M8E - 1971 80-087

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The Ex-Team VDS, Kaye Griffiths

�Led Zeppelin�

1971 McLaren-Chevrolet M8E/D

CANAM/Group 7 Sports-Racing

Two-seater

Chassis No. 80-08 

The McLaren M8E was the customer version of the utterly dominant Gulf-McLaren M8D works team cars campaigned in 1970 by Denny Hulme, Dan Gurney and Peter Gethin to secure the British based team�s crushing fourth consecutive success in the Canadian-American challenge series � the Can-Am Championship. 

Bruce McLaren�s magnificent series of Chevrolet V-8 powered �free formula� sports racing cars had first won the Can-Am Championship titles in 1967.  Since Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Limited was at the time a small dedicated undertaking fully committed in design, build and running of its own Formula 1 and sports-racing cars, it had no capacity to manufacture for customer demand.  Bruce had consequently reached an agreement with Peter Agg�s Trojan company, which manufactured customer Can Am cars to McLaren designs and standards, throughout the period in question.  Two of the customer variant M8E cars were adapted to feature the wide-track suspension and side-fenced �Batmobile� bodywork developed for the works M8D cars, and it is our understanding that this �Led Zeppelin� machine is one of those two.