Mc Laren M2B - Legacy

Legacy

Despite the M2B's lack of success Herd said of the team, "Everyone was ten times more determined to do better the following year." On the design of the car he reflected that, "our emphasis tended to be more on the elegance of the chassis structure rather than on the design of a really quick racing car" and that, "we ... tended to go towards technical ingenuity and bullshit rather than racewinning engineering". Team member and later manager of the organisation Teddy Mayer said, "Our main problems were with the choice of the Ford engine." Bruce McLaren's personal secretary and author Eoin Young concurs. The winners of the 1966 drivers' and constructors' championships, Jack Brabham and his eponymous team, used a Repco-modified and badged Oldsmobile engine. It produced approximately 290 bhp – less than the Ford – but its light weight and reliability rendered it effective. Despite having used the Oldsmobile in sports racing cars, the McLaren team discounted it. Afterwards, Mayer said, "We considered it, but the kind of modifications which Repco did were well beyond our resources, and I doubt very much if we could have done any more with it than we did with the Indy Ford."

McLaren's later cars abandoned Mallite in favour of conventional aluminium construction; the Ford and Serenissima engine also saw no further action. For 1967 BRM engines powered the M4B and M5A but it was not until the Cosworth DFV became available in 1968 that McLaren scored their first Formula One wins with the M7A. Herd stayed on designing all of these cars until he left for Cosworth in 1967. McLaren have since become one of the most successful teams in Formula One.

The M2A was sold on to be used by various private racers in the United Kingdom before being destroyed by fire in 1969. Sources suggest that three M2B chassis were similarly sold on; one is awaiting restoration in the United States and another is currently on display at the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition.