Graham McRae's M10A

[Terrill]

Last I heard McRae's McLaren M10A (ex works show car - I think illustrated on the cover of SCW in Australia), was written off at Pukekohe New Zealand by Garry Pederson and served sometime in a kindergarten as a play thing for the little ones before it was eventually buried. I heard recently that the original M10A was being restored in New Zealand. Wondered if it is the same chassis.

[John Turner]

Terrill, welcome to 10-Tenths! I have removed the duplicate thread from the Chassis History Archive which is really for more established threads with an element of history already in them. This is the right place to start and I hope that some of our posters can supply the information you seek.

[allenbrown]

"The original M10A" - i.e. the one built by McLaren as a prototype and then raced by Peter Gethin and later Paddy Driver - is in New Zealand but is a different car to the Trojan-built 300-06 that was raced by McRae, Radisich, Francevic and Pederson before being scrapped.

It would be a very brave man who "found" 300-06! I guess it's M10A/1 that you've heard about.

Allen

[Terrill]

I have a B/W photograph of a show M10A, I think again it is the one depicted on the Australian Sports Car World cover from late '60's. There is cardboard wrapped around the background to mask off a factory area. I Can still see some cage, machinery, factory bits & pieces above that. I wonder if this is the Trojan factory and it's McRae's car as you state. It has a high rear wing and carbs and the car is orange by the looks of it. The number roundel on the nose has a capital A and has formula 5000 within the roundel also. The photograph is stamped Cowderoy and Moss, London on the back. I photographed the car myself in the Pukekohe pits at NZ Grand Prix in 1970. It was a stunner in Crown lynn Black and gold livery.

[allenbrown]

The show M10A with the "A" on the nose was featured in a number of articles and was either the prototype M10A/1 or the first production M10A which was probably 300-02 but may have been 300-01 depending on where Trojan decided to start their numbering. The car that went to McRae was 300-06 and was built after the initial rush of US orders. 'Tis said it went out to Australia as a show car and didn't race until November.

I'd be very surprised if 300-06 was the car used on the magazine cover.

Allen

[Steve Holmes]

Originally Posted by Terrill

Last I heard McRae's McLaren M10A (ex works show car - I think illustrated on the cover of SCW in Australia), was written off at Pukekohe New Zealand by Garry Pederson and served sometime in a kindergarten as a play thing for the little ones before it was eventually buried. I heard recently that the original M10A was being restored in New Zealand. Wondered if it is the same chassis.

Hi Terrill, there was a Lola T190 imported to NZ in 1974 by an American motorbike racer called Cal Raybourne. The chassis is said to be run originally by AAR and driven by John Cannon in the 1970 Formula A championship.

Raybourne was killed while racing a motorbike just a week before he was due to race the Lola in NZ. It stayed in NZ, and was later purchased by saloon car racer Red Dawson. Dawson never actually raced the car, and it sat in his basement until a friend of his, Graeme Addis, purchased it sometime in 1976. He wanted it for its suspension components, plus brakes, wheels, engine, steering, and transaxle, to make a radical modified sedan racer, using an Australian Chrysler Charger bodyshell on top.

He built a spaceframe chassis, fitted the Lola components (but not the transaxle), and the Lola tub ended up in a kids kindergarten playground. It didn't survive. Addis still has the Charger saloon racer. He later fitted the transaxle, and mounted the engine just forward of the rear wheels, so it had the same basic layout as an F5000, but with a steel Charger bodyshell on top. It was quite an exceptional car. Even had ground effects, and a driver opperated rear wing, like on some of the Chaparral Can-Am cars, although hand opperated, not foot opperated.

Sorry to drift off subject, its just you mentioned an F5000 being used in a kindergarten playground. It reminded me of this story.