelved.

Trojan did build a second show car and found a customer for the prototype; British racing driver David Prophet. He raced the car in several European races in its coupe guise in 1969 and had it rebodied in 1970 for the newly founded Interseries; the European equivalent of Can-Am. The new body was similar to that of the McLaren M12, which was the final evolution of the Trojan built M6 series. It was used throughout the 1970 season, but with little success. Rebodied as a coupe, the M6GT was sold to a Canadian in 1971, who converted it for road use. Amazingly he drove his kids to school with the McLaren for several years. The car eventually ended up in the collection of Gilles St. Pierre. He held on to the car for many years and only sold it to its current owner in January of 2006.

Although McLaren had realised that the M6GT would neither be a force at Le Mans, or a very suitable street car, he went ahead and built a third car for his own use. He planned to use it on a daily basis to establish what changes would be needed to make a proper McLaren street car. It is believed he drove his own M6GT to the Goodwood track on the day of his fatal crash early in 1970. His friend and team-mate Denny Hulme bought the car and shipped it to New Zealand where it was on display at the Auckland Museum of Transportation for most of its live. Still in original condition and with just 1900 miles on the odometer, the car is now part of the Matthews collection in the United States.

After Bruce's death, his pet project was shelved indefinitely. Ron Dennis and Gordon Murray did eventually fulfill McLaren's dream with the McLaren F1, which also went on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With the abundance of M6B and M12 chassis and M6GT bodies, it was no surprise that in the 1970s several replicas were constructed. It is believed that five additional coupes were created of which two have been converted back to their original configuration. All three of the original cars are accounted for today as are all M6 and M12 chassis. The third original car was sold to the United States by Trojan in 1972 where it remains to this day, but in very poor condition after a crash. Converted to road use, it was tested by Road & Track in their December 1974 issue.

Featured is the David Prophet M6GT, which is the only one of the three original cars with contemporary race history. After buying the car early in 2006, the current owner carefully brought it back to its 1969 competition specification. He was ready in time to take it to the Can-Am 40th Anniversary meeting at Road America in the summer of 2006. Painted in McLaren's Papaya Orange, it has since been raced at various events including at the 2007 Monterey Historic Races where it is pictured above.