Now celebrated  as the first road car produced at McLaren , M6 GT was initially designed to make its name on the track. A story of a gamble that failed ...

The  McLaren team impressed people by winning in their first attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 with a GT (Gran Turismo) car. However, few of us remember that Bruce McLaren had - in his lifetime - planned to conquer the Sarthe.

Bruce McLaren was present on all fronts. He is seen here in his Formula 1 car talking with driver Denis Hulme. To finance his team, he did not hesitate to engage in multiple disciplines, including the lucrative Can-Am series (right).

In the 60s, the  owner-driver shrank from no discipline: F1, CanAm, Indianapolis ... he was everywhere! So why not try his luck in endurance racing? The task was tougher than it seemed because, unlike the F1 car designers that Enzo Ferrari called "garagistes", the discipline remained the preserve of major manufacturers, having to be able to produce the 25 copies necessary to be allowed to use a large displacement engine (of 5 litres). To compete on equal terms, Bruce McLaren tried a bluff ...

The New Zealander had designed his new M6 GT around a frame of the M6B CanAm car producing  28 copies. But the ploy failed, technical commissioners refused to homo;ogate this sleight of hand! He was not discouraged however and began making 25 regulation  copies . The car was presented in 1969, with a 5-litre V8 Chevrolet engine, capable of delivering 430 horsepower in its "race " version. The Kiwi used  the assembly firm Trojan to build the bodies, but  deadlines were not met and many orders were cancelled, including one by John Woolf who bought a Porsche 917 instead, in which he was killed in the "S" corner before White House (Maison Blanche)  at Le Mans. Then,  sadly on 2 June 1970,  Bruce McLaren himself suffered that fate, being fatally injured at the Goodwood circuit, at the time he was using the M6 GT as his own personal road transport. His death marked the end of the programme ... Well, almost.

For if only three authentic M6 GTs were ever built, many replicas have emerged, from Coyote, etc. Moreover, one of them (manufactured by Trojan) ran in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1981 ( in the IMSA  GTP category, to be driven by Herve Regout and Michel Elkoubi ) without qualifying for the race. A blessing in disguise maybe, because without this failure, Ron Dennis could not boast of the triumph of McLaren winning  at their first appearance at Le Mans in 1995.

McLaren M6 GT (1969)

Julien HERGAULT / ACO