McLaren’s amazing Can-Am cars reunite at Laguna 

I will second that…”best memories…”, I was there 1969 watching also! Corner 6, crowd clustered at the fence, AMAZING….just doesn’t describe it! Went on to race there, RA, in 2004 for ten years in a Spec Miata.

That's awesome.

I watched Bruce from the time he first came to Britain, to join Coopers, under Jack Brabham in 1959. In 1960, Bruce became the youngest ever driver to win a GP when he won in the US, and, in 1961, the Argentina GP.

@@steveholman3451 A bit of an insult there, to mention a Japanese saloon car, in the same post about the great Bruce McLaren, the great Denny Hulme, and the other two American drivers. Bad form!

@@Demun1649 Denny "The Bear" Hulme - fasted Can Am driver by a country mile! Just don't try to interview him on TV. You would more than likely be told to f*ck off!

Lucky guy!

There’s not another Series like it and never will.

What I loved was the lack of rules for the cars. And they had a MINIMUM engine capacity!!

i thought i read that back then the can am series had no limits??

@@guyh.4121 f3 is probably the only one that's free of restrictions like can-am was...

​@@keithcarpenter5254🤣🤣🤣🤣 no

I was not there for the hey day of Can-Am but I saw the later series at Seca 1977-80,. We went to all the different series races at Seca from 75-80, love that place.

My best friends dad volunteered as a director. So we went to just about every race! Miss those days.

An iconic car

1.15 litres of cubic capacity per cylinder ? 😳👊

And looks like your shoe too

That’s 494 cubic inches in a V8

@@MrDowntownLA Made of Aluminium, so very light, Denny Hulmes favourite cars.. they evidently used to lift the nose if they got to close to the car in front of them on acceleration.

You better have big rollers

Those festivals were great Tony, and I know a lot of people appreciated what you did, along with the Bruce McLaren Trust. Hope you are well.

I was there too Tony. That was an amazing McLaren gathering for sure + you guys built a great circuit.

The Bruce and Denny show😎😎

Try it at Bridgehampton...

Totally true. NASCAR is bland and boring by comparison

@@dennissmith6783 Only thing is, they still use manuals. F1 was at it's best in 86 when they had manuals and 1,000 - 1,350 Horsepower Turbo 1.5L 4Cyl.

Crazy to think Mclaren would use a CHEVY Big block.

@@JerseyMikeP No it wasn't. They may have been spectacular to watch in qualifying, fishtailing down the straights on full boost, but they were so difficult to drive that changes needed to be made.

@@deaddoll1361 That's when REAL MEN , Raced in F1.

Yeah, I love the blue and orange livery too! This year's car is absolutely gorgeous with those colors.

Big block Ford and Chevys....some with aluminum blocks... based on 427ci roughly. Although Porsche had their own engine and there were some others like the ALFA T33s brought over from Europe. I was there for these races at Laguna Seca starting in 1968. Live in SF and this was the highlight of the year for me each year. The inventiveness of these guys was amazing. Saw some pretty interesting cars...some not as successful but. I was there when Jim Hall ran his Chapparal "vacuum cleaner" car that would have won except a cheap bearing went uut out the last lap. That car was outlawed the next season as it was so much faster than anything else of the day It used a second motor to power a big fan to such the car to the ground. It also used an automatic transmission instead of a manual. Also saw one car that was 4 wheel drive with 4 showmobile engines in it. Another had a blown drag boat engine complete with zoomy boat headers. The first AVS Shadow that experimented with tiny wheels to gain an aerodynamic advantage. That failed in many ways but they came back with a competitive car and won in future years. I got to meet several of these drivers. McLaren, Hall, Revson, Hulme, etc. I later raced in SCCA with an ALFA GTV B Sedan....lots of memories of those Can Am races and sad that they finally ended....but you can still see them at Vintage Race Car events.

@@RobertKarlBerta Many thanks for the info.Though raised in the south in the 1960s and 70s I always tried yo watch on TV and read about those awesome cars.Congrats on your career and again thanks for tge generous reply.

@@markpatterson2507 I forgot how big they got but they went out to at least 454.Aluminium blocks.

@@beagle7622 thank you

The Porsche 919 Tribute's lap around the ring was close as they removed all the restrctions for that run.

Hampton Downs would be nice. There has been a Porsche festival and a Ferrari festival. I saw my first Ferrari F1 car.

Think it was a Shelby engine

Chevy big-block 427 all aluminum ZL1

You mean with their gasoline powered internal combustion engines? It's a shame that politics and the green religion is trying to end over 100 years of perfecting the internal combustion engine.

Wasn't Shelby A competing team at La'mone, racing against Mclaren who had Chris Amon driving. In that race, Amon won, getting across the line first, however race control ruled that Amon had to beat the guy who came second, by at least 3 minutes because the second guy started far back in the starting grid... Was bullshit...

In 1968 Shelby ran a race program with a couple of Ford powered McLarens, which was funded by Ford but in prior years you can also see some mid-engined Shelby ‘King Cobras’ running in Can-Am and other sports car races. Shelby teamed up with Cooper of Britain to create the King Cobras

@@colinboniface194 I have heard so much mixed up bovine excrement my man! What comics do you read? LOL

not a Mclaren....Bruce McLaren's car

@@martinmoffitt4702 that's what I said ...dar ah🙄

They may have used the Hilborn inlet manifolds but the injectors and fuel pumps were timed units, not the alcohol style that ruled dirt speedway.

Lemans records are what they are ! Look up GT 40 there !

@@idiot-983 60 yrs ago and only 2 wins are a joke to everyone except Ferrari. Porsche shits on ford,Chevy, Mopar, Ferrari, Lambo, Audi combined.

4 years of total dominance, and retired nuff said !

@@idiot-983 Still decades ago... Nothing since. Not to mention it was a British car not built by Ford and they haven't won anything since. Porsche won 100 times more races than ford. Chevy won alot more races with cars built by the factory.

Not wanting to argue, But cobras were made by ACE in England and Carroll built Gt40s. Aren't McLaren cars from New Zealand ?

This was nothing. Some run even two cars, modified, recent model Shadows against 60's cars. Defeats the heritage and appreciation.

You mean they’re not?

I think he meant to say downforce.

I think he meant in comparison to cars like Chaparral with vacuum effects and high wings connected direct to axles. Obviously it's not a yellow school bus. Some also had side wings in addition to a low skirt, the 917 short tail was even fairly evolved.