One of this season’s rising stars has been 19-year-old Lando Norris and during the Goodwood Festival of Speed over the weekend, he jumped behind the wheel of one of McLaren’s most famous racing cars.
The car in question was a M8D Can-Am and as the video below shows, the young British driver had an absolute ball spinning the rear wheels of the famous race car down the damp hillclimb at Goodwood.
The M8 Can-Am family of models started with the M8A way back in 1968. Bruce McLaren developed the car and the M8D was the vehicle raced throughout the 1970 season. Other models in the M8 Can-Am family included the M8B and M8F as well as the M8C and M8E which were customer cars.
Also Read: Mika Hakkinen To Drive McLaren’s M8D Can-Am ‘Batmobile’
It is perhaps the crazy bodywork which made it an instant classic and earned it the ‘Batmobile’ nickname. Norris piloted a Papaya Orange example at Goodwood and was more than happy to get it a little sideways to excite the crowds.
Power comes from a massive 7.6-liter Chevrolet V8 which pumps out 670 HP at 6800 rpm and 600 lb-ft (810 Nm) of torque. All of this power is sent to the rear wheels, hence why Norris had no trouble lighting them up.
Ex-Formula 1 champion Mika Hakkinen will drive a near-identical example in Laguna Seca during the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in the middle of August.