The journey to become a big name in the car industry

After impressive achievements in Formula 1 racing, McLaren Automotive established its own racing team, named Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd (BMR) in 1963.

BMR officially participated in Formula 1 racing in 1966 and won many achievements. Not only stopping there, Bruce McLaren also participated in many other formats such as Can-Am or 24 Hours of Le Mans…

With the success of the M6A model in the Group 7 race, Bruce McLaren is determined to break his limits when he plans to join the Group 4 GT race, ready to confront the big players in the industry like Ferrari, Porsche or Ferrari. Alfa Romeo. However, this plan is hindered by the FIA’s regulation of the minimum number of commercial vehicles to be distributed in the market.

As a talented engineer and businessman, Bruce McLaren has shown his vision when he decided to develop a commercial model based on the chassis of the M6A and bring all the qualities of racing cars to the world. from BMR.

All that desire was crystallized in the original M6GT. This is also Bruce McLaren’s favorite car and is often used by him to go to work as well as to travel to big events.

However, Bruce McLaren’s plan to distribute 250 M6GTs to fans did not materialize when he died in an accident in 1970. His departure has left a huge void at BMR says BMR. private and industry car world in general.

However, the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd team still competed successfully with many titles in the Formula 1, Can-Am and Indianapolis 500 races under the direction of Teddy Mayer.

In 1981, McLaren was merged with the Formula 2 racing team Project Four of businessman Ron Dennis, and officially became McLaren International. Not only sharing the same passion for speed machines, Ron Dennis also has the desire to bring Bruce McLaren’s name to life with F1 racing and fulfill his unrealized desire. This event is considered a major turning point in the development of the McLaren brand.

For the first time in Formula 1 history, John Barnard, the renowned designer of Project Four, has brought a carbon fiber body structure and a semi-automatic transmission to the MP4/1.

Since that time, the glory days of the McLaren team officially began with the legends Niki Lauda, ​​Alain Prost and Aryton Senna. From 1984 to 1991, McLaren won 7 individual championships and 6 manufacturer championships.

On December 2, 1985, McLaren Cars was born, officially opening a new chapter in the journey to complete the mission of the legendary driver. At the Milan airport lounge after the 1988 Italian Grand Prix, four McLaren senior managers decided to create the most perfect commercial car in the world. This moment also marks a turning point in the history of the global car industry.

With the leadership of chief engineer Gordon Murray and the most advanced technologies from Formula 1 racing, the project took 4 years to officially complete the McLaren F1 masterpiece.

Right from the moment of launch, McLaren F1 has broken a series of records. In 1993, McLaren set a speed record of 372 km / h with the XP3 test car. And in 1998, under the control of driver Andy Wallace, McLaren F1 set an average speed of 386.4 km/h, with the highest recorded speed of up to 391 km/h.

McLaren F1 holds the record for the fastest commercial car on the planet from 1993 to 2005. However, after nearly 30 years, this is still the fastest naturally aspirated car in the world to date. this. A total of 106 McLaren F1s were produced between 1992 and 1998.

In 2010, McLaren Automotive was officially born after splitting from McLaren Racing. Its first project, the MP4-12C (also known as the 12C), was the first model to be designed and manufactured entirely by McLaren Automotive. And starting from that time, McLaren Automotive gradually developed and gradually became a name with a foothold in the car industry, especially in the high-performance car segment.

In 2013, the McLaren P1 hypercar model was launched with a limited production of 375 units. Originally considered a descendant of McLaren F1, the P1 opens a new step in the development of cars using its hybrid technology.

Currently, the list of main models of McLaren Automotive includes: GT: McLaren GT, Super Series (Supercars): Artura, 720S, 720S Spider, 765LT, 765LT Spider, Ultimate Series: Elva.

Nearly 60 years since Bruce McLaren laid the first brick with the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd team, his name still lives on in every machine that comes out of Woking.