1984 Dutch Grand Prix

— Those McLarens again

Zandvoort, August 26th TWELVE MONTHS ago almost to the day there was great interest in the paddock at Zandvoort and all the "top brass" of the Porsche factory were in evidence. It signalled the appearance of Porsche influence in Formula 1 for the first time since 1964 though this time it was not a Porsche Formula I car, but merely a Porsche designed and built engine. However, that was significant enough for it was what they described as a "third generation turbocharged engine", a very compact 80-degree V6-cylinder designed and built for a newly formed company called TAG Turbo Engines, itself closely allied to McLaren International run by Ron Dennis. This new Porsche engine, called a TAG Turbo, was installed in a modified McLaren MP4/1 chassis and was driven by Niki Luda, and though it did not cover itself with glory on this first outing it provided some very definite "writing on the wall" for those who were able to read it. The Dutch Grand Prix this year, at the sdme Zandvoort track, saw the Porsche Powered McLaren M1°4,2 cars, driven by Alain Prost and Niki Lauda, finish first and Wooed and by two-thirds distance they had 4Pped the entire field, easing off towards the end of the race and letting the third place e.arunlap itself. You could call it ,.10inination, you can certainly call it success. L. achieve such a result io. twelve months IT50 be everyone's dream, but McLaren have done better than that. is victory in the 1984 Dutch Grand Prix

was their ninth win this season out of thirteen races, and as these words are being written the season has three more races to run.