Zak Brown Races with McLaren’s $275,000 Car in California That Killed Team Founder 53 Years Ago

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is well known around the paddock for his incredible car collection. As per a recent report by RACER, the American boss recently took to the track with his 1970 McLaren M8D, currently valued at approximately $275,000 – a car that also coincidentally killed the team’s founder Bruce McLaren back in 1970.

Formula 1 is currently in the middle of a summer break with 12 races already completed and Red Bull firmly in the lead. Mclaren meanwhile have made a very strong comeback. This break from the competition has allowed everyone to take some time off and indulge in various shenanigans.

And as for Brown, the perfect way to spend the time off is to take one of his most iconic McLaren cars out for a spin.

Zak Brown rocks up at Monterey with a trio of his beasts

Zak Brown recently participated in the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion held on the 19th of August at Laguna Seca in California. He was part of Saturday’s Group 7 race where he drove his 1970 McLaren MD8, that Gurney previously raced in.

Mega result at Monterey, thank you @unitedautosport team – P4 for the McLaren M8D in our debut race since rebuilding this epic car. Can’t wait to race it again, you guys are awesome 👊 pic.twitter.com/monAZwZOmY

— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) August 19, 2023

Brown was pretty competitive in his car, finishing P4. The McLaren boss participated in the event in association with United Autosports, who had the responsibility of making sure that all of Brown’s historic cars ran smoothly throughout the event.

The MD8 was not the only car from Brown’s collection to take part at the reunion event. A 1974 Lola T332 raced by Andretti and the Title winning 1980 Williams FW07B was also present at the track during the weekend.

The Bruce McLaren connection

The McLaren MD8 driven by Zak Brown is an integral part of McLaren’s history. Even though the car that Brown owns was the racecar of Dan Gurney, it was an exact similar model, that caused the death of the Bruce McLaren.

McLaren was only 32 at the time of his death, but by that age, he had already laid down the foundations for one of the greatest teams to have taken part in F1 – the McLaren racing team. Founded in 1963, the team made their Grand Prix racing debut in 1966 at the Monaco GP, which makes them the second oldest existing constructor, behind Ferrari.

McLaren enjoyed unparalleled success during the 1980s under the leadership of Ron Dennis. However, as of late, the team has failed to recreate similar results. However, the strong leadership of Zak Brown has shown great promise and McLaren desperately wants to be back at the top, where they belong.