One of the many beauties of Simraceway is the ability to drive cars that you may only ever get to sample in reality through one of those supercar driving experiences. But then there are some cars that are so rare–so elusive–that even dreaming about them would be a waste of time and energy.
Take the Mclaren M6GT for example. This car is so rare that experts cannot even say for certain how many genuine examples exist. There are three, or possibly four, original M6GT chassis left, depending on whom you ask.
Having demolished the competition in the North American Can-Am Series and Group 7 racing in Europe with the Mclaren M6 open-top prototype, Bruce Mclaren decided that there were more worlds to conquer. He set his sights on the highly-competitive Group 4 series. A championship full of iconic racing marques such as Lola, Porsche, Ferrari, and Alfa Romeo.
Sadly, a rule change meant that 50 cars would have to be produced in order for the M6GT to be homologated. This was simply impossible in the time frame required and the racing project was shelved. The Mclaren factory only ever produced one 5.7-liter M6GT. Two more were built by Trojan Cars, which had the contract to produce all of Mclaren’s customer chassis. The first chassis became Bruce Mclaren’s personal test bed. His dream was to develop the car into a road-going supercar much like the current MP4 12C, which will also be available to download in Simraceway.
So what is the car like to drive? We recently caught up with former Autosport National Driver of the Year and multiple British hillclimb champion, Martin Bolsover, to get a racer’s perspective.
Martin was extremely quick to point out that his car is not original. It had been raced very successfully in historic events around Europe as an M6 Can-Am car. “When I was finished racing it as a Can-Am car I wanted to keep it, so I converted it into an M6GT,” he explained. “I got a lot of help from Peter Agg, who was the chap in charge of Trojan at the time they were building the customer cars [for Mclaren].”
Agg’s experience was invaluable and has resulted in a car that is, according to Bolsover, “smack on, so much so that you would not be able to tell the difference.” The 6.4-liter small block Chevy power plant was replaced with a 5.9-liter version but this didn’t alter the fact that, in Bolsover’s own words, the M6GT is a ‘hairy monster with 650 bhp, no electronics and heavy handling.”
The brutal nature of the car, and its lack of technology, mean that getting the best out of it is very straightforward. “You have to steer it on the throttle. There is a photo of me coming out of Club [Corner] at Silverstone and it just laid black rubber for about 100 yards! Turn in, floor it and balance it on the throttle as you come out of the corner. It’s just an old way of driving cars. There’s nothing clever to it.”
The former European Supersport Champion also believes the set up is crucial. “You need to set the car up with understeer [push/tight] because you have as much oversteer [loose] as you like with your right foot. The natural balance of the car should be tight so the front washes out and you can control that with your back wheels…theoretically!”
Something worth noting is that, compared to the other cars currently available, the Mclaren is very short on brakes. “In a modern car you drive up to the 50-yard marker and hit the brakes. In the M6GT you would be hitting the brakes at 300 yards, again because we are dealing with sixties technology.”
So there you have it, everything you will need to get to the top of the leaderboards on Simraceway‘s circuits. Brake early, get back on the throttle early, make sure it’s set up to understeer and, oh yes, just one more thing Martin Bolsover wants you to remember: “If you are driving it hard, the back tyres will go off. And, of course, your brakes will fade.”
With that, we wish you the best of luck in taming the “hairy beast” that is the Mclaren M6GT!
Thank you to www.brayspeed.co.uk for the video footage and to www.simonwrightphotos.com for the fantastic shot of the M6GT in full flight. Simon Wright is the editor of www.classicandcompetitioncar.com.
