Photos: The Walt Etten Collection - Part 1

[Steve Holmes]

Graphic shot here of the undulation of the Mosport race track, as the suspension on Bob Bondurant's McLaren M8E/D gets fully compressed. Bondurant teamed up with Lothar Motschenbacher in the early Can-Am races in 1971 as part of a two-car team, with Lothar running his traditional #11.

[Steve Holmes]

Very cool paint scheme this one. Bright orange on one side, metallic purple on the other, with helmet to match. This is Bill Wonder's McLaren M8C, a beautifully prepared car. Bill finished 16th at Mosport.

[Steve Holmes]

Another sad story the Can-Am was littered with, of 'what could have been'. Robin Herd designed the March 707 for new March signing Chris Amon to drive in the Can-Am in 1970. Its most notable features were the front wings which appeared similar in concept to the teams contemporary 701 F1 car, plus its width. It was wide! It arrived very late in the season, only taking in the final three rounds, but at the time it was announced 1970 was just a warm-up session for a full-on assault in 1971. And straight away the car showed it had potential, with Amon qualifying 3rd on debut at Donnebrook, though running out of fuel just before the end although it had completed enough laps to still be classified 5th.

Its next outing was at Laguna Seca, where Amon qualified 5th and finished 4th, while in the final at Riverside, he again qualified 5th and finished 4th.

Unfortunately, there was no assault on the 1971 Can-Am. March didn't return, although they did produce a small number of similar cars for the European Interseries. The Amon 707 did return to the Can-Am in '71 however, but in privateer hands, driven by Gordon Dewar. Dewar entered several rounds, usually qualifying around mid-pack, though struggled with a variety of reliability issues.

[Steve Holmes]

Here is Jackie Stewart in the Lola T260, run by Carl Haas. This is the Lola in its original guise, with no front wing and the rear wing mounted right behind the motor.

[Steve Holmes]

Great shot here of Milt Minter buzzing along at speed in the Vasek Polak Porsche 917.

[Steve Holmes]

OK, this is John Cordts in the McLaren M8C. The M8C was created as a customer car, and you can differentiate it from the M8D and E by its more rounded lower tub, even if fitted with similar bodywork to D and E chassis'. The M8C was really the last customer chassis based on the earlier M6 tub, while later D, E, F etc chassis' were based on the much improved M8A.

Regardless, Cordts was very quick in this car, qualifying 4th at Mosport, behind Jackie Stewart in the Lola T260, and the two factory McLaren M8F's of Denny Hulme and Peter Revson. Cordts went on to finish 5th in the race.

Incidentally, one of our Roaring Season members, Tony Garmey (of Horizon Racing & Performance), race prepares and often drives this car in US Vintage racing events for its current owner Art Redford. More pics and info of this car can be found at Tony's website Here

[bry3500]

Thats a great pic Steve...the colours! Thanks for the link, I'm enjoying this thread a lot.

[Steve Holmes]

Neat little high speed freight train here, being led by Frank Kahlich in his McLaren M6B. Frank's McLaren was a bit of a rare beast in the Can-Am, in that it was Ford powered, and not Chevy powered. Behind Frank is Roger McCaig in his McLaren M8E, while in behind McCaig is Jim Adams in the Ferrari 612P formerly driven by Chris Amon in the 1969 Can-Am. Then, bringing up the rear is Denny Hulme in the factory McLaren M8F.

Despite appearances, I would suggest Kahlich is about to be lapped by McCaig and Adams, with Hulme about to put a lap on all of them. Hulme started this race 2nd, next to Jackie Stewart's Lola T260, but went on to win, while Adams was 8th, McCaig 10th, and Kahlich blew his Ford motor on the 62nd lap.

Look at the crowd in this photo, and the neat amphi-theatre style view this corner provides. Really cool photo.

[Steve Holmes]

Great shot here of Jackie Stewart's Lola T260 in the pits.

[Steve Holmes]

Here is Roger McCaig in his McLaren M8E.

[Steve Holmes]

Here is Jim Adams in the Ferrari 612P formerly raced by Chris Amon in the 1969 Can-Am. The Ferrari underwent a major rebuild by Doane Spencer for its return, which included both body and tub changes. Most notable is the very squared lower edges of the tub, which are quite different to how it looked when raced by Amon, where it was more rounded.

[Steve Holmes]

Another shot of the striking Jackie Stewart Lola T260.

[Steve Holmes]

Denny Hulme looking relaxed in the pits.

[Michael Clark]

I know someone who would have loved to have discovered all these Denny photos when he was writing a book on our champion last year...

[Steve Holmes]

Thats how these things always seem to work Michael.

[Steve Holmes]

Jackie Stewart, looking very cool!

[Steve Holmes]

Great shot here of Denny giving it heaps in the factory M8F. Look at how the suspension has bottomed out as he drops through this section of track. Mosport is an incredibly undulating circuit. These cars had to be built tough.

[Steve Holmes]

Superb shot here of Roger McCaig leading Jim Adams. The elevation changes here at Mosport are perfectly demonstrated here. This track must have really given these cars a workout!

[Steve Holmes]

The Ferrari at speed.

[Steve Holmes]

Another great shot of the second Motschenbacher McLaren, driven by Bob Bondurant.