Those of you who have never seen the Can Am cars of the late Sixties and early Seventies missed out on what may be considered the most visceral motorsport of all time. Fortunately, many of these cars are still being raced and have lost none of their ferocity.
The car in the photo above is the 1972 McLaren M8F belonging to John Burke. The car is powered by a 598 cubic inch V8 that creates a whopping 1,019 horsepower. It is naturally aspirated, not turbos or supercharger needed. Yes, you read that right!
Just to give you an idea of the violence involved in motivating this monster, listen to the beast come to life:
Check out the beast in action after the break.
Over in the Canadian Motorsports History Group on Yahoo, there is some chatter going on regarding the pace that Burke is setting. Bear in mind that some of these fellows have driven these cars, some now & some back in the day. The feeling seems to be that he is only pushing the car at roughly 7 or 8 tenths. The reason I point this out is that I want you to watch the speedo in the lower left. This is telemetry from the car. This monster accelerates from 60 to 120 miles per hour faster than most road cars go from 50-60!
Behold the beast!
The photo above was taken by Bill Hitzel for Just Above Sunset and the in-car video was posted on youtube by John Burke.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
WOW! Thanks Gary for the trip down memory lane. Sitting here watching the McLaren at Road America brought back a time when the rules were a little looser. In 1971 Gordon Dewar ran a March 707 for a number of races. At the Mid-Ohio meeting Gord asked me if I wanted to go for a ride and being young, stupid and full of adventure I said yes. Getting permission to go out for a few laps after qualifying didn’t seem to be a problem as I soon found myself sitting to Gord’s left with a large leather strap around my chest. Where it was connected to I will not know, but it certainly prevented me from jumping out of the bloody car and it helped me to stay inside when he put on the brakes! The part I remember most was when I had exhausted my film and put the camera down to go for a ride, I realized the only reason I had not paniced to that point was the camera. I was using a wide-angled Hasselblad which only held 12 frames. I quickly wound the film back to fool the camera so I could again start to go through the motions of shooting. I later realized that the camera took me out of reality and the dangers I had put myself in and would continue to do during my life as a motor racing photographer. Getting out of the March left me almost legless! If you had ever met Dewar, you knew there was no in-between limit for him. Wide open or tied up to the dock. I got the same treatment in a full-blooded Trans Am Mustang, but if you want to hear this and other stories join us at ‘Shutter Speed’ here in the Garage.
Allan
I stood with my friend Gary Gould behind a McLaren M8C at Mosport. Gary and I were co-op students. His job was at Stelco and his interest was sound and vibration. He borrowed an impressively large Bruell & Kjaer sound level meter and we stood behind the McLaren as the mechanics warmed it up and from 3 feet away it registered an impressive 134 dba.
My ears were dancing!
It would have been interesting if anyone had ever had a siesmograph(sp) when a full pack of Can-Am cars went by on the first lap. It sure felt like the ground actually shook.
Being on the starters stand at Mosport with all that horsepower twenty feet under your ass made you shake! A flying start from up there was not for the weak of heart!
Interesting proposition Leighton.
Allan, I donèt think Ièd want to be up there at that point!
For the first Molson Indy we were in the Goodyear grandstand on Lakeshore. On the first lap the trees looked like they were in a major windstorm from the turbulance. Leaves by the hundreds blown off and some reasonably large branches came down.
Nothing like a full field of Can-Am cars though.
As I was usually Gord Green’s #2 Tech man at Can-Am races I was usually in pit 9 opposite the starters stand. Had trackside pass so sometimes went near the track at the inside of ten. Like between pit entrance road and track. Close up view to say the least!!! Didn’t stay there long and usually only in practice.
I was at Road Atlanta when Denny Hulme in a McLaren went airborn after the dip on the back stretch while on the tail of George Follmer in a Porsche 917. The only large piece of the car left was a ball of tubing with Denny still strapped in and relatively unhurt. Those cars were amazingly loud except for the Porsches. Their flat 12 was very quiet compared to the big Chevy & Ford V8s.
Wow take me back in the day, won’tcha! This vehicle was definitely not for the weak at heart. But I’ll tell you something there is something extremely exhilerating (sp) about having that kind of power under your ass. If you can handle it, it’s worth the ride.