My frontline career lasted the better part of 40 years, so if you pick a marque the chances are I campaigned something somewhere at least once. From Abarth to Volvo, I was nothing if not promiscuous, even if my name is invariably associated with certain marques, Porsche in particular. I mention this only because I recently tried to think of all the times I raced a McLaren, whether as a works driver or as a privateer’s hire. I have mentioned a few of my outings here before so I don’t want to repeat myself, but it’s a subject that came up quite a few times during the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed weekend.
I mentioned only last month that I had been hoping to drive the ex-Bruce McLaren M8F in West Sussex. The car was still in the throes of restoration until the eve of the meeting so it was far from a done deal. I didn’t get my bum in it until the shakedown run at Fairoaks a few days beforehand, and, as is invariably the way with these things, there were one or two issues with the car. For starters, it had been revived under Zak Brown’s watchful gaze to exactly how it appeared in period. As such, the seating position was as per how Bruce wanted it way back when.
He was a fair bit shorter than me so just getting into it was a chore, not that I was about to be defeated. The car hadn’t run under its own steam in more than half a century and we were determined that we would put on a show at Goodwood. My runs at the airfield facility consisted of three or four sprints that comprised maybe 400 yards in total. Then it was off for the big reveal at the Festival, which of course was blighted by bad weather. To be honest, I didn’t drive the old Can-Am weapon in anger. I was there to demonstrate the car, but apparently I looked reasonably fast.
I have to say fair play to the Duke of Richmond for having the courage to cancel Saturday’s running. It cannot have been an easy decision to make, but his judgement was wise given the circumstances. We had Jackie Oliver and his wife Dortha staying with us so having a day spare at least gave us an opportunity to have a proper catch-up. ‘Jackie-O’ is as sharp as a tack, just as he always was. He was a bloody good driver in his pomp, too. You don’t win Le Mans and a Can-Am title without having serious talent, that’s for sure.
That said, I certainly enjoyed showing Jackie
