Originally Posted by
gokiwi
Not about the Commodore but another Hoffman/McLaren link
[IMG]
The McLaren C8 was a Group C racing car built in 1982 by Peter Hoffman, using a 1972 M8F chassis and Chevrolet 454 V8 engine. The engine proved to be fragile, leading to the car often retiring from races. It started racing in 1983 with Peter Hoffmann owning the only C8, which he ran until 1999.
In 1982, Peter Hoffmann rebuilt his 1972 McLaren M8F in order to comply with the new Group C regulations with a 454 Chevrolet V8. He first ran it in the 8th round of the Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM) at Hockenheim but he retired. He was also unsuccessful at the next round, also held at Hockenheim, with him retiring after 26 laps.
He then switched to Interserie, and entered at Round 6, held at Siegerland. He finished 2nd, 40 seconds behind Volkert Merl's Porsche 908/3 Turbo. He went back to the DRM at Nurburgring but retired again. He ended up 16th in the Interserie driver's standings with 15 points.
He used the C8 again in 1984 but was even more unsuccessful. He retired from rounds 2 & 3 of Interserie and missed several races altogether, before retiring from the series. He didn't use the car at all in 1985 but entered the first round of the ADAC Sport Auto Supercup in 1986, held at the Nurburgring, but was last out of all the finishers, finishing 11th. He then retired at Hockenheim and switched to the Holbert CAC-2 he used earlier that season.
Despite not using the C8 for 6 years, he decided to run it in 2 rounds of the Intercontinental Supersports Cup (ISC) in 1992, where he finished 2nd at the Nurburgring, before struggling at Silverstone, finishing 36th. He then entered 3 rounds in 1993 but retired from all 3. The C8 was unused in 1994 and his attempt to run it at ISC Nurburgring in 1995 also ended in retirement.
Hoffman then entered 5 ISC races in 1996, retired from 2, was unable to even start 1 but managed to finish 2nd in 1 Nurburgring round and managed to get the cars first victory at another round at the Nurburgring. He failed to start 4 races in 1997 before taking 2nd at Brno. He attempted to start 3 races in 1998 and 1 in 1999 but was unable to start any of them and the McLaren C8 never raced again.
Specifications:
Body Style: Closed Cockpit Prototype Racing Car
Length: N/A
Width: N/A
Height: N/A
Wheelbase: N/A
Engine: Chevrolet "454" 7.4 V8
Aspiration: Naturally Aspirated
Drivetrain: Mid Engine Rear Wheel Drive
Power: N/A
Torque: N/A
Weight: N/A
Transmission: 5 Speed Manual