Cary Taylor worked as a Chief Engineer with the McLaren Team from 1968 through until 1974 and was present at Goodwood on June 2nd 1970 when Bruce was tragically killed during testing of the M8D.
Cary had returned to McLaren in April 1970 to again be Denny’s Chief Engineer for the first six races of the Can-Am series for that season. And as it turned out these were to be an extremely harrowing four months with Denny burning his hands at Indy and then the death of Bruce at Goodwood on June 2nd. Cary’s contract finished in July and again he headed home to New Zealand as planned. However his days with McLaren were far from over…
By Cary Taylor
My first meeting with Bruce was in January 1968 at Wigram, Christchurch during the then very popular Tasman Series. Bruce was driving a BRM and Denny was contesting the series as the newly crowned 1967 F1 World Champion in a Brabham. I had previously been in the UK with the Brabham Racing Organisation for the 65, 66 and 67 Formula 1 seasons and had proudly been responsible for the race car preparation of Denny’s F1 Brabham during his remarkable world championship win. The outcome of the meeting with Bruce and myself was an invitation to join McLaren Racing as part of their Can-Am team with responsibility as Chief Engineer on Denny’s car - and who could say no to that!
I left NZ and flew to Boston in October to meet up with the team and the cars which would be flown in from the UK. Boston was also Tyler Alexander’s home town, thus making the task of preparing tow trucks, trailers and all the hundred and one pieces of essential equipment easier to organise. Coming as I had from the previous years European F1 scene I was immediately impressed with the informality of the Can-Am scene. It was motor racing as it should be with the interaction and accessibility of drivers / mechanics with the media, officials and spectators all in a very controlled but not officious manner. The success of the 1968 season was principally determined long before the cars even arrived in the USA. The McLaren package included two of the best sports car drivers in the world, driving cars that were technically vastly superior. But we still had our share of work to do and things didn’t always go according to plan. The Bridgehampton race was a total disaster with both cars DNF due to engine problems. However, at the finish of the series in Las Vegas, McLaren cars had won four out of six races with Denny taking out the series championship and Bruce finishing second.
On the completion of the series, one car remained on the East Coast for promotional duties and the other car I trailered back from Los Angeles to Boston, where it would be flown back to the UK. To give some idea of the mileage we had travelled during the 1968 series and the vast size of America, this journey took me one week, driving almost eight hours a day. After reaching Boston I packed the car up ready for its return to England and was glad to be on a plane home to New Zealand myself.
Read on the next page about the Can-Am Series in 1969...
