I tripped over the shot above on that internet thingy and thought I know who that is! By the same token Carl Williams is far from the first name that would pop into my head if I was asked for a list of McLaren Works Pilots since day one; an obscurity, I love em!
Bruce McLaren and Teddy Mayer laid solid financial foundations for Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd during 1964-65 not least by signing with Firestone in time for Bruce’s Tasman Cup defence in the summer of ’65. Not far away in New Haw, Jack Brabham did a deal with Goodyear; Dunlop battened down the hatches as the Tyre Wars got underway right about then.
McLaren switched to Goodyear for 1967 and made rock stars of themselves by obliterating the Can-Am Cup in papaya coloured McLaren M6A Chevs steered by Bruce and Denny Hulme. The Bruce and Denny Show was underway.
In 1968 Goodyear’s support of the papaya boys extended to F1, Can-Am and USAC racing…
Goodyear tipped Bruce and Denny into Carroll Shelby’s Indy 500 project in which British engineer Ken Wallis evolved the 4WD edgy-turbine-wedge concept that came within seven and a half laps of winning the 1967 500. The General Electric T58 helicopter turbine powered Shelby 68 ended up being under-developed and too little too late, hampered as all the turbines were that year by a change in USAC regs that reduced the permitted inlet area, measured at the first compression stage, from 23.999 to 15.99 sq. inches which nobbled their power.
Then Wallis got a bit cute with the regs and created a variable inlet device that made the car a bit quicker – but not enough – but magnified the throttle lag, and had various team members, not least the drivers and sponsors – Goodyear had underwritten the venture to the tune of $1 million – soiling their undergarments with fear about running a blatantly dodgy car. So the team did a midnight-flit from the speedway – literally – and didn’t attempt to qualify.
But Bruce could see the benefit of McLaren being involved in USAC racing, he cooled his jets in early 1969, and then via the usual McLaren communal design process tasked Gordon Coppuck to come up with a car for 1970.
Coppuck raided the parts bin to bolt onto the chubby, front radiator, aluminium monocoque chassis. The rear suspension was Can-Am M8 derived, and the 2.65-litre Offy turbo-engine’s power hit the road via Hewland’s four-speed LG500 trasaxle.
The first M15 was completed in November and was then shipped to McLaren Engines Inc, in Livonia, Detroit before being taken to Indianapolis and was immediately quick; Denny did 168mph, and Bruce 162. Three cars were built, see Allen Brown’s summary here:https://www.oldracingcars.com/mclaren/m15a/
McLaren’s campaign got complex when Chris Amon decided racing on closed speedways wasn’t his thing and decamped in favour of his March F1 and Can-Am, and Ferrari sports car commitments.
Poor Denny Hulme, while showing plenty of speed was outted from racing for weeks after a USAC mandated fuel filler mechanism failed and discharged methanol over its Kiwi driver and Offy engine, both of which went up in flames. That Denny was wearing leather rather than nomex gloves compounded his problems…
So Carl Williams and Peter Revson were drafted into the team as replacements. Both drivers qualified: Q19 and ninth for Carl and Q15 classified 22nd/blown engine for Revvie. Critically, McLaren had a good, close look at Peter Revson who became a key player in the immediate post Bruce McLaren Era; Bruce died testing an M8D Chev at Goodwood on June 2, 1970.
All things considered, it wasn’t a bad result, and critically it gave Gordon Coppuck a good idea about what it took to win in USAC racing, the M16 Offys that followed were rockets! The shot below shows Johnny Rutherford in a works M16C/5 Offy on the way to victory at Indy in 1974
Etcetera…
Carl Williams (24/8/1930-24/2/1973) in the McLaren Cars 1970 press release material.
An engineer away from racing, he competed in USAC sprint and champcars from 1965-72; 63 starts, 21 top ten placings, his best was a second place at Springfield in 1970, while his ninth with McLaren at Indy in 1970 was his best in six starts. He died in a motorcycle accident in 1973.
Chris had a crack at Indy in 1967, attempting to qualify this BRP 65 Ford (BRP-5-65). Allen Brown wrote that ‘Amon…topped 160mph unofficially in practice but crashed on 10 May and the car was “extensively damaged.” Clearly Indy was unfinished business for Chris, hence the second crack in 1970.
You’d think the chances of finding a shot of the original driver of M15A/3 and his replacement – Amon and Williams – would be slim, but never discount the breadth and depth of David Friedman’s Archive! Here they are in the Indy pitlane in 1967.
That year both drove BRPs owned by George Bryant. Williams had a cracker of a month in BRP-4-65 that sadly ultimately fell short. From Q23 he was running third in the 500, but then crashed on the final lap, and was classifed tenth. So near but so far to the podium!
I wonder if Chris suggested Williams to McLaren after he pulled the pin and returned to the UK?
Ken Wallis aboard his creation at Indianapolis in May 1968. Botany 500 was an American menswear manufacturer that went bust in 1973.
Bruce McLaren shots at Indy aren’t plentiful either. Both Shelby 68s are extant. That’s Dan’s works Eagle Ford behind, second place behind the winning Eagle 68 Offy raced by Bobby Unser.
More about the 1970 Indy 500 and that era here:https://primotipo.com/2016/06/17/johnny-lightning-special-lola-t150-ford/ and Eagle Ford V8s here:https://primotipo.com/2018/06/14/gurney-weslake-ford-v8/
Credits…
Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Allen Brown-oldracing cars.com, Ebay, Hemmings, McLaren Cars, Bernard Cahier, David Friedman/David Friedman Archive, MotorSport
Finito…
