# McRae GM1 (F5000)

- Source: https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/mcrae-gm1/
- Publisher: Racing Car Network (racingcarnetwork.com), the race car marketplace
- Type: car · Brand: Mcrae
- Discipline: formula, historic-racing
- Series: f1-historic
- Era: 1970s
- Last updated: 2026-07-06
- For sale on RCN: https://racingcarnetwork.com/for-sale/mcrae-gm1/ (0 live listings right now)

The GM1 is F5000's Kiwi champion: Graham McRae's own-built title machine — the Tasman crowns and the American honours — the driver-constructor's five-litre legend.

## Specifications

| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Engine | 5.0 small-block Chevrolet |
| Power | ~510 hp |
| Builder | Graham McRae (driver-constructor) |
| Lineage | Leda LT27 → GM1 |
| Ledger | Tasman crowns 71-73, US wins 72 |
| Diligence | Identity law + crack-test currency |
| Years | 1972–1973 |
| Class | F5000 driver-constructor legend |

## History

Formula 5000's driver-constructor legend built the McRae GM1 (1972): the Kiwi champion's own machine — the Graham McRae story (the New Zealander designing, building, and racing his own five-litre car — the driver-constructor tradition's F5000 summit), the Leda-lineage origins (the GM1's evolution from the Len Terry-designed Leda LT27 the McRae operation absorbed), and the Chevrolet-thunder constant (the formula's stock-block law) — winning across the world: the Tasman Series crowns (the 1971-72-73 southern-summer titles the type's home-water dominance), the American L&M honours (the 1972 US campaigns' wins the transatlantic proof), and the customer builds (the GM1 sales the small operation shipped) that spread the Kiwi iron across the formula's map.

The Tasman context explains the machine's edge: the southern series ran January-February when the northern formula slept, so McRae developed through two seasons a year — the summer laps at Levin and Pukekohe feeding the design faster than single-hemisphere rivals could iterate — a development rhythm the driver-constructor's one-man decision loop exploited to the full.

The driver-constructor economics frame the type: the one-man-band audacity (the design-build-race arithmetic the tradition's romance), the Tasman-circuit context (the southern series the formula's summer home), and the small-production scholarship the run keeps.

The Kiwi-champion identity structures the market: the McRae-provenance summit (the champion's own chassis the crown biographies), the historic-F5000 movement's welcome, and the driver-constructor romance the type's story sells.

The present is historic-F5000 custody: chassis-identity law, Chevy sanity, and the own-built-champion legend throughout.

## Palmarès

The Tasman crowns (1971-73) and the 1972 American honours — the driver-constructor's world-spanning five-litre ledger.

## What to check before you buy

Driver-constructor law: chassis-identity scholarship first (the GM1 run's small production — the McRae-driven cars the provenance summit, the customer builds' biographies beside, the Leda-lineage origins the identity scholarship's depth), stock-block Chevy rationality (the formula's engine sanity), crack-test currency per the five-litre loads, and Tasman-provenance colour (the southern crowns' documentation the romance layer). Historic-F5000 eligibility structures the racing life; the own-built-champion story prices the type — the man who built his title-winner trading on the tradition's purest legend.

## Did you know

- He built his own crown: McRae designing and racing the car that won his titles.
- The Tasman was home water: three southern-summer crowns in the Kiwi iron.
- The proof crossed the Pacific: the 1972 American wins validating the one-man band.

## Related entries

- Lola T300 (F5000) — https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/lola-t300/
- Lola T332 (F5000) — https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/lola-t332/
- Lola T400 (F5000) — https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/lola-t400/
- Lola T142 (F5000) — https://racingcarnetwork.com/wiki/lola-t142/