This article explores the legacy of the McLaren M23, a Formula 1 car renowned for its success and longevity. It highlights the car's achievements, its impact on drivers like Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, and Nelson Piquet, and its role in shaping the future of motorsport.
The McLaren M23 is widely considered one of the most iconic Formula 1 cars of all time. Its legacy is cemented by three world championships — two drivers' titles and one constructors' — and an impressive 16 grand prix victories over a remarkable six-season span. This longevity positions the M23 as a bridge between eras, particularly because in its later years, the Cosworth-powered machine propelled a young Brazilian named Nelson Piquet towards superstardom.
The Gordon Coppuck-designed masterpiece debuted with Dennis Hulme, the 1967 F1 champion, at the 1973 South African Grand Prix in Kyalami. However, its final world championship appearances came at the tail end of 1978 with Piquet, a driver who continued to compete and win in F1 until 1991.In between these marks, the M23 secured championships with Emerson Fittipaldi (1974) and James Hunt (1976), and achieved grand prix victories with drivers like Peter Revson, Hulme, and Jochen Mass. The car also played a role in securing McLaren the constructors' title in 1974, with drivers like Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve behind the wheel. Piquet joined this illustrious list of drivers who raced the legendary car thanks to the efforts and backing of Bernie Ecclestone. In the summer of 1978, the Brabham boss identified Piquet, who was on track to win the prestigious British Formula 3 championship, as a future star. Ecclestone set his sights on having Piquet in a seat for the following year and arranged for him to graduate to F1 in the aging McLaren with the British privateer BS Fabrications team. “We got a call from Bernie, saying, ‘There’s this Brazilian kid in F3, I want you put him out in some F1 races’,” recalls Dave Sims, team manager at BS Fabs. “I want to bring him on a bit and see how he goes. I’ll pay for it!” BS Fabs was in a favorable position to accommodate this request. They were already running former US Marine Brett Lunger and had a spare car. After four races in 1978, Lunger, sponsored by Chesterfield tobacco, had switched from the M23 he began racing with BS Fabs the previous year to a later McLaren M26. Piquet would later become a world champion for Ecclestone's Brabham team after the Briton pushed for him to have an early F1 debut in the M23 in 1978.Sims remembers Piquet's excitement upon seeing the M23 he would be racing when he arrived at the team's workshops in Dunstable, just off the M1 from London. “This young kid came along and said, ‘Wow, is this my F1 car?’” recalls Sims. “The car was up on stands and we sat him in there, stuffing coats behind him trying to work out the right position for the steering and the pedals. When we were finished, he wouldn’t get out: he sat in there all morning, pretending to change gear and making engine noises! “I’m not sure he was too interested in the finer elements of the seat fitting. He just wanted to get out there in the car.” “Nelson had never driven an F1 car before, but he was coming up with all these ideas. We thought, ‘bloody hell!’ We reckoned he would be going places.” Sims and his bosses at BS Fabs, Bob Sparshott and John ‘Ace’ Woodington, needn't have worried about their new driver's behavior at the workshop. When Piquet finally got behind the wheel of the McLaren for the first time, he impressed from the outset. Piquet had his first taste of F1 machinery with a run in the M23 at a mid-week test session at Silverstone in July. “Immediately you could see that the guy was good,” says Sims. “It wasn’t just that he was quick straight away, it was his understanding of the car. His feedback and explanation of what the car was doing was astounding. He’d say, ‘Maybe we can try this, maybe we can try that’. “Nelson had never driven an F1 car before, but he was coming up with all these ideas. We thought, ‘bloody hell!’ We reckoned he would be going places.” Piquet completed a morning in the McLaren at Silverstone, before heading up to Donington Park to test his Ralt-Toyota RT1 F3 car run by Greg ‘PeeWee’ Siddle ahead of the upcoming round of the BP-sponsored British Automobile Racing Club series. Second place the following weekend would seal him the championship with three of the 17 races to go. Piquet's laps in the M23 at Silverstone were his only preparation for what turned out to be an early F1 debut. He was scheduled to race the BS Fabs M23 in the Austrian, Dutch, and Italian grand prix, the last three European races on the calendar, but he received a late call-up to drive for Ensign in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim two weeks ahead of Austria. The Ensign-Cosworth N177 had been temporarily vacated by Derek Daly, who’d made his debut in the car the race before at Brands Hatch for the British GP. He then baulked at signing the contract for three years put in front of him
Mclaren M23 Formula 1 Nelson Piquet Bernie Ecclestone Gordon Coppuck Emerson Fittipaldi James Hunt
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