{"id":497249,"date":"2018-01-01T01:57:12","date_gmt":"2018-01-01T09:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportscardigest.com\/\/?p=53458"},"modified":"2025-01-10T21:15:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T21:15:33","slug":"kindred-spirits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/kindred-spirits\/","title":{"rendered":"Kindred Spirits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the course of nearly seven decades of Formula One history, only three men have ever won a World Championship Grand Prix race in a car of their own construction. Of course, none of them actually designed or built their cars all by themselves, they simply conceived, established, directed, managed and contributed to the organizations that did.<\/em><\/p>\n

They shared an affinity for precision, exploration and invention. Their active, inquisitive minds made them resourceful and drove them to succeed. They raced in the days when Formula One was more of a family gathering\u2014a veritable band of gypsies assembling at and dispersing from sites around the globe on a regular basis\u2014than the corporate environment in place today. That meant they could also be friends\u2014as well as, we shall see, teammates\u2014but they were first and always rivals. In those days F1 had not yet become every driver\u2019s sole focus, so their worlds intersected on multiple levels beyond sharing their singular achievement.<\/em><\/p>\n

The individuals in question are, of course, Jack Brabham, Dan Gurney and Bruce McLaren, and they stand alone together atop the sport\u2019s pyramid of accomplishment.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three decidedly different men who shared the same mission<\/h2>\n
\"Jack<\/a>
Jack Brabham
Photo: Roger Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jack Brabham<\/strong> served as a flight mechanic with the Royal Australian Air Force during WWII, and upon returning home ran a small engineering shop. He began to race midget cars in 1948, and success in those led him to look further afield. He made his Formula One debut driving a Bristol-engined, envelope-bodied Cooper T40 in the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree\u2014where homeboy Stirling Moss led a 1-2-3-4 Mercedes-Benz W196 sweep ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio, Karl Kling and Piero Taruffi. The next year Brabham\u2019s sole GP was again the British, where he entered himself in a Maserati 250F, and for \u201957 he drove a rear-engined Cooper T43-Climax in five GPs, but scored no points. For 1958, he was installed behind the wheel of a factory Cooper T45-Climax from Monaco onward, validating his selection by scoring points on three occasions.<\/p>\n

Established as team leader at the Surbiton-based team for 1959, Brabham became Australia\u2019s first F1 winner by driving a Cooper T51 to victory at Monaco, then added a second win at Aintree in July on the way to his first World Championship\u2014the first ever to be won in a rear-engined car, or by an Australian. In the season finale, the inaugural United States Grand Prix at Sebring, he sealed his championship by pushing his fuel-less car across the finish line in 4th place as his teammate and prot\u00e9g\u00e9, a promising New Zealander named Bruce McLaren, became the youngest driver ever to win a Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Brabham repeated as World Champion in 1960 with wins at Zandvoort, Spa, Reims, Silverstone and Oporto, then suffered through a winless and largely unproductive 1961 season whose primary highlight was a stunning 9th-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 aboard an underpowered though over-bored F1 Cooper. That performance reshaped the face of America\u2019s premier race by catalyzing the rear-engined revolution in Indycar racing, just as Cooper had done in F1. Brabham left Cooper at year\u2019s end, however, to set up his own Brabham Racing Organisation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brabham was clearly the leader in our trio, mentoring both McLaren and Gurney. Photo: Pete Austin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bruce<\/a>
Bruce McLaren
Photo: Roger Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bruce McLaren<\/strong> first raced with an Austin 7 Ulster that he had built and prepared himself as a pre-license teenager. He progressed quickly and soon became the first recipient of New Zealand\u2019s \u201cDriver to Europe\u201d scholarship, earning it with a couple of stellar performances in the New Zealand Grand Prix, the first in a Cooper-Climax sports car acquired from his mentor Brabham, the second in a works Cooper Formula Two ride he got with Jack\u2019s recommendation. He made his F1 debut at the N\u00fcrburgring\u2019s German Grand Prix in 1958, finishing a superb 5th behind the wheel of a Formula Two Cooper T45.<\/p>\n

McLaren joined the Cooper operation full-time to partner Brabham for the 1959 F1 season, paying back the team\u2019s faith with his surprise victory in the season finale at Sebring\u2019s inaugural United States Grand Prix. By doing so, he became not only F1\u2019s youngest winner, but its first Kiwi victor as well. He made it two in a row by winning the 1960 season opener in Buenos Aires after Brabham dropped out, then ably supported his teammate with a run of other podium finishes to take 2nd in the final point standings as Jack reeled off five midseason wins in succession to repeat as World Champion. When Ferrari dominated the 1961 season with its shark-nosed 156, McLaren ended up in a tie with Jim Clark for 7th in the points, while Jack settled for equal 11th with John Surtees. The process for Brabham\u2019s creation of his own team had, however, already been set in motion.<\/p>\n

Bruce carried on with Cooper through the next four seasons, winning Monaco and taking four other podium finishes to claim 3rd in the championship for 1962. Cooper, however, ultimately lost competitiveness, leaving McLaren with little alternative but to go the same route as Brabham, expanding the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing team he\u2019d started up three years before to tackle Formula One\u2019s landmark 1966 season.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
McLaren was hands-on in all aspects of design and construction at his eponymous firm. Photo: Roger Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Dan<\/a>
Dan Gurney
Photo: Arte House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dan Gurney<\/strong> rode the buzz from serial sports car success in America into a test with Ferrari that earned him four Grand Prix starts with the Scuderia in 1959. He qualified on the front row and finished 2nd at the N\u00fcrburgring, then took 3rd in Portugal to kick off his GP career in fine style. An unproductive year at BRM in 1960 was followed by two seasons at Porsche, where he finished 3rd in the 1961 championship and then registered his own first GP win at Reims\u2014the Porsche marque\u2019s sole F1 success\u2014in \u201962 before signing on as Brabham\u2019s teammate.<\/p>\n

Seated in the brand-new Brabham BT7 for the \u201963 F1 opener at Monaco, he endured the first of a run of mechanical failures that would blight half of his races during that first season with the Australian\u2019s team. When he did finish, it was almost always in the points\u2014thrice on the podium\u2014and the following year in France he recorded Brabham\u2019s first win as a constructor, adding victory in Mexico\u2019s season finale as well.<\/p>\n

By then, however, the creation of All American Racers was already under way back in California, so the 1965 season had a touch of \u201clame duck\u201d feeling to it even though he closed the year with five consecutive podiums. Brabham seemed to know what he was losing.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack was unhappy when I told him of my plans to build our own American F1 car and have my own team,\u201d Gurney reflected recently. \u201cHe had planned to retire and leave the team in the hands of myself and Denis Hulme. My plans to leave\u2014though he understood\u2014threw a monkey wrench into his plans, and he had to go on driving because Denny was a relative F1 newcomer and Jack felt he needed an experienced driver to lead the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs history shows, it turned out very well for Jack, as he won his third World Championship title with his own car. All three of us stayed friends, and Jack often reminded me in later years that had I stayed with him I would have been World Champion. But such is life in the fast lane.\u201d<\/p>\n

Building Brabham<\/h3>\n

As Jack Brabham worked to establish his own operation, he brought in his old mate, Ron Tauranac from back home, to design the cars and the two meshed well as a pair of practical, no-nonsense guys on a mission. Their philosophy was to produce simple cars that were easy to operate, so they set up their English base in New Haw, along the banks of the River Wey in Byfleet, and began cranking out \u201ceasy to drive, progressive-handling racing cars,\u201d according to Alan Henry, author of Brabham: The Grand Prix Cars. To do this they decided to stay with simple spaceframe chassis construction as opposed to trying the latest monocoque technique as pioneered by Lotus.<\/p>\n

The plan worked very well as F1 transitioned from 1.5-liter engines to 3.0-liter power because, while other teams scrambled to develop new 3-liter power plants, Brabham continued his conservative approach, relying on a single-overhead camshaft V8 from the Australian firm Repco that had been derived from an abandoned General Motors aluminum block engine originally used in the Oldsmobile F85.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brabham used Repco power from back home to capture his historic third F1 crown. Photo: Roger Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It proved to be the way to go as the Repcos provided excellent reliability, and in 1966 Brabham won four World Championship rounds and two non-points races with the BT19 while failing to finish only twice, neither retirement due to engine failure. As a result, Brabham became not only the first man ever to win a Grand Prix in a car of his own construction, but the only driver ever to win the World Championship itself in those circumstances as well. And, of course, his team also claimed the Constructors Championship.<\/p>\n

The following year, Gurney\u2019s replacement, Hulme, stepped up and won a pair of GPs and scored six other podium finishes with a BT20 on his way to securing the 1967 World Championship for himself, and another constructors crown for the team as Brabham finished 2nd in the points. Jack was not only the first to win in his own car but, as the most accomplished, mentored both McLaren and Gurney\u2014as well as Denis Hulme.<\/p>\n

Not being bound solely to Formula One, Brabham\u2014through Motor Racing Developments\u2014became the world\u2019s largest manufacturer of customer racecars during the 1960s, building cars for Formula Junior, Sports Racing, Formula Two, Formula Three, Indianapolis, Formula Libre, Formula B, the Tasman Series, Formula Atlantic and Formula 5000, as well as F1. Upon retiring from F1 after the 1970 season, Brabham sold his half of the company to Tauranac, and it wasn\u2019t long before the concern passed into the hands of one Bernard Charles Ecclestone.<\/p>\n

Flying the Eagle<\/h3>\n

The seeds for Dan Gurney\u2019s Eagle F1 project were sown at Indianapolis in May of 1964 when Goodyear, trying to challenge rival Firestone\u2019s longstanding tire monopoly in the annual 500-mile race, instead got its lunch handed to it as all its intended runners\u2014including eventual winner A.J. Foyt\u2014switched to Firestone rubber right before the race.<\/p>\n

Stung by the defections, Goodyear wanted to ensure a repeat would not be possible by enlisting one of its distributors, Carroll Shelby, to build Indycars exclusively for Goodyear teams. Shelby, however, allowed as how he had too much on his plate already\u2014since he was building Cobras and running Ford\u2019s burgeoning Le Mans program\u2014and suggested the project should go to Gurney. Ultimately the two men formed a partnership and All American Racers was born, funded by Goodyear.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Although the tiremaker\u2019s focus was on Indianapolis, Gurney, as his part of the bargain, craftily convinced the company to provide a budget for an Eagle F1 effort as well. Because the rules for F1 and Indycars were, at that moment in time, fairly similar, this could be accomplished with what was effectively one chassis design, upon which the variances could be installed. Len Terry, fresh from designing the Indy-winning Lotus 38 for Colin Chapman, was hired to draw the new car(s), and produced what many feel is the most beautiful Grand Prix car ever.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Eagle-Weslake came good at the \u201967 Race of Champions, then carried Gurney to historic victory in Belgium that June.
Photo: Roger Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since F1 was changing its formula, this was the perfect time for new teams to jump in, and Gurney commissioned a bespoke 3-liter V12 engine from England\u2019s Weslake Engineering to power the new Eagle\u2014named for his homeland\u2019s national symbol rather than himself.<\/p>\n

When the new engine was not ready for the start of the \u201966 season, however, he was forced to use the venerable 2.75-liter Coventry Climax FPF four-cylinder to power AAR\u2019s first five GPs.<\/p>\n

The V12-powered Eagle finally debuted at Monza in September, but while drawing raves for its compact design, internally the engine remained a work in progress. It finally came right at the Daily Mail\u2019s non-points Race of Champions at Brands Hatch in March of 1967 where Gurney won both heats to register the F1 Eagle\u2019s first success. Three months later he would stand atop the podium at Spa in Belgium, after winning a proper Grand Prix, and join Brabham as the only men to be Grand Prix victors in their own cars.<\/p>\n

Where Brabham had gone conservative, sticking with the tried and true, Dan stood right out on the cutting edge, not only with Harry Weslake\u2019s V12, but ultimately with a monocoque chassis, numbered 104, uniquely constructed primarily of titanium and magnesium rather than aluminum. Sadly, Gurney\u2019s F1 dream eventually faded away along with AAR\u2019s budget as Goodyear allocated its funding elsewhere.<\/p>\n

AAR carried on building Eagle Indycars, then subsequently branched out into Formula 5000, Formula Ford and Grand Touring Prototypes, building championship-winning cars for all and winning three Indy 500s.<\/p>\n

Making McLaren<\/h3>\n

Bruce McLaren had founded his eponymous motor racing organization in 1963\u2014while still at Cooper\u2014and the following year built the first racecar to be badged as a McLaren, the tube-framed M1A, to Group 7 rules. In 1965 there came an experimental prototype single-seater, the M2A, designed by Robin Herd as a monocoque chassis powered by a pushrod Oldsmobile V8.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
McLaren posted his victory at Spa in 1968 to join Brabham and Gurney in their excusive club.
Photo: Roger Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With the dawn of F1\u2019s three-liter era in 1966, the first McLaren Grand Prix car, the monocoque M2B, appeared, initially powered by a downsized Ford Indy V8 that was subsequently replaced with a Serenissima V8, although neither engine was well suited for the task. For 1967, McLaren fielded an interim M4B Formula Two chassis with a two-liter BRM V8 for two early GPs, but it was not competitive. Taking a midseason hiatus while awaiting completion of the first BRM V12-powered M5A, Bruce took over the second of Gurney\u2019s Eagle-Weslake entries, replacing the suddenly retiring Richie Ginther for the French, British and German GPs. McLaren qualified the Eagle 5th in both France and Germany and 10th in England, but was let down by engine-related problems in all three races.<\/p>\n

Although a variety of difficulties more or less derailed the Robin Herd-designed M5A, it was a proper Grand Prix chassis and led directly to the Ford Cosworth DFV-powered M7A that appeared for 1968. The M5A did enjoy one last outing in \u201968 as the team\u2019s new signing, Denis Hulme, finished 5th in the season-opening South African GP while McLaren stayed behind at the base to finish up the M7A.<\/p>\n

Bruce gave the new car a fine debut by winning the non-championship Daily Mail Race of Champions at Brands Hatch, which Hulme followed up five weeks later with another points-free victory in the Daily Express International Trophy contest at Silverstone. Once the championship season resumed, it took McLaren four races before he registered a fortuitous victory at Spa to join Brabham and Gurney in their exclusive club.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Although McLaren himself did not manage to win another Grand Prix in the two years before his untimely death while testing at Goodwood, teammate Hulme won two more GPs in 1968 and added a third in \u201969. Then, with his friend and team leader gone, posted another three wins before retiring after the 1974 season. The team, as we know, went on to become the second most successful operation in F1 history behind only Ferrari, raking in some 182 wins, a dozen driver\u2019s titles and eight constructors crowns to date.<\/p>\n

Like Brabhams and Eagles, McLarens also raced successfully beyond F1, most notably in the Can-Am and Indycars\u2014winning three Indy 500s\u2014but also Formula Two and Formula 5000. In more modern times, the company has fulfilled one of Bruce\u2019s dreams by establishing itself as a builder of high-performance road cars.<\/p>\n

Expanding the Bonds<\/h3>\n

Continuing connections abound among our trio, of course, as McLaren and Gurney were both part of the Ford Le Mans effort. Bruce scored Ford\u2019s first triumph there in 1966\u2014along with compatriot Chris Amon\u2014after Dan had taken pole with the GT40 Mark II he shared with Jerry Grant and later led for many hours before a leaking radiator removed the red car from the intramural battle for the lead.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Gurney recorded the final point of his Grand Prix career with Bruce\u2019s McLaren M14-Cosworth in the 1970 French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand. Photo: Roger Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the fall of 1966, when Gurney scored Ford\u2019s sole Can-Am win with the AAR Lola T70 at Bridgehampton, he was chased home by a pair of McLaren M1B-Chevrolets driven by Amon and McLaren, and before Dan triumphed at La Sarthe with his compatriot, A.J. Foyt, in the Ford Mark IV the following June, Bruce had won the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier that Spring in a Mark IV he shared with Mario Andretti. Both men also provided Ford with valuable engineering input beyond their cockpit commitments.<\/p>\n

In 1968, with the Eagle F1 project closing down, Dan arranged to race a third McLaren M7A-Ford in the season-closing trio of North American GPs. After being stopped by a rock through his radiator at St. Jovite, he earned 4th\u2013place points behind Jackie Stewart\u2019s Matra, Graham Hill\u2019s Lotus and John Surtees\u2019 Honda at Watkins Glen, but then retired with suspension issues in Mexico City after qualifying 5th.<\/p>\n

The following September, with Gurney enduring a problematic switch to big-block Chevrolet power in AAR\u2019s modified McLaren \u201cMcLeagle\u201d Can-Am entry, at the Michigan International Speedway round of the championship McLaren offered him his team\u2019s spare M8B for the race. Dan proceeded to carve his way up from the back of the grid to join Bruce and Denny on the podium. Earlier in the weekend, Brabham had tested the same car, but decided to stick with his original experimental Ford entry instead.<\/p>\n

Then, in the dreadful aftermath of Bruce\u2019s tragic testing crash at Goodwood in the Spring of 1970, Dan stepped in to provide an emotional anchor and help hold the team together. Hulme had severely burned his hands at Indianapolis and was less than his best, so Gurney forged the M8D to victory in the Can-Am season\u2019s opening two rounds before a contractual dispute\u2014he was sponsored by Castrol, McLaren backed by Gulf\u2014spoiled his best opportunity for a Can-Am championship.<\/p>\n

Before that commercial debacle, however, Gurney had also made his final three F1 starts in Bruce\u2019s M14A-Ford, dropping out of both the Dutch and British GPs with mechanical ills, but scoring the final point of his F1 career with a 6th\u2013place finish in the French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand.<\/p>\n

So, what bound these three extraordinary men so closely together?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe common bond,\u201d says Gurney now, \u201cwas an intense curiosity and interest regarding vehicle engineering. It was an era where building your own car was a possibility. Bruce and Jack were both graduates of Cooper, and they were open and adventuresome. I studied and learned by driving a great variety of cars and driving for many different teams on the sports car, F1 and Indy circuits. When Cooper broke off from the norm and started the mid-engine car revolution, Jack and Bruce were both there at the right time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Filling in for the departed McLaren in 1970, Gurney bagged a pair of Can-Am wins with the M8D before a contractual conflict curtailed his efforts. Photo: Pete Lyons \/ www.petelyons.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was there a little bit later. Everyone had a Hewland gearbox and a Coventry-Climax engine, and everybody was trying to reach for something that would give them bragging rights. We all liked a challenge and we knew all the sources we had were up to speed on the technology. The opportunity was there and we took it. We enjoyed exploring the unknown. \u00ad<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of geography, we traveled around the world at a time when that was logistically often an adventure. Sometimes it was just across The Channel, other times it was going to South Africa or Argentina in airplanes that did not have the safety record they have today. We also had great physical and mental fortitude in order to keep going and to press on when things were tough and difficult\u2014especially in regard to the racing accidents and tragedies in that era.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was easy, Gurney says, to feel a kindred spirit with Jack and Bruce. \u201cOur goals were similar, we wanted to build our own Formula One cars and represent our countries on the international stage. Bruce was a big thinker; he was planning to build road cars and everything. After Jack won three World Championships he retired, yet later he was looking into some pretty wild internal combustion engine schemes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan\u2019s post-driving career activities have included managing successful AAR efforts in multiple series, the growth of AAR into an engineering powerhouse and the development of his beloved Alligator motorcycle concept.<\/p>\n

So it was that these three men wrote their own chapters of racing history, often using the same pen. Gurney sums up their shared accomplishment succinctly: \u201cThose were great times and those were great pioneers. We all wanted to do something that stood out on the international stage, and there it was.\u201d
\n<\/p>\n

The Bear in the Works<\/h1>\n
\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Keith Booker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although he confined himself to driving and didn\u2019t venture into car construction, Denis Hulme is deeply involved with our trio of legends, having driven with and for all three.<\/p>\n

The likeable Kiwi broke into F1 with Brabham\u2019s team as Gurney\u2019s heir apparent in 1965, contesting all but one of the European F1 rounds, finishing 4th in France and 5th in Holland, then after ably supporting Jack in \u201966, won his own World Championship with the team in \u201967. That same year he signed to drive for McLaren in the Can-Am, which ultimately led to him moving over to partner McLaren in F1 as well for \u201968. As the \u201cBruce and Denny Show\u201d ruled the Can-Am, Hulme was crowned series champion in 1968 and 1970, and won more than twice as many Can-Am races as anyone else.<\/p>\n

In \u201967 he\u2019d also turned up as a rookie at Indianapolis, driving one of Gurney\u2019s Eagles for independent entrant Smokey Yunick and guiding it to a fine 4th\u2013place finish that earned him Rookie of the Year honors. He repeated that result the following year with a works Eagle as Dan\u2019s teammate, and contested the \u201969 500 for AAR as well, but retired at three-quarter distance with clutch failure.<\/p>\n

Hulme carried on as F1 team leader at McLaren until his retirement following the 1974 season, by which time Emerson Fittipaldi had arrived and collected the team\u2019s first World Championship. At that year\u2019s season opener in Argentina, though, the victory went to the McLaren M23-Ford driven by none other than Denis Hulme. Good to the last drop.
\n<\/p>\n

The Fourth Face<\/h1>\n
\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Roger Dixon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Were the three men from our main story to be enshrined in a suitable monument, say a mountainside rock carving like America\u2019s Mount Rushmore, it might be wise to compete the package by including a fourth face. That would be a likeness of John Surtees CBE, the 1964 World Champion, who later became a constructor and drove a Surtees TS9-Cosworth to victory in the non-championship Gold Cup race at Oulton Park in August of 1971.<\/p>\n

Surtees had switched to F1 following his multiple World Championship motorcycle racing career, driving first for Lotus, then Cooper and Lola before joining Ferrari for 1963 and winning the following year\u2019s World Championship for the Scuderia. After being abandoned by the Italians he bounced back to Cooper, then to Honda and BRM before establishing the F1 branch of Team Surtees at mid-season in 1970, with TS7-Fords for himself and Derek Bell. Both drivers scored debut season points for the marque as John ran 5th in Canada and Derek took 6th at the USGP.<\/p>\n

For 1971, essentially John\u2019s last season\u2014though he did race at Monza in \u201972\u2014he bagged World Championship points with a 5th in Holland and a 6th in the British GP prior to his Oulton Park success. He was partnered that year by Rolf Stommelen and Mike Hailwood, both of whom also scored championship points, then in 1972 Hailwood (the \u201972 F2 champ in a Surtees TS10-Cosworth) recorded the marque\u2019s best points-scoring result ever with a 2nd\u2013place finish at Monza.<\/p>\n

The team carried on for six more seasons before John closed the doors, but never really matched the results of the earlier years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the course of nearly seven decades of Formula One history, only three men have ever won a World Championship Grand Prix race in a car of their own construction. Of course, none of them actually designed or built their cars all by themselves, they simply conceived, established, directed, managed and contributed to the organizations that did. They shared an affinity for precision, exploration and invention. Their active, inquisitive minds made them resourceful and drove them to succeed. They raced […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":581399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,18114,18330,477],"tags":[17152,17466,18435,2827,11382,11858,11346,18107,16791,22539],"class_list":["post-497249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-people","category-profiles-car-culture","category-special-lists","tag-car-culture","tag-misc-lists","tag-people","tag-bruce-mclaren","tag-dan-gurney","tag-jack-brabham","tag-driver-profiles","tag-people-profiles","tag-profiles","tag-special-lists"],"yoast_head":"\nKindred Spirits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"John Zimmermann examines the similarities that bound together the only three men ever to win a Grand Prix in a car they built themselves.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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