Why I Love...
the Monza GP by former Mclaren team manager Alastair Caldwell
Sadly, my brother was killed in 1966 and the following year I used the inheritance to fly to England. I was a married man by then with two small children. I asked for a job as a mechanic at ‘the factory’, which was Bruce Mclaren’s Colnbrook-based business, but there was no vacancy so for one day I worked as a cleaner. Then Tyler Alexander told the Mclaren management that I was now a race mechanic.
In 1967 Bruce planned to use a V12 BRM engine, but because of delays we had to modify a Formula Two car (the M4B) fitted with a smaller 2.1-litre BRM unit, constructing another car – the M5A – later when the V12 BRM engine became available. It was this car that we took to Monza.
I was asked to accompany Bruce’s ex-cooper mechanic Mike Barney to Monza, sharing the drive of the team transporter (nicknamed Gertie) carrying Bruce’s car, tyres and all our equipment and spares aboard. Unfortunately, the briefcase full of documents didn’t include any paperwork for the spares so when we arrived in France I had to bribe my way through customs with 200-franc notes. Over the arduous Alpine passes with all the weight I cooked the brakes, so when
‘On the way there I drove the team transporter too fast over the Alpine passes and cooked the brakes. When we reached the border, I bypassed the queue and knocked over the border guard’s cabin’
we arrived at the Franco/italian border I bypassed the queue and knocked over the border guard’s cabin. More money had to change hands for us to pass through. Finally we made it to the circuit, where we were asked for our track passes. ‘They’re in the organiser’s office,’ I said. ‘But you can’t come in without passes,’ they replied. It was a farcical situation that happened time and again, year after year.
The Mclaren was painted bright red. Immediately, the track officials said we couldn’t race in that colour so we bought some cans of green aerosol paint to respray the body. But then Bruce qualified on the front row of the grid, ahead of Chris Amon’s new Ferrari on the second row. They had never staged an Italian GP without a red car on the first row, so the Italian officials changed their minds. Luckily, we hadn’t used the aerosols yet, so Bruce was able to race with the car still in its original red livery. It seemed to us that all the Italian Tifosi knew about Mclaren cars. Sadly, the V12 BRM engine ultimately proved unreliable, using up all its lubricant and letting go mid-race. The winner was John Surtees in the Honda followed closely by Jack Brabham in the Brabham-repco. But overall I loved my first GP at Monza. It was wonderful.