An ex-James Hunt McLaren M23 has gone on display at the International Motor Racing Research Center.
The car, which also has history with Jochen Mass and Emerson Fittipaldi, will be on show until the end of April as part of the Center’s year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first Formula 1 race at Watkins Glen.
Owned by Governing Council member Gregory Galdi, the M23/09 took the chequered flag on its very first outing, in the Argentinian Grand Prix in January 1975 with Emerson Fittipaldi at the helm. In July of that year, Fittipaldi drove the car to victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
In all this M23/09 competed in 25 Grands Prix and scored podium finishes for Fittipaldi, Hunt and Mass.
It has had only two owners – McLaren executive Leo Wybrott and Galdi – and ran only once in period at Watkins Glen, for the 1976 US GP with Mass at the wheel.
James Elliott is a former Editor of Classic & Sports Car