6 replies to this topic

[teegeefla]

This is one for the old timers...

 

Back in the fog of my memory dating back 15+ years on TNF, I seem to recall a thread in which Dan Gurney's possible involvement with the Matra F1 team was discussed.  Not surprisingly, a search going back so far has yielded nothing.  I do recall that it was definitely concerning F1, not the one-off drive in a Matra 650 at Sebring 1970.  Any help would be appreciated.

 

Tom

Edited by teegeefla, 09 May 2020 - 19:58.

[Alex79]

As far as I know Gurney was never involved with Matra F1, he drove a few GP's in Mclaren in 68, although he started the season in his own Eagle. Maybe he was trying to get his hands on a second Tyrrell Matra?

[Bikr7549]

Dan did drive a Matra in the 1970 12 hour Sebring race so a connection was there. I wonder whether his unfortunately short McLaren F1 drive was due only to standing in for their loss or was he looking to get back into F1 at the end of his career?

[2F-001]

...  I wonder whether his unfortunately short McLaren F1 drive was due only to standing in for their loss...  ?

 

I believe that was certainly true of his works drives in 1970 (when he also did Can Am rounds), but those McLaren M7 drives in 1968, mentioned above, were his own (AAR) entries, weren't they?  (Or were they actually done in conjunction - or with the support of - the factory?)

[Sterzo]

Dan did drive a Matra in the 1970 12 hour Sebring race so a connection was there. I wonder whether his unfortunately short McLaren F1 drive was due only to standing in for their loss or was he looking to get back into F1 at the end of his career?

Always had the impression it was something of a favour for McLaren, for whom he was driving in CanAm following Bruce's death. Hulme had burnt his hands at Indianapolis, so McLaren were in deep trouble. According to Karl Ludvigsen's biography of Gurney, he didn't get much satisfaction from racing such a superior car in CanAm, and soon found the F1 team wouldn't let him make the adjustments he wanted. An odd approach to a driver with enough engineering savvy to produce his own race-winning cars.

[68targa]

Dan did drive a Matra in the 1970 12 hour Sebring race so a connection was there. I wonder whether his unfortunately short McLaren F1 drive was due only to standing in for their loss or was he looking to get back into F1 at the end of his career?

I had never realised that Dan drove a Matra at Sebring - live and learn.

 

He drove in three GP's and Can-Am races for McLaren after the accident to Bruce. I thought that there was some conflict with Gunrey's sponsors that prevented him from continuing with McLaren who used Gulf products whereas Gurney was using Castrol.

[Roger Clark]

The Autosport report of Sebring 1970 said: "Matra would like Big Dan to think about coming back to F1: his commitment to TansAm saloon racing prevents this at the moment but he was willing to try an open-cockpit car for a change from the very cramped Ferrari coupé he drove at Daytona".

 

At this time there was a good sponsorship match: both were tied to Goodyear, Matra had been taken over by Chrysler and AAR were running Plymouths in TransAm.  I don't think it was ever likely to happen though.