Driven by team founder Bruce McLaren, the M2B had a short Grand Prix career, entering six races and starting only four.

[5] Herd was an aerospace engineer who had previously worked at the National Gas Turbine Establishment (NGTE) where he had been involved with the Concorde project.

[13] Influenced by his aerospace experience, Herd built the chassis with Mallite, a material that had originally been designed for internal panelling in aircraft.

However, the material proved to be difficult to bend into the curved shapes needed and so, whilst the M2A prototype was made entirely of Mallite except for the steel bulkheads, on the M2B it was utilised only for the inner and upper skins, the remainder being aluminium alloy.

The M2A was fitted with a rear wing that produced downforce – downwards pressure on the car and tyres which allows faster cornering – and reduced lap times by three seconds at a test at Zandvoort circuit in November 1965, two and a half years before the Brabham and Ferrari teams eventually debuted wings in a Grand Prix.

This DOHC engine had won the 1965 Indianapolis 500, the premier single-seater oval track race in the United States, with Team Lotus and Jim Clark.

[22] However, progress was slow so the project was transferred to Tra-Co Engineering [23] in California where extensive modifications were made to the internals under the oversight of McLaren's Gary Knutson.

[22] In fact, it produced 300 bhp in a narrow power band and was further handicapped by its large size and weight; combined with the gearbox it weighed nearly as much as rival team Brabham's entire car.

However, short on money, the McLaren team made a financial deal with the makers of the film Grand Prix – a drama that included actual race footage – which involved the car being painted white with a green stripe (edged in silver) in order to represent the film's fictional Japanese "Yamura" team.

[32][33] The team missed the next race in France,[34] but at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch the M2B finished sixth to score McLaren's first championship point.

[6] Team member and later manager of the organisation Teddy Mayer said, "Our main problems were with the choice of the Ford engine.

[46] The winners of the 1966 Drivers' and Constructors' championships, Jack Brabham and his eponymous team, used a Repco-modified and badged Oldsmobile engine.

"[20][45][47] McLaren's later cars abandoned Mallite in favour of conventional aluminium construction; the Ford and Serenissima engine also saw no further action.

[50] Sources suggest that three M2B chassis were similarly sold on; one is awaiting restoration in the United States and another is currently on display at the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition.