Video: Can-Am racing is better than anything you'll watch this week
19th February 2024
Ben Miles
In a few weeks time we will see a full field of mighty Can-Am machines thundering round the Goodwood Motor Circuit as part of our demo at the 81st Members’ Meeting. So we tho...
This is a rare find. Not just ‘some’ footage of a Can-Am race form period, but loads of it. You only need to watch the start of this race at what is now called Road America to realise just why Can-Am machines set our hearts racing.
This footage is from 1967, an era when McLaren was dominating the series, but other brands involved included Lola and the legendary Chaparral. Drivers included Bruce McLaren and Jon Surtees, the caliber of competition could not have been higher.
These machines are the best definition of the word brutal. Big unrestricted V8 engines, slippery lightweight bodies and, other than the Chaparral, zero downforce. They required a mixture of patience, bravery and skill to keep in a straight line, and massive amounts of talent to get around a corner.
You will find yourself enraptured as you watch this video, just marvelling at the way the heroes of the 1960s slide Can-Am cars around as if it was nothing. But these machines were ready to bite and all that was protecting the drivers from a swift end was… actually nothing.
