McLaren M4A

The McLaren M4A was an open-wheel racing car designed by Robin Herd^[1] and built by British Formula One team McLaren to compete in the European Formula Two Championship.

The M4A made its début in the 1967 European F2 Championship, and was powered by Ford Cosworth FVA engines.^[2] Two works cars were initially produced for use in the championship.^[2] Although the car was reasonably competitive in the series, it was not able to challenge the more capable Brabham BT23 or Lotus 48.^[3] Graeme Lawrence recalled that he and Frank Gardner, who both drove the car in the 1968 season, struggled to handle the M4A and that McLaren's focus was firmly on Formula One at the time,^[4] which explained why little development was done to the car from the 1967 version and teams were not offered much technical support.^[5] Customer M4As were run in the 1968 and 1969 Tasman Series. The M4A went on to be used in several other series, including various Formula Three series,^[3] Formula Libre,^[6] and the Australian Drivers' Championship.

Both the M4B^[7] and M5A^[6] Formula One cars were based on the M4A chassis.

Since its retirement from active development, the M4A has been used in a variety of historic motorsports.^[2] Historical racer Richard Griot recalled from his first drive of an M4A that "Nothing could touch it in a straight line."^[8]

References

^ "McLaren Formula 2". Bruce McLaren Trust. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lawrence, Paul (August 2017). Trott, Nick (ed.). "McLaren F2 back on track". Motor Sport. Vol. 93, no. 8. London: Motor Sport Magazine Limited. p. 23. ISSN 0027-2019. Archived from the original on 2 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b Brown, Allen (15 October 2019). "McLaren M4A car-by-car histories". OldRacingCars.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
^ "Graeme Lawrence - Reflections on an Open Wheel Career". Australian Racing Group. 21 August 2020. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
^ Marriot, Andrew (1 December 1968). Boddy, Bill (ed.). "Formula 2". Motor Sport. Vol. 44, no. 12. London: Teesdale Publishing Company Limited. p. 1145. ISSN 0027-2019. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Memorable McLaren Moments: Singapore". McLaren Racing. McLaren Racing Ltd. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
^ Vaughan, Daniel (15 July 2011). "1967 McLaren M4B". conceptcarz.com. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
^ Meaden, Dickie (October 2017). Trott, Nick (ed.). "Chasing the dream". Motor Sport. Vol. 93, no. 10. London: Motor Sport Magazine Limited. p. 71. ISSN 0027-2019. Archived from the original on 15 August 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2021.

External links

McLaren M4A at Wikipedia's sister projects

Media from Commons
Data from Wikidata

McLaren Racing website

McLaren Racing

Personnel
Founder	Bruce McLaren
Ambassador	Mika Häkkinen
Current	Zak Brown (Chief Executive Officer) Andrea Stella (Team Principal) Rob Marshall Neil Oatley Peter Prodromou Tom Stallard
Former	Ben Agathangelou Giorgio Ascanelli John Barnard Bob Bell Matt Bishop Éric Boullier Marcin Budkowski Adrian Burgess Alastair Caldwell Jost Capito Bernadette Collins Gordon Coppuck Mike Coughlan Peter Crolla Gil de Ferran Luca Furbatto Ron Dennis Henri Durand Mike Elliott Pat Fry Tim Goss Mark Gillan [ja] Steve Hallam Norbert Haug Robin Herd Jürgen Hubbert John Iley James Key Simon Lacey Werner Laurenz Paddy Lowe Neil Martin Teddy Mayer Sam Michael Paul Monaghan Matt Morris Gordon Murray Jonathan Neale Adrian Newey Steve Nichols Mansour Ojjeh Ciaron Pilbeam Mark Preston Phil Prew [ja] Jo Ramírez Simon Roberts Dave Ryan Wolfgang Schattling Andreas Seidl Mark Slade Rob Taylor Nikolas Tombazis Hans-Ulrich Maik Joan Villadelprat Mark Williams Martin Whitmarsh Ian Wright

Drivers
Current drivers	4. Lando Norris 81. Oscar Piastri
Reserve drivers	Pato O'Ward Ryō Hirakawa
Test and development drivers	Oliver Turvey Will Stevens
Driver Development Programme	Pato O'Ward Ryō Hirakawa Gabriel Bortoleto Bianca Bustamante Ugo Ugochukwu
F1 World Champions	Emerson Fittipaldi Lewis Hamilton James Hunt Mika Häkkinen Niki Lauda Alain Prost Ayrton Senna
Race winners	Bruce McLaren Denny Hulme Peter Revson Emerson Fittipaldi Jochen Mass James Hunt John Watson Niki Lauda Alain Prost Ayrton Senna Gerhard Berger David Coulthard Mika Häkkinen Kimi Räikkönen Juan Pablo Montoya Fernando Alonso Lewis Hamilton Heikki Kovalainen Jenson Button Daniel Ricciardo
Former drivers	See category

Formula One titles
Drivers' titles	1974 1976 1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1990 1991 1998 1999 2008
Constructors' titles	1974 1984 1985 1988 1989 1990 1991 1998

Cars
Formula One	M2B M4B M5A M7A M7B M7C M7D M9A M14A M14D M19A M19C M23 M26 M28 M29 M29B M29C M29F M30 MP4 (MP4/1) MP4B (MP4/1B) MP4/1C MP4/1E MP4/2 MP4/2B MP4/2C MP4/3 MP4/4 MP4/5 MP4/5B MP4/6 MP4/6B MP4/7A MP4/8 MP4/9 MP4/10 MP4/10B MP4/10C MP4/11 MP4/11B MP4/12 MP4/13 MP4/14 MP4/15 MP4-16 MP4-17 MP4-17D MP4-19 MP4-19B MP4-20 MP4-21 MP4-22 MP4-23 MP4-24 MP4-25 MP4-26 MP4-27 MP4-28 MP4-29 MP4-30 MP4-31 MCL32 MCL33 MCL34 MCL35 MCL35M MCL36 MCL60 MCL38
Formula Two	M4A M21
Sports cars	Zerex Special M1A M1B M1C M6A M6B M6GT M8A M8B M8C M8D M8E M8F M8FP M12 M20 F1 GTR 12C GT3 650S GT3 P1 GTR
USAC/IndyCar	M15 M16A M16B M16C M16C/D M16E M24
F5000/Libre	M3 M10A M10B M18 M22 M25
Development cars	M2A MP4-18 MP4-29H/1X1