Can-Am Series 1970

For this season I would return to the UK around April, after having raced my own Brabham BT21 car in the NZ National Gold Star Series of races during the summer.

My negotiated contract for 1970 was again the responsibility for Denny’s car build program and race preparation for  6 out of the 10 race series.

Because I wanted to be back in NZ earlier this year to race my own car again, Jimmy Stone would take over my responsibilities for the series remainder.  The two M8D cars being built up followed a very similar pattern of the previous years, with everything being pretty much on target to have the first car finished about two weeks before the June series start at Mosport.

June 2nd 1970

I could never have imagined what a tragic day this would be and the profound effect it would have on all of us at McLaren Racing.  Later in the evening after the initial shock and numbness of the days event, a meeting was called at Teddy Mayer’s house to reassess our future position.

All of us there voted unanimously that we would continue with our project to contest the upcoming Can-Am season (now only two weeks away) as a memorial to Bruce.  The physical and mental effort required to do this was overwhelmingly enormous, however it was achieved with everybody working tirelessly in an almost robotic way. 

Through my years of motor racing I was always personally close to Denny and although I knew that Bruce’s death had affected him more than perhaps any of us, I will always be grateful for the support he gave me at this time.  Additionally his leadership shown to the team and his gritty drive with burnt hands at the first Can-Am race showed us all his clear determination to keep McLaren Racing alive.  The 1970 series as you can imagine just wasn’t the same, but with little time to reflect we soon settled into our familiar work load and proceeded to get on with the job of winning.  Our task of car preparation and traveling was made somewhat easier with the establishment of the far more centrally located McLaren engine shop in Detroit.  This served as our home base for the series and the facilities we had in this shop for engine development work and our race preparation of the cars was excellent.  In what seemed like no time at all, four months and six races had been and gone - my contract was finished and it was time for me to head home to NZ.  After all we had been through it felt uncomfortable to be leaving a job half done and I also knew that with the mixed results we had achieved so far, a series win for Denny would be no easy task.  History records that Denny won the 1970 series, achieved against almost impossible odds by a totally dedicated team and a fitting tribute to the man who made it all possible.

Tony Roberts and Cary Taylor

Read on the next page about Cary's experience with McLaren Racing in 1974