| The Bruce McLaren Trust Car | |||||||||
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Trust Car first came to New Zealand in and was kept at the Auckland Sports car Club
Headquarters. The car is now owned by the Bruce McLaren Trust and is under going a major rebuild as the condition was such that only a full rebuild could see the car restored to its former glory. The Trust is now undertaking the funding and rebuild of this vehicle to full racing mode. In addition to all the voluntary labour, anticipated cost of the rebuild is in the vicinity of $300,000. See the Conservation Plan Generous donors and grants give boost to the M8 rebuild Trust Member Peter Herbert of Specialised Components, comes a donation of the four axles and the upper and lower suspension ball joints - all to be machined in his own engineering workshop. Peter has virtually completed the restoration of his own McLaren M4 single seater (the ex Graeme Lawrence car) which we will see in action later this year when the car makes is classic racing debut.Since the formation of the Trust over two years ago, classic car club TACCOC has been very active and generous in their support. From the proceeds of their recent Wheels at Whenuapai meeting, the club has again generously donated $4000, and this year it has been decided that this will be specifically used to cover the cost of the M8A wheels. A huge thank you to these generous individuals for their amazing support for the project. Three generous donations have been received by the Trust for the restoration of the M8A. Ex Team McLaren engineer and old friend of Bruce, Cary Taylor of Christchurch (see Carys story in the Supporters Trust Newsletter) made the first major contribution and this will see the tub completed within the next month. As a former employee of the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team, Cary has a particular interest in the Trusts work. In 1968 Bruce invited Cary to join his team from the Brabham organisation. Apart from a couple of short breaks Cary stayed with McLaren until 1974, eventually working as Chief Engineer on Denny Hulme’s car. "I look back back now with tremendous pride" he says, "at having worked along side Bruce and Denny - two of the finest ambassadors New Zealand motor racing will probably ever have." From another long time McLaren enthusiast, McLaren car owner and And on the grant side, we are delighted to announce that two major funding grants have just been confirmed. Lotteries Commission has granted us $80,000 towards the M8 restoration and Sky City Community Trust has granted us $20,000 towards the project. Sky City commended us on our project and said that their Trustees were much taken by our efforts to remind New Zealanders of the tremendous leadership, innovation, courage and skill of the McLaren Team. Lotteries Commission, after a visit to the workshop to discuss and view the project were also most intrigued with our work and expressed similar sentiments, commenting also on the uniqueness of the M8A restoration. So with over $150,000 now raised to date we only have another $90,000 odd to go and completion dates are now being finalised. services to of the M8A an The rebuild program has been underway for some two years now with many parts being either re built or built from drawings kindly under loan from McLaren International. The M8A is now at the tub stage
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