McLaren, Maserati, and the Mulsanne

Every Kiwi motor racing fan knows Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon won for Ford at Le Mans in 1966 — and most probably also know Denny Hulme shared the second-placed car just behind. But Bruce had also driven some interesting stuff at Sarthe in the years before. He’d joined the Ford programme, — the ultimate aim of which was to bury the Ferraris — for the 1964 race when they ran the 4.2-litre GT40. He and Phil Hill were out by the 15th hour.

In 1965 he was partnered by Ken Miles aboard a seven-litre Mk2 in a year that the might of Detroit was humiliated: they were all done with 20 hours still left. It was also the last year that a Ferrari won. Bruce’s final Le Mans was in 1967 when he shared a Mk 4 GT (the J-car) with American Mark Donohue. They were up to second in the 10th hour but were out a couple of hours later. That’s the way things roll at Le Mans — like a lot of top drivers McLaren had his reservations about the