Lawson ‘Shaking’ After Driving Bruce McLaren’s Le Mans GT40

Key Takeaways

What happened at Goodwood

Liam Lawson drove the #2 Ford GT40 famously associated with Bruce McLaren’s Le Mans victory up the hillclimb at the 2026 Goodwood Festival of Speed, an event he had not expected to take part in. “I didn’t expect to come here and drive it,” Lawson said. “I saw it today, and I asked. I said, ‘Can I please? That’d be really, really special.’ And the owner was kind enough to let me drive it.” The Goodwood hillclimb course runs 1.16 miles (1.86 km) up the Duke of Richmond’s driveway, a stretch of tarmac that has hosted historic machinery from every era of motorsport since the Festival began in 1993. For Lawson, driving a piece of Le Mans history on that stretch of road turned a routine appearance into a genuinely emotional one.

Why the GT40 means so much to Lawson

The GT40 matters to Lawson because it links directly to Bruce McLaren, the fellow New Zealander who founded the team that would eventually bear his name. Bruce McLaren, alongside co-driver Chris Amon, won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 driving a Ford GT40 Mk II, a result that remains one of the defining achievements in New Zealand motorsport history. “My hands are still shaking. Very, very special, obviously, a lot of New Zealand history in this car,” Lawson said after the run. He added that he had already driven a road-going version of the GT40 the previous year, and that the experience had stayed with him ever since. “The whole time, all I could think about was this car,” he admitted, describing how seeing the actual Le Mans-winning chassis in the paddock pushed him to ask for a run on the spot.

Inside the cockpit: Lawson’s own words

Lawson described the GT40 experience as unlike anything in a modern Formula 1 car, citing the vibration, the mechanical noise and the sensation of the engine building through the rev range. “The feeling you get when driving a car like this is completely… It’s indescribable. It’s not like anything that we drive currently: the vibration, the frequency, the noise,” he said. He also revealed he had been given a rev limit to respect during the run but found it difficult to hold back once the car came alive. “I was given an RPM limit not to go over, but you can’t help yourself. I didn’t go over it too much. You just can’t help yourself when it starts coming up in the upper [rev range], when the car just starts singing, and it’s incredible. It was very enjoyable for me,” Lawson said. When asked whether the run had ticked off a bucket-list moment, his answer left no doubt: “100%. That’s why everyone’s out of their cars, and I’m still sitting in there, so I’m probably going to stay in here for a little bit.”

The McLaren connection collectors care about

Bruce McLaren’s 1966 Le Mans win is one of the foundation stories behind the /product-category/team/mclaren/ name that now competes in Formula 1, and moments like Lawson’s Goodwood run keep that history visible to a new generation of fans. McLaren went on to found his own constructor team in Formula 1 before his death in 1970, and the papaya identity that fans associate with the team today traces its roots back to those earlier competition years, including the GT40 program. For collectors, this kind of heritage moment is exactly why full-size 1:1 replica helmets tied to McLaren’s history and current roster hold long-term display value — they connect a current grid moment, like Lawson’s emotional reaction at Goodwood, to decades of motorsport lineage in a single object on a shelf or wall mount.

A moment worth preserving off-track

Moments like Lawson’s Goodwood run are exactly the kind of motorsport history that collectors look to preserve through display pieces rather than just photographs or race footage. A full-size 1:1 replica helmet, produced as an exhibition-quality collector item, lets fans hold onto the emotional weight of a story like this one — a driver from New Zealand reconnecting with the machine his countryman drove to Le Mans glory decades earlier. These display helmets are built for shelving, cabinet mounts or wall displays rather than track use, giving fans a tangible way to mark a story that otherwise exists only in interviews and archive footage from events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

FAQ

Q: Which car did Liam Lawson drive at Goodwood?
Liam Lawson drove the #2 Ford GT40 associated with Bruce McLaren’s Le Mans win, taking it up the Goodwood hillclimb during the 2026 Festival of Speed after asking the car’s owner on the day for permission.

Q: Did Bruce McLaren win Le Mans in a Ford GT40?
Yes, Bruce McLaren won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 alongside co-driver Chris Amon, driving a Ford GT40 Mk II, a result that remains a landmark achievement in New Zealand motorsport history.

Q: Was Lawson’s GT40 run planned in advance?
No, Lawson’s run was unplanned. He said he saw the car in the paddock at Goodwood and asked the owner on the spot if he could drive it, and was given permission that same day.

Q: How long is the Goodwood Festival of Speed hillclimb?
The Goodwood hillclimb course measures 1.16 miles (1.86 km), running up the driveway of Goodwood House and hosting historic and modern machinery each year at the Festival of Speed.

Q: Does 123Helmets sell McLaren-branded display helmets?
Yes, 123Helmets offers full-size 1:1 replica helmets tied to McLaren’s current roster and heritage, produced as exhibition-quality collector items for display rather than track use.

Shop McLaren Helmets

Display and collector replicas only. Not certified for protective use. Full-size 1:1 scale.