Denny Hulme's McLaren M23 - in detail!

[BritishV8]

The latest addition to the BritishRacecar.com article series is spectacular:
Denny Hulme's 1973 McLaren M23 Formula One Racecar - shown in ~70 close-up photos!

teaser snapshots:




I'm just beginning to study the cars of this era. Please let me know if you spot any errors or omissions in the article.

[John Merriman]

A great article and superb pictures as usual! Hats off to you. I was surprised to read that Cosworth expected the engine would consume six pints of oil during a race. Was that typical of engines of that era and does anyone know why that would be?

[Christopher Crowe]

Were they prettier back then... or is it me?

Only one negative thing. That modern LED rain-light looks absolutely and completely wrong.

Thanks for the terrific post.

Chris

[iamuwere]

Were they prettier back then... or is it me?


Chris

I guess it is a generation thing. I think it looks like they forgot about bodywork, aerodynamics, et cetera and had to fab things up in the parking lot the night before...

Then again, the new Indycar is hideous, too.

jim

[Earley Motorsports]

I remember seeing that car at the 2007 George Begg Reunion in Drummond New Zealand and then got see it run at Teretonga. Beautiful car, incredible sound.
Graham.

[Jim Gustafson]

I guess it is a generation thing. I think it looks like they forgot about bodywork, aerodynamics, et cetera and had to fab things up in the parking lot the night before...

Then again, the new Indycar is hideous, too.

jim

M-23 Hideous? Go somewhere else.

Jim Gustafson

[iamuwere]

Not M23 hideous. New indycar hideous.

[Jim Nash]

One of my all time favorite cars! To think it was some thing like 35 years ago is wild. You guys at BritishRacecar.com, keep up the great work!!

Jim

[lucky13]

The only way that could possibly be cooler is if it was the #8 Revson car.

[Merak]

Very nice piece. You might want to mention that Peter Revson won both the 1973 British and Canadian GPs in an M23.

Mike.

[lucky13]

Very nice piece. You might want to mention that Peter Revson won both the 1973 British and Canadian GPs in an M23.

Mike.

[Amon]

I'm not sure everyone agreed that Revson had won the Canadian GP since the
scoring was so screwed up, but I'm glad he was declared the winner!

Mark

[BritishV8]

Thank you all for your very gracious comments.


John, I'm sorry but I didn't discover any explanation of the oil consumption warning. However, I recall seeing the warning two places in the old Cosworth literature.

Lucky13 wrote:

The only way that could possibly be cooler is if it was the #8 Revson car.

I understand Revson's 1973 car has been misplaced. (Possibly scrapped.) After McLaren was done with it, I'm told M23/2 had a long career, as follows: Dave Charlton drove it in "Trophy" races in '74 and '75, then Australian racer John McCormack bought it and repowered it with a 4.4L Leyland V8 for four seasons of Tasman series F5000 racing. After that, McCormack brought it to America, installed sportscar bodywork, and repowered it with a Repco 5L V8 to try his luck in single-seat Can-Am. After just three races, he gave up and reportedly converted it back to Tasman F5000 spec. McCormack had a road car accident that ended his racing career, so the McLaren didn't race again. From there the trail goes cold. The speculation I read is that M23/2 may possibly have been parted out in Australia during the eighties. Or maybe it's in a barn, waiting for you to discover it!

[Tony Nicholson]

M23/2 was sold to McLaren Racing and restored back to F1 specs. It was then traded to Jody Schecter for his collection as this is the car he drove at the French GP in 1973. Jody traded M19C/1 to McLaren for M23/2.

[Thomas Copeland]

Could have swore that Revson's 1973 number 8 is in the Donington Collection.

[FastOne]

As one who saw this car race at the Glen, this article brought back some good memories. A fantastic piece of work. Thank you very much. The Bear would be proud.

Let me add a footnote please:
At that race, I walked to the grid with Peter Revson and his then girlfriend, "Miss World." (Peter had many over the years) She must have shaken him so much that on the grid he lost control of his transmission and had to raise his hand, while the others roared past him at the start. He finally got it going and finished behind Hulme, but I beleive he would have beaten him if he had not made that error.
I also witnessed the sad aftermath of the Francois Cevert crash the prior Saturday, having also walked with him to the grid where he then climbed into his Tyrrell. roared off, and never returned. When they brought the damaged remains of his car back to the garage, Jackie's wife Helene stood on the steps of their trailer and nodded "no" to Jackie, and we could all see that Jackie's career was over at that time, not to race the next day in what would have been his 100th race.

[Bob Coury]

I witnessed Denny getting out of the car for the last time at the Glen. I have some Super 8 video somewhere of the car smoking, hime pulling over, climbing out, and making the walk back to the pits. Great F1 memories.

[provamo]

of further interest to readers of this thread is the book "To Finish First" by Phil Kerr