The M8 series was developed for the Can-Am series, which did not impose the same regulatory constraints as FIA-ruled racing series like Formula One or the World Sportscar Championship. The M8A was an evolution of the previous McLaren M6A.
The M8A featured an all-aluminium seven-litre Chevrolet big-block V8 as a semi-stressed chassis member. The engines were built by Gary Knutson and initially developed 590 bhp. Two complete M8A race cars and one spare tub were built.
The M8B was developed for the 1969 Can-Am season. The most noticeable difference was that the rear wing was mounted high on pylons, similar to the Chaparral 2E. These wing mounting pylons passed through the bodywork to attach directly to the suspension uprights. This arrangement allowed McLaren to run softer springs than would have been required had the rear wing been attached to the bodywork. The body was widened to fit one-inch wider wheels, now 15 x 11 front and 15 x 16 rear. The 1969 engine was a shorter stroke, larger bore version of the 1968 engine, built by George Bolthoff. It developed 630 bhp from 7,046 cc (430.0 cu in). Two complete M8B race cars and one spare tub were built using parts from the three M8As.
The M8D was developed for the 1970 Can-Am season. The Chevrolet V8 engine was again built by Bolthoff, who enlarged it to 7,620 cc (465 cu in). It developed 670 bhp at 6800 rpm with 600 lb⋅ft (810 N⋅m) of torque.
The M8F was developed for the 1971 Can-Am season and featured an 8.1-liter (488 CID) (and later upscaled 8.3-liter (509 CID)) big-block Chevrolet V8 engine. The engines produced over 700 hp and 655 lb⋅ft of torque.
The M8C was developed as a customer version of the M8A. Fifteen M8Cs were built by Trojan. They featured a more conventional chassis that did not use the engine as a stressed member, allowing customers more freedom in choosing an engine. The M8C was available with a variety of different engines, including Chevrolet big-blocks and small-blocks, the Ford big-block and small-block, and a Ford-Cosworth DFV F1 engine.
The M8E was a customer car based on the M8B and built by Trojan. The high pylon suspension mounted rear wings of the M8B were replaced with a lower fixed wing to comply with the ban on high-mounted wings.
The M8FP was the Trojan-built customer version of the M8F.
The 1968 Can-Am season started with a strong performance by McLaren and Hulme in the new M8A at the Road America Can-Am race. Hulme won the race with McLaren second. The M8A experienced retirements at the next race at Bridgehampton Race Circuit, where both cars retired due to engine failure. Following this, the team reduced the compression ratio of their engines to 12:1, from 13:1, trading horsepower for increased reliability. McLaren then achieved another 1-2 finish in Edmonton, but could only manage second and fifth in rainy conditions in California at Laguna Seca. Bruce McLaren won in the heat at Riverside and Denny Hulme won in Las Vegas. Hulme won the 1968 championship with 35 points, and McLaren finished second with 24 points.
Bruce McLaren, as driver and team owner, won the 1969 Can-Am season championship.
The 1970 Can Am Championship season began on June 14, at the Mosport track. The McLaren M8D won nine out of the series' ten races. Dan Gurney won the first two races. Peter Gethin replaced Gurney at the fourth race, and won the Road America race. Denny Hulme won six races, and was series champion.
Peter Revson won the 1971 Can-Am season championship in a Team McLaren M8F, winning 5 races. Denny Hulme won 3 races in the M8F.
In the 1972 Can-Am season, the works McLaren team switched to the new M20. M8s continued to be raced by private entrants, and François Cevert won race 6 at Donnybrooke in an M8F entered by "Young American Racing". This was the last win in Can-Am for the McLaren M8. The latter half of the 1972 season was dominated by the turbocharged Porsche 917/10.
In Europe, M8s were raced in the Interserie. One chassis was entered in 1972 at Imola, with an AMG-tuned turbocharged Mercedes-Benz M100 engine.
Following the 1969 ban on high, strut-mounted rear wings in FIA-ruled racing (Formula One, World Sportscar Championship, etc.), the same ban was extended to Can-Am. As a result, the M8B wing was replaced by one mounted low on fins for the M8D, earning the car the nickname "Batmobile". The M8E, a customer car based on the M8B, also replaced the high pylon suspension mounted rear wings with a lower fixed wing to comply with the ban.
The McLaren C8 (sometimes referred to as the Chevrolet McLaren C) was a Group C racing car built on an M8F Trojan chassis. The C8 used a 496 cu in (8,128 cc) Chevrolet V8 engine. The car produced 825 PS (607 kW; 814 bhp) and 1,100 N⋅m (811 lb⋅ft) for qualifying, and 710 PS (522 kW; 700 bhp) and 935 N⋅m (690 lb⋅ft) for racing. Its low weight of 1,200 lb (544 kg) made the car fast, but fragile, and it often retired from races. Peter Hoffmann owned the sole C8, and ran it until 1999. A second body had been used by Lotterschmidt propelled by a BMW M1/C engine on an M8E chassis, but it was destroyed.
In 1982, Peter Hoffmann built this Group C car in line with the new Group C regulations. He ran it for the first time in the eighth round of the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM), held at Hockenheimring; however, he retired. He then switched to the Interserie, and entered the sixth round of that series, held at Siegerlandring; he took second, finishing 39.1 seconds behind Volkert Merl's Porsche 908/3 Turbo. He then returned to the DRM for the tenth round, held at the Nürburgring, but retired once more. In 1983, Hoffmann used the C8 from the start of the DRM season, and took eighth in the opening round, held at Zolder. However, he then retired from the next two rounds, held at Hockenheim and Mainz-Finthen, and was unable to start the Norisring round. An attempt to enter the second round of the Interserie, held at Most, was also unsuccessful, as he did not compete in the event.
Hoffmann retained the C8 for 1984, but this year was less successful than 1983. He retired from the first and third rounds of the Interserie, held at AVUS and the Nürburgring, and he missed several races altogether, before retiring in the Siegerland and the Nürburgring rounds.
Having not used the C8 in 1985, Hoffmann entered it in the first round of the ADAC Sport Auto Supercup in 1986, held at the Nürburgring; but was the last of the finishers, in eleventh. He then retired at Hockenheim. Hoffmann then switched back to the Holbert CAC-2 that he had used earlier in the season.
Despite not having raced the McLaren C8 for six years, Hoffmann opted to run it in two rounds of the International Supersports Cup (ISC) in 1992, where he finished second at the Nürburgring, before struggling in the Silverstone round, being classified 36th. He entered three rounds of the series with the car in 1993, two rounds at the Nürburgring, and one at Paul Ricard; but he retired from all three. The C8 remained unused in 1994, and Hoffmann's attempt to run it at the Nürburgring round of the ISC in 1995 also ended in a retirement.
Hoffmann entered five races of the ISC in 1996; he retired from the Monza, Spa and second Nürburgring rounds, failed to start the Donington Park round, but he took the car's first ever victory in the first Nürburgring round. Four failures to start followed in 1997, before Hoffmann took second at the Brno round. He attempted to enter three races in 1998, and one in 1999, but didn't start any of the races, and the McLaren C8 never competed in a race again.
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