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Monaco 1966: where it all began

The start of something special

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Designed in conjunction with Robin Herd, the M2B was McLaren’s first Formula 1 car and made its race debut on 22 May 1966, at the Monaco GP.

Bruce’s outing was low-key. Powered by a Ford ‘Indy’ V8, he could only manage tenth on the starting grid. And after just 10 laps the race was over as an oil pipe union came undone squirting lubricant into the cockpit. The Ford unit was soon replaced by a Serenissima V8 and McLaren later scored his first points with sixth place at the 1966 British GP.

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