In the 1970s we saw many teams entering F1, and then vanishing forever, one of them was Lyncar F1 team.
However, in the long and crowded history of F1, some teams arrive with noise, big promises, but then slip in almost unnoticed, leave a faint tyre mark, and disappear just as quietly.
The British team, Lyncar belongs firmly in the second category.
Their time in F1 was brief, almost blink-and-you-miss-it short, yet their story says a lot about what Grand Prix used to be in the ’70s.
This was an era when F1 was still open enough for engineers, privateers and enthusiasts to test themselves against the world’s best, even if only once, something we miss in the modern era.
During the 1970s, Formula One was filled with privateer teams that arrived full of ambition but left almost unnoticed. Many struggled to qualify, let alone score results, and disappeared as quickly as they had come.
Teams like Connew and Maki Engineering faded away completely, never returning to the grid and becoming quiet footnotes in F1 history.
How Lyncar Came to Exist
Lyncar F1 team was founded by British engineer Martin Slater, a respected name who had already worked with serious racing cars long before the team’s F1 appearance in 1974.
The project itself was commissioned by John Nicholson, a New Zealand driver and highly regarded engine builder who had enjoyed success in Formula Atlantic.
John Nicholson was not just a simple driver, his real strength lay in engineering. Through Nicholson-McLaren engines, he was deeply involved in preparing Ford Cosworth DFV engines for leading teams, including McLaren itself.
F1 was not his career goal, it was more of a personal challenge, something to experience rather than conquer.
Out of that mindset came the Lyncar 006, the team’s one and only F1 chassis.
The Lyncar 006 and a Very Traditional Design
By the mid-1970s, F1 technology was advancing quickly, but the Lyncar 006 was intentionally conservative.
The car was often described at the time as a ‘Cosworth kit car’.
The aluminium monocoque chassis was built by Maurice Gomm, paired with the legendary Ford Cosworth DFV V8, the engine that dominated in the 70s, tuned in-house by Nicholson-McLaren.
However, power was sent through a Hewland FG400 gearbox, with conventional outboard suspension and Goodyear tyres completing the package.
There were no radical ideas, or any risky experiment, and no attempt to reinvent F1.
The Lyncar was built to be solid, reliable, and familiar, a car designed to allow its driver to focus on the experience rather than the engineering unknowns.
A Formula One Career Measured in Two Races
Lyncar competed just twice in Formula 1, both at the British Grand Prix.
In 1974, Nicholson entered the event but failed to qualify, the competition was fierce, and privaters were already finding it harder to break through as F1 became more advanced.
A year later, in 1975, again Lyncar returned to the British GP, this time Nicholson qualified 26th and made the race.
With heavy rain late in the race causing chaos across the field, Nicholson finished 17th.
For a small, privately run effort, simply qualifying and being classified in a World Championship race was an achievement in itself. For Nicholson, it was enough.
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Did Lyncar Fail?
In the traditional sense, no. Lyncar did not collapse financially, nor did it disappear due to poor results. The project ended because it was never meant to continue indefinitely.
Nicholson’s primary commitment was his engine business, running Nicholson-McLaren engines demanded time, focus, and constant attention. A full F1 season would have required sacrifices he was unwilling to make.
However, Nicholson never saw himself as a professional racing driver, his F1 appearance was about personal satisfaction, sponsor exposure, and proving that he could reach the grid, once he achieved that goal in 1975, the motivation faded.
There were brief ideas about continuing in F1 using a privateer McLaren M23 chassis, but when that opportunity fell through, Nicholson chose to step away entirely.
After that, his interest shifted elsewhere like powerboat racing, and the Lyncar chapter quietly closed.
ANECDOTE: I do not know exactly how to explain it, but back in the 1970s people invested everything into F1. Teams barely slept, spent fortunes, and lived only to build a car that might be good enough just to qualify. Nicholson did all of that too, but Formula One was never his obsession. His motivation was different. He cared far more about engineering than driving, about making things work properly rather than chasing fame from the cockpit. For him, success was found in the workshop, not in proving himself on the grid.
Life After Formula One
While Lyncar team vanished, the car itself did not fade.
In 1976, the Lyncar 006 was sold to Spanish driver Emilio de Villota, who modified the car and ran it successfully in the Shellsport International Series.
Over the years, the chassis continued to appear in secondary single-seater series before eventually being preserved.
So in 2017, it was sympathetically rebuilt by SMC Junior Motorsport and returned to Spain, where it began appearing at classic racing events.
According to reports, several Lyncar chassis, including Formula Atlantic cars, are owned by historic racer Peter Venn, ensuring that the name survives in historic motorsport circles.
A Team That Knew When to Stop
Lyncar’s story stands out precisely because it does not follow the usual narrative of ambition, failure, and regret.
It was a small project, an honest project, built by people who understood their limits and were comfortable with them, and never tried more than that.
In an era before corporate structures and billion-dollar budgets, F1 still allowed room for stories like this.
Lyncar did not chase greatness, it touched F1, achieved its goal, and stepped away on its own terms.
That quiet exit may be why it is often forgotten, but it is also what makes the story worth remembering.
