I was reading an excellent blog posting on the supposed McLaren M23 owned by Antonio Carlos Avallone.
In fact, the M23 was not an M23, but rather the only McLaren M25 ever built, designed by McLaren in 1973 specifically to house a Chevrolet engine, to be used in Formula 5000. It was tested by Howden Ganley, and purchased by Avallone at the beginning of 1974. The M25 was based and very similar to the M23, and it was also similar to the wedge shaped McLaren Formula Indy of the day.
The story is real, and there is a twist. There were legal proceedings in England against Avallone, filed by David Hepworth, not by BRM or Louis Stanley as reported elsewhere, concerning a BRM P154 that had burned in a fire in a ship on the way to the Avallone promoted Copa Brasil series 1972. For a long time a fancy story circulated, saying the ship was full of European cars that were going to take part in the Copa Brasil, seemingly an excuse for a weak grid that was fielded at the end of the day.
As far as can be told, the only race car that was lost in this unnamed ship was the BRM P154 of Hepworth, the Englishman who had purchased the BRM P154 program from the works (two cars, parts, etc.) because the factory had built a new Can-Am-Interseries car for 1972, the P167. In fact Hepworth raced this car in the 1972 Interseries (named BRM P154/167 in some places, for it had some updated components from P167) earning a fifth place at Silverstone.
Due to insurance issues, Hepworth had filed the lawsuit to recover his loss, for the cars had been improperly insured. Hepworth won in the courts, and the M25 ended in his hands. One of the chassis of the P154 exists to this today, in fact, is on sale. Two BRM P154s were produced.
The M25 was to be used very briefly in Formula 5000. The mysterious car was entered in a single 1975 race, under Rikki Pierce's name, by a team called Renoir that included the future world champion Keke Rosberg. The car did not show in Brands Hatch, with the official explanation that "the team had not been formed. " Such ghost entries were common in F5000 races, in fact, often more cars were entered than raced.
In 1976 the car was entered by David Hepworth, who won the car in his lawsuit against Avallone, and it was driven by 1974 F5000 champion Bob Evans in the Shellsport championship, earning a second place and running in only two races in F5000. The car was equipped with a 5 liter Chevrolet engine in those two occasions.
The M25 was eventually bought by Spaniard Emilio de Villota, who put the car in M23 specifications, equipping it with Cosworth engine and racing it in the Aurora Championship in 1977 and 1978 on several occasions. The M25 was not the car used by Villota in the World F1 Championship in 1977 and 1978. Please note that Emilio had a true M23 which he used to run in the World Championship, and which won some races in British Group 8.
The M25-1 survives today and races in classic car races.
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