Lothar motschenbacher biography of alberta king

A stalwart of the Formula 1 World Championship for 50 years — of the current teams, only Ferrari has been in the sport longer — the company founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren first rose to prominence in sports car racing, building a highly successful series of prototypes for the emerging Can-Am series in North America. Indeed, McLaren and his fellow Kiwi team-mate Denny Hulme's domination of the series was so overwhelming that it was nicknamed the 'Bruce and Denny Show'.

The team won the Can-Am championship on five consecutive occasions between and before the Porsche s of Penske Racing took over. Bruce had won the Can-Am championship driving the McLaren M6A, and for the works team would use the design's next evolutions: M8A and M8B, which were notable in their use of the all-aluminium Chevrolet big-block V8 as a semi-stressed chassis member.

The M8C was developed as a customer version of the M8A. Fifteen M8Cs were built by Trojan, and these cars featured a more conventional chassis that did not use the engine as a stressed member, giving customers more freedom in choosing an engine. One of the M8C's purchasers was Lothar Motschenbacher, who competed in the Can-Am series between and , clocking up more starts than any other driver in the series.

Most powerful can-am car

Born in Germany, Lothar had moved to the USA in , initially working as a Mercedes-Benz mechanic, before establishing his own business. He took up racing in the early s, carrying on until when his career was ended prematurely by an injury. The highlight of his career was finishing 2nd in the Can-Am championship behind Hulme in At Elkhart Lake in August the M8B's engine crankshaft vibration damper exploded causing extensive damage to the rear of the chassis and cracking Lothar's shoulder blade.