The McLaren M4B was a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

racing car constructed by

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for

Bruce McLaren Motor Racing McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...

and raced five times by

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Bruce McLaren Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor. His name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, ...

at the start of 1967. The M4B was based on the M4A

Formula 2 Formula Two (F2 or Formula 2) is a type of open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009–2012 in the form of the FIA Formula Two Championship. The name return ...

car as a stopgap between the M2B and the M5A. Additional fuel tanks were added either side of the cockpit to allow the car to run a full Grand Prix distance, and the rear end of the car was cut away to accommodate a 2.0 litre

BRM British Racing Motors (BRM) was a British Formula One motor racing team. Founded in 1945 and based in the market town of Bourne in Lincolnshire, it participated from 1951 to 1977, competing in 197 grands prix and winning seventeen. BRM wo ...

type 56-2 V8, an enlarged and updated version of the engine with which Graham Hill had won the World Championship in 1962. The car made its debut in the

1967 Race of Champions The 2nd Race of Champions was a non-Championship motor race, run to Formula One rules, held on 12 March 1967 at Brands Hatch circuit in Kent, England. The race was run over two heats of 10 laps of the circuit, then a final of 40 laps, and was won o ...

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...

, showing promise with fourth and sixth places in the heats before a missed gear by McLaren in the final race put him out with engine failure. In the Spring Trophy at

Oulton Park Oulton Park is a hard surfaced track used for motor racing, close to the village of Little Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is about from Winsford, from Chester city centre, from Northwich and from Warrington, with a nearby rail connection a ...

McLaren managed fifth place in both heats and the race, and came fifth again in the

International Trophy The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit, England. For many years it formed the premier non-championship Formula One event in Britain, ...

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

1967 Grand Prix season

The M4B's Grand Prix debut came at

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, where its short wheelbase made it surprisingly competitive. McLaren ran as high as third before a pit stop to replace a flat battery dropped him back to fourth at the finish - the first points scored by a McLaren chassis that season. At the next event, the

Dutch Grand Prix The Dutch Grand Prix ( nl, Grote Prijs van Nederland) is a Formula One motor racing event held at Circuit Zandvoort, North Holland, the Netherlands, from 1950 to 1985 and from 2021 onwards. It was a part of the World Championship from 1952, ...

, Bruce McLaren finished 14th in qualifying. On the second lap of the race, McLaren crashed out, running the only M4B. The car was later repaired, but caught fire during a test at Goodwood and was written off.

Formula One World Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Non-Championship results

(

) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

Citations

Sources

*http://www.oldracingcars.com/mclaren/m4b/ *http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/brmp56.htm *http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr152.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213214/http://www.bruce-mclaren.com/the-cars/f2/m4b {{F1 cars 1967 McLaren M04B 1967 Formula One season cars