McLaren's 'Triple Crown' Monaco F1 livery: stories behind the glory

“It was perfect,” Rutherford told Motor Sport. “It’s so good when you have a good car and everything happens right.”

It looked like all that pace might be in vain though – a blown engine in practice meant Rutherford was excluded from pole day proceedings, meaning his eventual qualifying lap – which was actually second fastest of the whole field “without even trying” – put him 25th on the grid.

It mattered not on race day though – Rutherford soon scythed past his rivals, and by lap 12 was up to third, until meeting his match in the form of the fearsome AJ Foyt.

“We raced hard in the middle stages of the race, both taking turns in the lead,” remembered Rutherford. “He had the Ford V8 overhead cam, and his car was a little faster down the straightaways than mine. But I was all over him through the turns. He could be halfway through the turn when I was just entering it, but then I’d be on his tail going across the short chute that followed.

“It was frustrating when a car like that has just enough torque or strength to get down the straightaway a little quicker than you, but I knew if I kept the pressure on him I would either run him out of right rear tyre, or engine.”

Eventually Foyt’s Ford power unit did break, spewing oil all over Rutherford’s McLaren. ‘Super Tex’ was eventually black-flagged, handing Rutherford the race – it was the second-furthest back anyone had won the 500 from, after Lou Meyer, who came home first after starting 28th.

“It was everything I ever hoped it would be,” said Rutherford. “To get your image on that Borg Warner trophy means a great deal.”

1984 Monaco Grand Prix – Alain Prost

Ironically, the 1984 blast round the principality streets is most-remembered for being Ayrton Senna’s breakout race but the man he was chasing down, Alain Prost ultimately claimed the first ever Monaco McLaren win on the track at which the team made its debut.

It would be the first of 15 for the Woking team, five clear of nearest challenger Ferrari. Though it’s often viewed in the light of being a race in which Senna was denied a rightful victory, it’s also an example of vintage Prost – clear-headed, calculated driving being exactly enough to win.

Prost put his McLaren MP4/1C on pole by 0.091sec from the charging Lotus of Nigel Mansell, while McLaren team-mate Niki Lauda was 1.2sec off down in eighth.

Raceday was held in treacherous conditions, with an all-Renault pile-up of Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick at the first corner a forerunner of things to come.

When Prost’s TAG-Porsche turbo began misfiring, Mansell homed in, taking the chance to nip past when the Frenchman hesitated over a lapped car.

On lap 15 though the Lotus slid into the barrier at Casino Square, handing the lead back to Prost.

Four laps later, and Senna was on the hunt – now in second place, the Toleman driver was looking to take his debut win in only his sixth F1 race.

From lap 29, Prost began having brake issues caused by the cold weather, and started waving down the start/finish straight, indicating he thought the race should be stopped due to the dangerous conditions.

On lap 32 clerk of the course Jacky Ickx duly threw the chequered flag. Though a contentious ending, it would be the first of four Monaco victories for Prost, and a momentous debut Monte Carlo win for McLaren too.

1995 24 Hours of Le Mans – Yannick Dalmas, JJ Lehto, Masanori Sekiya

No one expected McLaren’s F1 GTR to win the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. In fact, as Woking’s crew chief of the GT project Mike Grain ttold Motor Sport: “it was never meant to be a race car, let alone a 24-hour one.”

Gordon Murray’s legendary road car design was supposed to be his escape from racing, creating his dream road-going machine.

However, the F1 found its way into the 1995 GT Championship, and it wasn’t long before customer teams were soon on to McLaren about entering Le Mans too. But the F1 GTR wasn’t quite up to the challenge yet.

“We started with a tiny team, four of us. We worked our way through building the Le Mans car, taking it from a road car chassis to a race car, testing throughout the winter of ’95,” Grain said.

“We ran a 24-hour test at Magny-Cours in 24-hour specification and that went very well. I remember chief engineer James Robinson and I had a 150-item job list ahead of the car departing that kept us very busy.

“It wasn’t still far off the base three-to-four-hour car that we developed, but there was a package that we developed around it. I think that’s the amazing thing about that car.”

Seven F1 GTRs entered the blue riband enduro, but it was the Dalmas/Lehto/Sekiya No59 Kokusai Kaihatsu Racing car, starting ninth, which would steal the day.

Up against the faster prototypes, the F1 GTR didn’t have a chance, but as it turned out, rain was the equaliser. The N059 machine began to move up the field when rain fell after the first hour.

“It’s difficult for me to explain the driving conditions during the race,” says Dalmas. “It was terrible. If you talk with any other drivers about 1995, all drivers say it was terrible. Aquaplaning on the straight and all over the lap. If we compare ’95 and today, we’d probably have a safety car.

“Just one hour before the chequered flag the track was dry, but you can’t imagine how difficult it was during the race.”

Not all were of a similar opinion though, particularly the F1 GTR driving experience, with its powerful BMW V12 engine.

“I just loved it, especially in the wet,” said JJ Lehto. “It had loads of traction, lots of torque – no problem.”

A searing night-time stint from the Finn, combined with the No51 David Price Racing F1 GTR suffering a clutch problem, meant the No59 car moved into the lead, and never lost it. McLaren took a famous win, and historically sealed the Triple Crown.