It’s no secret that we at BangShift love the McLaren M8 Can-Am cars: They’re absolutely brutal machines with big displacement, big noise, big power, and requiring big commitment from a driver. As good as aerodynamic technology was getting during the M8’s heyday in the early 1970s, they were still rudimentary machines by modern standards. Mid-corner throttle input meant the driver would be sawing at the wheel trying to keep it from being a 200 mph top. The M8F was the last successful McLaren Can-Am car with the rise of the Porsche 917 later on, but they really are incredibly machines.
The rumbling bass note sounds like the trumpets from Revelation heralding the End Times every time its driver, Andy Newall, shoves the right pedal down. That big-block sound is conspicuously absent from non-drag-racing motorsports so the M8F’s thunderous sound really stands out as something special. It’s pretty trite to toss out “They don’t make ‘em like they used to,” but we’ll be damned if there’s not a car where that cliche is more fitting. Enjoy the Goodwood YouTube Channel’s close-up look at the M8F with Newall at this year’s Silverstone Classic vintage race in England.
