Last of the McLaren Can-Am championship winners.

Peter Revson, driving the factory, M8F won the 1971 Can-Am championship and became the first American to win the title. The M8F was the last all conquering Can-Am McLaren, in total McLaren won eight of the ten races in the 1971 season. An impressive feat, but it would be their last year of absolute dominance.

The McLaren M8F was designed by Gordon Coppuck, who created the strongest, longest, widest, biggest and heaviest McLaren ever. The M8F chassis was a monocoque with steel bulkheads and a heavier gauge Reynolds aluminum inner and outer skins than previously, making it more robust. Fuel was stored in the monocoque at either side of the driver in four foam filled rubber cells with a complete capacity of 72 US gallons. The additional size and weight improved the handling and braking of the car and made it possible for the rear brakes to be moved inboard. Track dimensions were slightly narrower to allow the 17 inch wide rear rims to fit within the same overall body width. Body shape had actually changed very little from the other M8s, and was a natural evolution from the M8D ‘Batmobile’ shape. Aerodynamic fences were fitted all along the tops of the body sides, which rose up into tail fins to act as a mount for the broad rear wing. The nose was also reshaped. The improvements in aerodynamics and the addition of the wing created a massive 1.5 tons of downforce. It is like all McLarens, an uncompromised race car built to win.

In 1972 Trojan built the M8FP, the production car of Team McLaren’s M8F. The M8FP in the Mathews Collection was originally owned and raced by Warren Agor.