Leda GM1
| Born |
5 March 1940 Wellington, New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |
 New Zealander |
| Active years | 1973 |
| Teams | Williams |
| Entries | 1 |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Career points | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1973 British Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1973 British Grand Prix |
Graham McRae (born 5 March 1940) is a former racing driver from New Zealand. He achieved considerable success in Formula 5000 racing, winning the Tasman Series each year from 1971 to 1973, and also the 1972 L&M Continental 5000 Championship in the United States.
McRae's single outing in the Formula One World Championship was at the 1973 British Grand Prix on 14 July 1973, where he retired in the first lap. McRae also competed in the 1973 Indianapolis 500, finishing in 16th position and earning Rookie of the Year.
McRae was born in Wellington. A qualified engineer, McRae competed in local sports car racing and hillclimbs in the early 1960s, notably at Levin and began to compete seriously in the 1.5 twin cam formula, which used old F3 chassis. After running a dated Brabham chassis, McRae built a slim, McRae, National Formula car which dominated the 68-69 series, beating talented opponents in David Oxton, Ken Smith and Bert Hawthorne. He also ran in the four NZ rounds of the Tasman Series, and McRae proved surprisingly competitive at the tight Levin circuit where McRae, 160 hp down on power qualified 1.8 seconds slower than Jochen Rindt and almost equalled the time of GLTL Team Leader Graham Hill in a mishandling Lotus 49. This performance secured McRae the NZ Driver to Europe scholarship for a few 1969 F2 races where he ran in the upper midfield in an ageing Brabham BT23.
Before entering Formula One, McRae placed sixth in both the 1970 Guards European Formula 5000 Championship and the 1971 Rothmans European Formula 5000 Championship. He won a number of rounds, but was hindered by some accidents, one serious, and impatience which earned him the nickname, 'Cassius' (after the boxing champion) reflecting his strut and belief in the greatness of his own talent. Fields were strong in European F5000 at this time and McRae was competing against former F1 drivers Brian Redman, Trevor Taylor, Mike Hailwood and Frank Gardner, all world class drivers and Peter Gethin and Howden Ganley in works backed McLarens. McRae was Tasman Series Champion three years in a row, from 1971 to 1973, also taking the US F5000 Championship crown in 1972, with three race wins. The US 5000 championship win in 1972 was a noted achievement against competent F5000 and World Championship sports car drivers David Hobbs and Sam Posey and McRae won a lot of money and laurels, and drove with control despite also competing in the 1972 Rothmans European Formula 5000 Championship, in which he placed third. In the combined F1/F5000 International Trophy, McRae finished 7th, the first F5000 car and for a while had run ahead of Graham Hill in a F1 Brabham BT34 and kept up with the F1 McLarens of Denny Hulme and Peter Revson, this reflected the very good race car set up skills of McRae on his Leda F5000. McRae would probably have got a regular F1 drive if he hadn't been a difficult customer and probably too old at 32 in most teams' eyes to be developed as a serious F1 driver. He was offered a drive in F1 at Nivelles when Jackie Stewart suffered an ulcer, but could not fit it into his demanding programme. He did race for Frank Williams in the British GP the following year but it was an uncompetitive chassis, and a good start was ruined by the multi-car crash which stopped the race after a lap.
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