At the McLaren House during last weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, the marque brought along something far more meaningful than its latest supercar. Meet the M6GT: a one-off recreation of Bruce McLaren’s original road car vision, restored by McLaren Special Operations (MSO), that bridges the company’s racing roots with its modern road-going success.
Long before the iconic McLaren F1 arrived in the 1990s, Bruce McLaren had already envisioned building a road car inspired directly by his racing machines. The M6GT was that vision. Based on the successful M6A Can-Am racer, the prototype featured lightweight construction, butterfly doors and an aerodynamic silhouette that would later become defining characteristics of McLaren’s road cars. Bruce himself even used the original prototype as his personal transport to meetings and race events.
The newly hand-built example has been recreated by MSO using original body moulds, historic engineering drawings, and archive reference material. Built around a period M6A racing chassis verified against historic McLaren vehicles, the project combines restored original components with newly fabricated parts where necessary. For example, the suspension has been rebuilt using imperial-era bearings sourced to match the original specification, while aerospace craftsmen installed traditional aluminium dome rivets throughout the bodywork.
Power comes from a period-correct small-block V8 paired with the appropriate gearbox, complete with the distinctive ‘camel hump’ cylinder heads specified for the original M6GT. Inside, a hand-turned walnut gear knob, custom green vinyl upholstery, and faithfully recreated heat-seam detailing capture the atmosphere of Bruce McLaren’s personal road car, while the exterior is finished in a bespoke shade named Colnbrook White, honouring the workshop where the project was first conceived.
The one-off M6GT is more than a restoration. It marks the beginning of a new heritage programme for MSO, serving as both a tribute to Bruce McLaren and a reminder of his original ambition to build road cars with the heart and soul of a racing machine.
