20/01/2007
NEWS STORY
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Days after McLaren launched its 2007 contender, topping the timesheets with Fernando Alonso at the wheel just twenty-four hours later, it appears that the man who gave the team its name is to be (further) immortalised in a major motion picture.
Plans were revealed at Taupo, New Zealand, for a $100m movie based on the life of the New Zealander, who achieved success as a driver - winning four Grand Prix, the Le Mans 24-Hours, numerous F2 races and, of course, Can-Am - and constructor.
It's understood that the man behind the movie is, fellow Kiwi, Barrie Osborne, who produced the Lord of the Rings trilogy in addition to Apocalypse Now and The Matrix. Also on-board is Michael Garlick, another New Zealander, and, like Osborne, a "life-long fan of McLaren".
"The project is still in it early stages and the script is being discussed," said Osborne at the announcement. "We hope to finish it by the end of the year and begin filming next year."
Present at the announcement was three-time World Champion Jack Brabham, the only man to win a World Championship title in a car manufactured by his own team, and entrant of the Cooper in which McLaren scored his first Grand Prix win (Sebring 1959).
Also present was another motor racing legend, McLaren's teammate in the 1966 Le Mans victory, Chris Amon, along with Pitpass regular and former McLaren director, Eoin Young, who was joined by former McLaren team boss, Phil Kerr.
Two people who looked particularly proud of the attention finally being paid to the New Zealander, who overcame a debilitating hip disease but went on to create one of the most successful outfits in motor racing history, were his widow, Patty McLaren-Brickett, and his daughter Amanda.
Emerson Fittipaldi, who won the 1974 World Championship title with McLaren, giving the team its first Constructors' Championship, took time out from his role as team boss with A1 GP Team Brazil boss, to attend the announcement and then complete a demonstration run in (another Kiwi racing legend) Denny Hulme's 1973 McLaren M23.
To check out our gallery, featuring Emerson Fittipaldi's demonstration run in the McLaren M23 click here