When I visited Dad and Judy in April, his 1971 McLaren M8E/D was in pieces but we were still able to determine that, with some minor modifications, I would fit in the car. A new engine arrived in the middle of May and the bodywork came back from the painter at the end of the month. After visiting Grandma on Memorial Day weekend, Whitney and I arrived Tuesday. The optimistic plan was to get the car ready for testing on Thursday while Tanya (Dad and Judy’s personal trainer) covered the opposite extreme with her comment, “It doesn’t look like you’re going to be racing this weekend.” Determined to prove her wrong, Dad and I worked on the car for two and a half days. He installed the engine and transaxle while I worked on the shifter, seat, and headrest. Once those tasks were done, we worked together on the new oil system and refitting the bodywork. We loaded the car into the trailer Friday afternoon and the four of us got to the hotel in time for dinner.

Dad and I showed up at the track early Saturday morning, unloaded the car, and Dad set up the pit while I went to the drivers meeting. We got through tech inspection in time for practice but that was the only experience I had driving the car and engine had only been run for minutes. I went out anyway using part throttle, shifting at 4000 rpm, and braking in only three places on the track (turns 4, 7, and 11.) I couldn’t see cars in the convex mirrors before they passed me and the front of the seat cushion foam collapsed. After surviving practice, Richard Davis showed me where to buy top of the line seat cushion foam at the track and borrowed some flat mirrors from Tony Nicholson of Robin Automotive. I started the qualifying race 12th out of 14, moved up to 8th on the first lap, 7th on the second lap, 6th on the third lap, and 5th before the end of the session. Now this was more like it! I was still using part throttle but raised my shift point to 5000 rpm. The car seemed to vibrate heading up the hill to turn 7 and the throttle occasionally didn’t fully release.

Dad and I picked up an assortment of throttle return springs on way to track Sunday and got one installed in time for warm-up. I accomplished my goals of using full throttle, shifting at 6000 rpm, and working on my braking points but the car was vibrating even worse than the day before. When I came in one of the right side velocity stacks was full of fuel (I had been running on seven cylinders.) Upon closer inspection, one of the two rocker arm bolts on the #4 intake valve was missing but everything else was still there and appeared undamaged. We never did find the missing rocker arm bolt but it seemed unlikely that it could have gotten through the oil return passages so Dad put everything back together with a new bolt from Tony.

I followed Dad’s advice and didn’t floor the car at the start of the race to avoid wheel spin. Half a lap later, I found out the car goes much faster up the hill to turn 7 with all eight cylinders. My braking point from warm-up was too late. I locked up right front, lifted, braked again, and got through turn 7 but had a tire vibration going through the esses. Fortunately the right front didn’t lock up going into turn 11 and the tire vibration got better a couple laps later. That was the closest I have come to flat spotting a tire. Carl Moore (1967 McLaren M6A Sunoco Special) was still within sight so I began chasing him down. I was faster in turns 1 through 6 but he could pull away in the esses. I filled his mirrors under braking for turn 7 a couple laps in a row but was content following him until I saw Robert Ryan (1968 McLaren M6B) in my mirrors. I definitely didn’t want to run in traffic with a brand new paint job so it was time to get serious. I kept up with Carl going through the esses, tucked up close behind him through turn 11, squared off turn 12, and flew by him on the front straight. The 8.3 liter all aluminum Chevrolet big block based (Reynolds) engine definitely has enough power! It was half way through the race, I had moved up to fourth, and by the end of the lap I could no longer see Carl in my mirrors. I lapped a couple of backmarkers in the second half but never saw the leaders and was content driving on my own.

Not only had Dad and I gotten the car ready just in time, I had gotten comfortable in the car just in time to have some fun driving such a significant part of European racing history.

—Jules

This weekend Jules will race his father's McLaren in the Pre-Historic races at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. This is a practice race for next week's main event.

"In 1984, Cascade took Doernbecher Children’s Hospital as their charity. Over the years, there have been different activities to raise money. We give rides at noon in both racecars and exotic cars, such as the Dodge Vipers. This has become a popular fund-raiser.

In 1998, a silent auction was started after one of our race workers, Danny Frasier, passed away at Doernbecher. Every year, the auction has grown by leaps and bounds with Danny’s spirit always felt.

The Doernbecher Dash is a regular amateur racing event for the Cascade Sports Car Club. You can see over 200 cars of all varieties. Whether they are a sedan or an open wheel formula car, it's all great racing. There is practice and qualifying on Saturday and qualifying and racing on Sunday. The public is invited to come out and see amateur racing at it's best." — From the CSCC Web Site

Thank you to our friends throughout the world who have helped us research the history of the "Led Zeppelin" McLaren.

Mary Maddalena Davis
NGK Spark Plugs (U.S.A), Inc.
6 Whatney
Irvine, CA 92618
949-855-8278
NGKSparkplugs.com

Mazdaspeed Motorsports Development
1421 Reynolds Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614
800-435-2508
MazdaMotorsports.com

Rob Golden
Pineapple Racing
12838B NE Airport Way
Portland, OR 97230
503-233-3878
PineappleRacing.com

Kyle Burt
Kyle Burt Photography
P.O. Box 3231
Walnut Creek, CA 94598
925-352-4691
KyleBurtPhoto.com

John Houk
Auto Tech Domestic and Foreign Automotive Service
727 NW 4th Street
Corvallis, OR 97330
541-757-1577
E-mail

Luke Beggs
Beggs Tire and Wheel
1535 NW 9th Street
Corvallis, OR 97330
541-754-8473
E-mail