CAN AM Golden Years

I am a huge Can am fan myself too, it's my favorite subject to draw...

 

Great series...maybe the best ever. I was lucky to get to see three CanAm races. I wish I could have gone to more.

Jack.

 

I completely agree. I think the Can-Am series was probably the absolute pinacle of motorsport. There has never been anything like it since. Once you see those things run it leaves an indellible impression on you.

The rule book was extremely minimal, basically as follows; 4 wheels enclosed by bodywork, 2 seats (or merely room for a second seat) and an open cockpit. Thats it, all else was free!!
There was no limit on engines. Displacement, type, induction, horsepower, even the number of engines was free. One car had four engines! There was no minimum weight. There was no limit on fuel quantity or type, they often carried 80 gallons which is a 500 lb difference from full to empty! They ran 500 mile races, five hours. They were faster than Formula 1 cars of the day on many circuits. Prize money was greater than F1 so they had the best drivers in the world showing up to compete.

You gotta love those things!

I recently acquired a Mclaren M8F to run in vintage races. I'm just starting to come to grips with the thing. Below is some in car video from the Kohler International Challenge group 7 qualifying race this July at Road America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBNh8LMShyE

 

Wow. That McLaren is awesome. What's its history? If it ran at Laguna and Riverside in 71 or Road Atlanta in 72 I saw it race.

 

I saw my first Can Am race at Elkhart Lake in 1971. Peter Revson flew in from the Trenton Indy Car race, started last and won. Then I was at Michigan when Dan Gurney ran the third Mc Laren. He would have won handily, but he had to fall back and give up his win due to conflicting oil contracts. Not sure what year that was off the top of my head. Watkins Glen in July, 72 was a great race, and my final Can-Am was at Mid-Ohio in 1974 where the Shadows and Porsche ran nose-to-tail for many laps in the rain.

They were great days and racing was a very different sport--far more interesting and far more entertaining than the 'spec car' events we have today.

 

Can-Am was the greatest series ever. The rules were simple, the creativity unlimited. This era had the fastest pace of development of technology ever seen on race tracks.

It is a shame that this era can never be repeated. Starting from where we are now, a development of similar pace would get people killed in a hurry.

 

I've lost it, but John B has written a great post on the different driving techniques between his CanAm car and his Indy car. Some one find it? Goes well in this thread.....


Tritone

(edit) found it: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=259371

 

Was never lucky enough to see a Can Am race but reading about the series and looking at pictures it seems as other have said to be have been one of the greatest motorsport series yet.

Was lucky enough though to see a McLaren M8F race down here a year or so back and wow doesnt even begin go describe and that was only one car I could just imagine what it must have been like to hear and see a full field of these cars!

 

Got to see the Shadow UOP cars , among others, at Road America.
My all time favorite Can-Am cars.
They say that the Possche killed the series because no-one wanted to compete against it.
Maybe it was just time.

 

I love Can Am, that was the best series ever

I thought of buying a Can Am car but they are too dangerous so I got the next best thing

1970 IMSA Vette w 482 cid. Gonna have Katech rebuild the engine, it should make between 850-1000hp in a 2200 # car

My mechanics are redoing the fuel system and suspension now. After that redoing the roll cage. Last bit will be repainting it like 1 of the old Greenwood cars in white w old glory on it
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Wonderfull!

Here's my Lola back in the Day.
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SB Chevy. Traco with Webers. I used to drive it around on the street in that form after her racing days.

She won Kent, WA and Mosport and set the Mt Equinox all time record.

Sl 71-32

 

I have an old R & T road test album that had a conventional R & T road car test series on a McLaren-Elva Can Am car back in about 1965 or 1966.

The numbers were absolutely unbelievable for the day - would still be today 45 years later. They used to have a thing called "passing exposure time" - time to pull out and pass a car ahead going 50 mph. This usually ran about 3-6 seconds on the better road cars. The McLaren did it in something like 0.6 seconds.

This was a small block Traco Chevy IIRC and a Hewland 4 speed transaxle.

 

another pic of DSG at Laguna Seca
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I'm sad to have missed out on this series. Time to search the internet for some videos. Thanks for sharing the cars and stories guys, very interesting stuff.

 

Gents,

If anyone is interested...

NZ Festival of Motor Racing featuring Bruce McLaren
As you will all be aware – the eyes of the motorsport world will fall on New Zealand when we welcome the biggest ever gathering of iconic historic and classic racing cars in this country for the double-head NZ Festival of Motor Racing which takes place over consecutive weekends at Hampton Downs and Pukekohe.

We believe that a conservative NZ$100 million plus of some of the sport’s most iconic racers will gather for meetings at the tracks – January 22-24at Hampton Downs and January 29-31 at Pukekohe - with the first theme a celebration of the life and achievements of legendary Kiwi racer and race car builder Bruce McLaren.
Discounted Early Bird tickets are available for a limited time through the event website,

www.nzfmr.co.nz

There are only very lmited numbers of tickets available at these advance prices and we would obviously prefer that benefit to be shared with are valued members and their families as widely as possible, so please buy now to avoid disappointment or higher prices!


http://www.nzfmr.co.nz/

PS the weather should be very nice that time of the year ;-)

 

I too bought the "Can Am: A Speed Odyssey" DVD a few months ago and I love it! It's very well done and I recommend it to anyone with an interest in CanAm.

Unfortunately I was a youngster during its heyday and nowhere near a track where they raced back then. My exposure to CanAm and subsequent interest in the cars is recent and stems from seeing a few of them race at the Heacock Classic vintage races at Virginia International Raceway. There I've had the privilege to see a handful of McLaren and Lola Can Am cars race (including one of the original Penske Sunoco Lolas). Out of that group the jaw dropper for me has always been the McLaren M6B owned and driven by Dave Handy of Sasco Sports. To this day it is one of the fastest cars I've ever seen run at VIR. Last year at VIR's charity fund raiser called "Holiday Laps" I had the good fortune to win the raffle for one of two rides to be given by Dave in the McLaren M6B (later I wrote an article detailing my adventure for dailysportscar.com and the VIR web site). Twenty five minutes in the M6B on the full VIR course at speed IN THE RAIN!! Needless to say the ride was fantastic! The noise was magnificent! Dave Handy is a first class driver and he really showed me what the car was capable of in the rain with full wets. For a brief time I had a small taste of what Le Mans might be like in the rain. It was a unique experience I will never forget for the rest of my life. Attached is a photo of the two of us in the McLaren M6B at full chat on the front straight at VIR on that day.

A month later the engine blew in the McLaren M6B while Dave Handy was racing it at Sebring. I spoke with Dave last week at this year's Holiday Laps, and he said once he took the car completely apart after Sebring he realized that it really could use a ground up restoration ("It was showing its age. It's just an old car."). Hopefully the car will be up and running again soon and I can enjoy watching this monster eating up the track at VIR once again.

Gary
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+1

Another that's worth picking up is "Can-Am Thunder - The mighty machine of the series" with Pete Lyons - IIRC I got it from Road & Track online.

I got to see 'em twice when they visited the UK - IIRC, the first race was a Brands and they looked a little too big and cumbersome [Kinda like the Nascar taxicabs at Infineon!] Then we went to Silverstone, and it rained [] They were spinning their wheels in top gear! Friggin' awesome!..... 1000 BHP and very little knowledge of aero - Stunning!

And the noise! - I've loved the sound of F1 for as long as I can remember, but man, those things were beasts.....

Cheers,
Ian