11 replies to this topic

[Pete Stowe]

Duncan Fox of the Bruce McLaren Trust in New Zealand is trying to clarify some M12 chassis histories - the M12 being the 1969 production CanAm car built by Trojan.

Motoring News, 20 November 1969, in the middle of an item about the press announcement of the Frank Williams/Piers Courage tie-up with de Tomaso for Grand Prix in 1970 mentioned that Automobili de Tomaso had aquired an M12. "......the deal which at present encompasses only Formula 1, but could take in CanAm. De Tomaso have recently purchased a McLaren M12 to assess the design and Williams may run this in next years CanAm possibly with an 8-litre Ford engine as De Tomaso already has close ties with Ford of America."

The Ford association was described in MN in September 1969: "The Ford Motor Co. has signed an agreement with Ghia of Turin and de Tomaso Automobili of Modena for the exchange of technical services. Under the agreement, the two Italian firms will build a number of Ford engineering prototypes, show cars and speciality vehicles "

Does anybody know if De Tomaso actually did get an M12, & if so what happened to it? "Purchase" may not necessarily mean purchase of a new chassis directly from Trojan, but I think it can be safely assumed that Williams didn't get involved in this.

Duncan also mentions "I have 60-11 & 60-12 going to Holman & Moody (Ford), though Charlie Agg told someone in the USA that 60-11 went to Scragg for hillclimbing in England?"

Pete Lyons in his report on the Michigan CanAm (Autosport 2 October 1969) mentioned 2 chassis going to Ford for use by AAR. This race was Dan Gurneys return to the CanAm in his McLeagle - with a Chev engine; Lyons explained the background: "There is a very long story behind this. Dan has realised for a long time that his small block engines can never be successful in the CanAm and all this year he has been developing something bigger. At first FoMoCo were promising all their stalwarts the 8-litre Super engine; AAR got to the point of sending a mock-up of this over to England for Eric Broadley to fit into a 4wd CanAm Lola. At the same time two brand new McLaren M12s were ordered, and to this day sit idle in Santa Ana because they officially belong to Ford and cannot be touched."
Fords big engine never became available; fed up with waiting, Gurney eventually took the big step of putting a Chev in his old car, so he could go racing again.

Phil Scragg had a new M12 (with M6B bodywork) & Chev engine for UK hillclimbing in 1970. This car I believe went on to Tony Harrison (1970-72) & George Tatham (1974-75) & made regular appearances on the hills.

Can anyone add to, confirm, correct, or otherwise illuminate on any of the above please.

[Jeremy Jackson]

Hi,

I saw Tony Harrisons M12 with the M6B body at Harewood hillclimbs in 1972-73. It carried the chassis plate M12C-11, cos I made a note of it!

Jeremy

[Pete Stowe]

Thanks Jeremy. That's got one point cleared up.

[Giraffe]

Octagenarian George Tatham seen campaigning his McLaren M12C at Shelsley Walsh yesterday.....

[bill p]

Tony Harrison at early 70s Craigantlet before George Tatham ownership



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Edited by bill p, 03 June 2013 - 19:28.

[RA Historian]

Looks like a modified M6 body.

What is an "M12C"? Know about the M12, but never heard of any letter suffixes being applied to it.

[Emery0323]

Looks like a modified M6 body.

What is an "M12C"? Know about the M12, but never heard of any letter suffixes being applied to it.

Yes- Wasn't the M12 a 1970-spec customer car? Lothar Motsenbacher drove one in the 1970 Can-Am, among others. It was much more similar to the M8B or M8C in appearance, with the sharp-cornered transition between the vertical and horizontal surfaces, not the rounded corners as on the M6.

[David McKinney]

What is an "M12C"?

I posted the same question a couple of hours ago. Then went back to the start of the thread - and deleted my post

[Stephen W]

The Tatham car is a McLaren M12 with M6 bodywork. The car was originally prepared for Phil Scragg but he couldn't come to terms with the car and did a deal with Tony Harrison. Harrison had bought Scragg's heavily modified Lola T70 and the deal was that Harrison would have the McLaren and Scragg would get his Lola back.


George Tatham in the McLaren at Harewood in 1974

[Duc-Man]

Just to be clear what the M12 was:
the M12 was a hybrid between M6 (chassis tub) and M8 (bodywork, possibly also suspension) build by Trojan. IIRC I read somewhere that there was an M12 upgrade for 'old' M6's offered as well.

[Manfred Cubenoggin]

Here's a link to the M12 of George Eaton in the 1969 CanAm series. The car featured a scoop and channeling for driver cooling.

http://www.racingspo...-09-28-098b.jpg

[RA Historian]

Yes- Wasn't the M12 a 1970-spec customer car? Lothar Motsenbacher drove one in the 1970 Can-Am, among others. It was much more similar to the M8B or M8C in appearance, with the sharp-cornered transition between the vertical and horizontal surfaces, not the rounded corners as on the M6.

1969 McLaren customer car. Three ran fairly regularly in the '69 Can Am, Motschenbacher, Eaton, and Chaparral. More showed up in subsequent years, such as the T-G car, Great Western Champagne team, and so on.