Last of all conquering McLaren Can-Am cars.

McLaren won the Can-Am championship for the last time in 1971 and 1972 was the last year they entered a factory team. The M20 is the factory team car Denny Hulme drove in the 1972 Can-Am championship. Porsche’s technological advances had been so great that McLaren could no longer compete with them or their budget. McLaren had never been the most innovative team, but their cars had always been reliable. When they retired at the end of 1972 McLaren held a record breaking 43 victories including a staggering 19 consecutive race wins between 1968 and 1970.

The M20 was a new beginning after the M8 series had reached its natural conclusion. It was designed by Gordon Coppuck whose idea was to create another Can-Am winner, but in a different form, with the weight concentrated within the wheelbase. Coppuck also wanted to insulate the driver from the radiator to make their job easier. The most radical thing Coppuck did was for the first time use an under seat fuel tank which ran the entire length of the cockpit directly behind the driver’s back, which in conjunction with the two side mounted cells held a total of 79 gallons of fuel. This method of storing the fuel in the outer section of the monocoque ensured a low center of gravity and gave the car its distinctive “Coke bottle” shape. Another change was side mounting the radiators, at the driver’s hip and behind the cockpit, instead of having it situated in the nose. This allowed a wing to be mounted on the nose. This full length, fully adjustable wing was mounted between the front fenders and when combined with the strut mounted rear wing, improved down thrust, traction and cornering. The M20 was built with the intention of running it with a turbocharged engine, but the engine could not be organized in time so McLaren started the season with a Chevrolet engine. The 8.1 litre engine was a stressed unit part of the chassis. It was constructed from 16 and 20 gauge L72 aluminum alloy with Argon welded steel bulkheads. The suspension pick up points are taken from the steel bulkheads to give maximum strength. Only three M20s were built.

The M20 in the Mathews Collection was originally the Team McLaren works prototype M20, but after Hulme wrote off his M20/2 at Road Atlanta the M20/3 was called into service as his team car. The Mathews’ car made its debut at Watkins Glen, New York on July 23 where Hulme drove it home to his last ever Can-Am win. The M20/3 was Hulme’s car for the rest of the season when he finished second in the drivers championship.