This championship-winning McLaren is an F5000 fairytale

“I was ten years old in 1970 at the first race at Oulton, with my Dad on the start/finish straight. Thirty years later I ended up owning the car that was sitting on the front of the grid – more by luck than judgment!”

It is, of course, a McLaren M10B – one of the most successful early Formula 5000 chassis to have raced. Under the period-correct livery and in front of that trumpetous 5-litre Chevrolet V8 engine, sits the tub of the 1970 Championship-winner – then chassis 400-06 of F5000 hero Peter Gethin, now 400-06A.

His attraction to Formula 5000 was born of a simple desire to climb the driving ladder. While seat time in big-banger Morgans and TVRs would have taught valuable lessons in the art of steer-from-the-rear, something akin to the ultimate form of V8-powered motorsport beckoned. “Mr F5000” Frank Lyons reeled Mark and racing buddy Matthew Wurr in with the promise of M10B-06A. 

“It was in a showroom in Munich. It was said to be in race-ready condition but all the suspension components were rotted through. We had to replace the entire suspension, put the original nose back on and repaint it. We found the guy who had molds, got it made and restored the car to original specification.

“First time out Matthew was having kittens because he said he’d never raced a single-seater before. Jump in at the deep end! We cooked the engine in qualifying at Brands, but on the Sunday we won the Peter Gethin Trophy, in the ex-Peter Gethin Car and the trophy was handed over by the man himself. A good start to a good relationship with the car.” 

Eighteen years on they’re here boosting the litre-count on the F5000 demo bill to something in the region of 150 and the cylinder count to 240. We won’t speculate on the horsepower…

Mark was humble about his talents behind the wheel but makes no bones about the challenge these cars present.  The incongruous mixture of a dainty F1-esque body and chassis with a big burly, heavy, fire-spitting V8 is its own unique challenge in the pantheon of single-seaters. Most of the time, he hands hot-seat duty to Matthew, finding himself most useful on the end of a wrench:

“Matthew drives it for me mostly. We have a good functional relationship of 'he’s better in it, I’m better under it'. When you’re driving one of these things you have to be focused and he’s up to it. 

“Racing big bruising V8 beasts was good preparation but you still have to be on it – the back end is always trying to get away from you. It’s not progressive at all – you have to absolutely commit in every corner. It’s snappy. It’s a bit of a beast to drive. When you put the brakes in it’s like the thing’s going to summersault over you... but it’s rewarding to drive.

“If you’re used to something like a 450bhp+ TVR ­– something with more power than grip really. That’s our trouble when we raced it in the HSCC, I think the F2 cars don’t quite understand in a corner that with this thing when you’re committed, that’s it. The F2 cars are so nimble, they can tighten or widen the line without worry.”

While this chassis is a proven championship-winning tub, no amount of achievement can shield a car from the harsh eventualities of motorsport. Machinery steeper of provenance and popularity has been claimed all the same. In 1971 following Gethin’s departure from the seat of his championship-winner and subsequently, F5000 itself, the car would take a dip in the lake at Mallory Park. That’s where the story of M10B 400-6 ends. M10B 400-6A and B would rise from the (watery) ashes, with the former – this car – utilising the major components including the championship-winner’s tub. For all intents and purposes, now more than ever in this immaculately-restored form, this is the Gethin championship car.

Alas, you can take the tub out of the winner but you can’t take the winner out the tub. Mark and Matthew’s fairytale victory in the aforementioned Peter Gethin Trophy at Brands is a testament to that, as is the successful sprint career this car forged in the years following the rebuild – second in 1974, first in 1975 and 1976.

So the car’s competitive acumen isn’t exclusive to the discipline for which it was conceived, then, as proven in the Sprint championships and as it happens, at Goodwood. It’s been to FOS twice in its years in Mark’s stewardship – firstly for a static display on the Chevrolet stand in 2005 celebrating 50 years of their small-block. Its second visit saw it take on the Hill, with exceptional results:

“We were lucky enough to be given a run on the Hill in 2008 – only in this past couple of years have we been knocked out of the top 10 times. The time was 52 something or other. I said to Matthew afterwards on the Saturday, “What did you think of the flint wall?” He said “flint wall, what flint wall?!” 

What were the boys’ expectations for a run at the Circuit for 76MM? How literally did they plan to take the high-speed side of the demos?

“At 76MM we’ve got it geared for 155 – we’d like to get it up to that. It seems we might need some snow tyres. We don’t have it out much anymore – it’s just time – Matthew and I are very busy these days. We’re planning Brands Hatch Speed Fest but other than that not much.”

So the story of this car is a rutted ride of successes, hardship and obscurity for a while there before coming full circle into the ownership of the man that first saw it turn a wheel in (successful) anger. It’s a fabulous Formula 5000 fairy-tale. When we asked Mark if the old proverb re’ persons and pedestals he didn’t waste any time: “No. Definitely, definitely meet your heroes.”

Photography by Tom Shaxson and James Lynch