McLaren Race Cars

The McLaren M2B was the McLaren team's first Formula One racing car, used during the 1966 season. Entering six races and starting only four. It scored the team's first point at the British Grand Prix and two more points at the United States Grand Prix.

Raced five times by Bruce McLaren in the 1967 season, the M4B was based on the M4A Formula 2 car as a stopgap between the M2B and the M5A. Additional fuel tanks were added either side of the cockpit to allow the car to run a full Grand Prix distance.

McLaren's first car build specifically for Formula One. In all it has eleven races for now wins. Swedish privateer Jo Bonnier bought the M5A and used it to take part in 7 more Grands Prix in 1968, as well as other races including the International Trophy..

The Lotus 21 had a tubular spaceframe structure skinned with fibreglass panels. Used by the works Lotus team, the 21 was the first works Lotus to win a Formula One Grand Prix.

The M7B was a one-off conversion of an M7A chassis with the fuel stored low and centrally in integral tanks at the sides of the cockpit. This was another result of Bruce McLaren's theory about improving the car's handling by altering fuel weight distribution.

The chief distinguishing characteristic of M7C was its fully enclosed monocoque which gave greater torsional rigidity than the bathtub chassis.

The M7D was commissioned by Alfa Romeo's Autodelta competition department and was powered by a 3.0 litre V8 engine from Alfa Romeo's T33 sports car. Its record in F1 was pretty horrible.

Like Lotus and Matra, McLaren built a four-wheel-drive F1 car for 1969, the McLaren M9A, but the car was only raced once and then put aside. The car, complete with distinctive "tea tray" rear wing, was completed in time for Derek Bell to use in the British Grand Prix along the M7s.

The M14A was an evolution of the previous M7A and M7C, with the primary change being the rear brakes were mounted inboard instead of outboard.[2] As with the M7, the M14A was powered by a Cosworth DFV V8 and a Hewland 5-speed manual .

Like the M7D, the M14D was commissioned by Alfa Romeo's Autodelta competition department. It was a standard M14A powered by the 3.0 litre V8 engine from Alfa Romeo's T33 sports car.

Nicknamed "The Alligator Car" thanks to the two fuel tanks next to the driver, the M19A used inboard coilover shocks for the front and rear suspension. Used a mid-mounted Cosworth DFV V8 and Hewland 5-speed manual gearbox.

The modified M19C made its debut at Monaco in the hands of Denny Hulme (Revson/Redman kept the M19A until the Austrian Grand Prix). The swinging link connection was dropped in favor of a conventional system in the M19C.

The M23 was a development of the McLaren M16 Indianapolis 500 car. A Ford Cosworth DFV engine was used and in the hands of Nicholson-McLaren Engines it made around 490 bhp. Over 83 races it had 14 poles, 16 wins, 2 drivers' championships and 1 constructors championship.

One of the key objectives when designing the new M26 Formula 1 racer was to reduce the frontal area compared to the outgoing M23. As a result, the aluminium monocoque chassis was lower and narrower than before. The rest of the mechanical package was clearly carried over from the M23.

The first ground effect McLaren was ready late in 1978, which allowed the team to submit the M28 to extensive tests before it made its competition debut in Argentina. Despite a third place in that first racem, the M28 only served McLaren for just half a season.

McLaren went back to conventional sheet aluminium for the chassis of the M29. Its design was clearly inspired by the Williams FW07 and Ligier JS11 that had shown great speed early in 1979 season. Better than the M28 it still wasn't good enough to be truly competitive in terms of winning.

The McLaren M30 was raced during the 1980 Formula One season and only one example was created. The M29 had become obsolete and a new vehicle was needed. The result was the M30 which further capitalized on ground-effect design. The M30 was raced to a sixth place finish at the Dutch Grand Prix, followed by a 7th at the Italian Grand Prix.

Groundbreaking. This was the first Formula One car to use a monocoque chassis wholly manufactured from carbon fibre composite, a concept which is now ubiquitous. The MP4 was the first car to be built following the merger of the McLaren team and Ron Dennis team. The car had several updates known as the MP4B, MP4/1C, MP4/1E

Everything learned from the interim MP4/1E was incorporated into the MP4/2. The car shared a lot with the MP4/1 E, but the monocoque was redesigned to accommodate the shorter engine and the larger fuel cell. An iteration of it, the MP4/2B, was used in the 1985 season, and a slightly updated version, the MP4/2C, raced in the 1986 season for McLaren.

There were three wins in 1987 with the MP4/3 by Alain Prost at Grand Prix of Brazil, Belgium, and Portugal. Stefan Johansson managed a few podium places, but he would be replaced in 1988 by Ayrton Senna. The MP4/3 represented the pinnacle of the development of the McLaren TAG-Porsche partnership.

The McLaren-Honda MP4-4, is one of the most successful Formula One car designs of all time. It competed in the 1988 Formula One season. The car was powered by Honda's RA168E 1.5 litre V6 turbo engine. The team achieved 15 pole positions to go along with the 15 wins. Only Gerhard Berger's pole position at Silverstone prevented a perfect pole record for McLaren.

The MP4/5 was loosely based on its 1988 predecessor, the all-conquering MP4/4. McLaren used the new car for half of the 1989 season using the Weismann Longitudinal Transmission from the MP4/4, and the MP4/5B with the Weismann Transverse Transmission for the last half of the 1989 season and for 1990.

This was Honda's third engine configuration in just four seasons, and was an entirely new 60˚ unit with a greater piston area than the outgoing engine and a potentially higher rev limit. The car itself, whilst looking similar to MP4/5B, was quite different in terms of its aerodynamic profile. The MP4/6 was considered the most competitive car in the F1 until Williams sorted the FW14

This was a follow-up to the successful MP4/6 from 1991. With Williams getting faster and more reliable, Mclaren was finally being tested. McLaren used the MP4/6 chassis, now designated MP4/6B for the first two races of 1992. It had semi-auto transmission and it was the last McLaren to use the Japanese engines from Honda (till 2015)

This was a big leap in tech. Designed by Neil Oatley around advanced electronics technology, including a semi-automatic transmission, active suspension and traction control systems that were developed in conjunction with McLaren shareholder Techniques d'Avant Garde (TAG). The engine was a 3.5-litre Ford HBD7 V8 engine. It won five races with one pole.

Due to changes in regulations intended to return emphasis on driver skills, many technologies designed to aid the driver, such as active suspension, power-assisted brakes, ABS and traction control were no longer permitted. Visually the car was otherwise very similar to the preceding MP4/8. In 16 races McLaren had zero wins, zero poles and eight podiums.

The MP4/10 was a radical design, incorporating a high "needle"-nose design and a wing mounted atop the airbox, among other innovations. The car has a big handling problem thanks to a lack of front-end grip. Coupled with an often unreliable engine, it was not good enough to win, sitting behind Benetton, Williams and Ferrari.

Performance and reliability improved in 1996, but the McLaren still wasn't close enough to Williams, Ferrari and Benetton. The car was developed throughout the season, with improvements initiated to eradicate an initial handling imbalance. The changes were good enough for fourth in the constructors championship.

New team colors arrived and lots of wind-tunnel testing helped McLaren improve. With a new F-spec version of the Mercedes-Benz engine, the cars were by this time enjoying a field-leading 740bhp at 16,000rpm, but even this proved insufficient to push McLaren’s tally of wins for the season beyond three.

From a base of three race wins in 1997, the team went on to win yet another Drivers‘ and Constructors‘ World Championship double, and its first with Mercedes-Benz and West. Generally the cars performed exceptionally well although DC experienced a couple of bottom-end failures at Monza and Monaco while Hakkinen’s handling went awry in Budapest.

The MP4/14 was the fastest car of the season, with aerodynamics that were even more advanced than the previous year's all-conquering MP4/13, while the Mercedes engine remained the most powerful on the grid. However, serious reliability problems, as well as errors by the drivers, meant that the Constructors' Championship was won by Ferrari.

The new MP4-15 was more an evolution than a new car, but with continual changes to the aerodynamics and a new power-steering set-up coming on stream during the season. The car proved highly competitive and scored seven victories just like its predecessor the MP4/14, but was narrowly beaten to both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships by the Ferrari F1-2000.

After being narrowly pipped to both titles in 2000 by Ferrari, the aim of 2001 was to get McLaren back on top. However, the season proved to be frustrating. The team regarded themselves as fortunate to come second in the Constructors' Championship, with 102 points, ahead of the resurgent Williams team.

Using a development version of the car, the MP4-17D, the 2003 season started very promisingly with wins at the first two grands prix of the year, one each for Coulthard and Räikkönen. However, rival teams soon caught up as McLaren was sidetracked by the development of the McLaren MP4-18, a radical new design, which due to reliability problems, never raced.

The McLaren MP4-18 was a stillborn car. Ron Dennis decided a radical approach was needed to get back to the front. However, due to several problems during tests, the car was never raced, in favour of the McLaren MP4-17D, a highly developed version of the 2002 contender.

McLaren said the MP4-19 was a "debugged version" of the ill-fated McLaren MP4-18. Turned out it still wasn't good enough. It was so bad that by mid-season a new car, the MP4-19B, was required, an all-new car with a radically redesigned aerodynamic package. The results were immediately positive and gave the team hope of a better end to the season.

The McLaren MP4-20 incorporated all of the lessons that had been learned, from the MP4-18 and from the two iterations of the MP4-19. Newey believed that downforce had been cut by as much as 28 per cent, the suspension geometry was also revised, and there was a new version of the Mercedes-Benz V10. Continual development made the MP4-20 the fastest car in F1 from mid-season onwards.

The MP4-21 was the first McLaren car to be powered by purely Mercedes-Benz engines after 11 years partnership with Ilmor as an engine builder. Notable for its striking chrome livery with red stripes designed to maximize the visibility of the team's new primary sponsor Emirates. The distinctive needle-nose design was previously used on the MP4-19 in 2004. Zero wins.

The car proved to be one of the most competitive of the season, achieving eight victories. Internal infighting was the bigger story at McLaren. The low downforce package of the MP4-22 was extremely competitive. McLaren, with the aid of their improved car, scored as many team points in the first half of 2007 as they had done during the entire year in 2006.

The MP4-23 It represented a substantial evolution of the MP4-22. The latest version of the 2.4-litre, eight-cylinder Mercedes-Benz F0 108V, a 90° unit conforming to the FIA-mandated 19,000rpm. Revisions from the MP4-22 included a longer wheelbase, the removal of the "bullhorn" winglets from the airbox and a new rear wing which differed both in main profile and its endplates. It won six races.

How bad was the MP4-24? Lewis Hamilton had made public calls to scrap the car and former team owner turned commentator Eddie Jordan had proclaimed it as "possibly the worst car McLaren have ever designed". Yeah that bad. With only two wins and five podiums (thanks more to Hamilton's talent than anything else), the MP4-24 was not McLaren's best by any stretch of the imagination.

The MP4-25 proved to be a stark improvement over the McLaren MP4-24. The most interesting part of the car was its F-duct, a small "snorkel" air scoop mounted in front of the driver that channels air through a duct in the cockpit and towards the rear of the car. Changes in the pressure in the duct reduced drag and allowing the car as much as an extra 6 mph. Wins 5 races and get 16 podiums.

The car was noted for its unique "L-shaped" sidepod arrangement, the aim is to clean up and better direct the airflow to the beam wing at the rear of the car, an area now even more important thanks to the ban on double diffusers. The car was competitive enough to give McLaren the 2nd place in the Constructors championship for the year.

The deep-reaching technical update for the 2012 McLaren MP4-27 showcased a natural evolution of 2011’s six-race-winning car. The 2012 chassis was substantially revised from the ground-up, with all major systems updated or re-designed for the new season. Good for seven wins and second once again in the Contructors Championship.

The MP4-28 resulted in McLaren's worst Formula 1 performance for 33 years. It was their first season without finishing on the podium since 1980, and they never qualified in the top five - their worst since 1983. It was also the team's first season without a win since 2006

The MP4-29 was McLaren's first turbo-powered Formula One car since the Honda engined MP4/4. After a third place finish in Australia, things went downhill. The team failed to record another podium finish all season. The MP4-29 was the most mechanically reliable car of the season with 36 classified finishes out of a possible 38, but it was also fifth in the Constructors' Championship.

The second Honda era was not like the first. The new Honda engine quickly proved both down on power and unreliable. The partnership scored its first world championship points at the Monaco Grand Prix, when Jenson Button finished eighth. However, points were in short supply for the remainder of the season. By the end of the season, McLaren-Honda had amassed just 27 points, finishing ninth in the constructors’ championship.

The MP4-31 used the Honda RA616H power unit, the second engine developed by Honda since their return to the sport with McLaren in 2015. Most of the season was spent wishing and dragging the cars into Q2 for qualifying. Progress has clearly been made to the Honda power unit but it was still way off where it needed to be to compete even mid-pack. Things are bad at McLaren now.

The MCL32 made its competitive début at the 2017 Australian Grand Prix. This was the last McLaren car to be fitted with a Honda engine as it was replaced by Renault engines from the 2018 season onwards. After an improvement in the previous year, 2017 was a rough season for McLaren. The cars were slow and the team's Honda engines proved to be very unreliable and slow. McLaren finished 9th in the Constructors' Championship, with 30 points.

After criticising their engine supplier in the previous seasons, a switch to Renault engines in 2018 exposed issues with the McLaren chassis. The car could manage just two top 10 qualifying times throughout the season. The team finished sixth in the constructors' championship and that was only thanks to better reliability from the previous year, and the team greatly benefitted from their rivals' problems to score points from the early races.

With a third place finish in the 2019 season, things are looking up for McLaren. The car is considered to be a big improvement compared to its disappointing predecessor, the MCL33, considered by many the best of the rest in qualifying and race trim behind the three leading teams: Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. McLaren quickly recovered from an unlucky first few rounds to claim best of the rest with one race remaining.

The MCL35 made its début at the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix after the start of the season was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The MCL35 was driven by Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris in 2020, with McLaren finishing in third place in the World Constructors' Championship for the first time since 2012 and achieving two podiums. The same car is basically being used for the 2021 season.

Building on the success of the ‘Zerex Special’, Mclaren made a production run of Group 7 racecars known as the McLaren Mark 1 or M1A. Spaceframe chassis and tuned aluminum Oldsmobile V8.

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In 1965, McLaren introduced the M1B for Group 7 (and later, Can-Am) competition. The M1B was an evolution of its earlier M1A, and during Can-Am’s 1966 debut season it would deliver lessons for McLaren’s later dominance.

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The McLaren M1C was the final development of the M1 and total of 25 M1C’s were produced with most of the cars ending up in the USA or Canada for the Can-Am challenge. M1C was introduced in 1967 as a customer car .

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The M6A started McLaren’s dominance of Can-Am, winning five out of the six rounds in 1967. It had a monocoque chassis and aerodynamic glass-fibre body. Power was from by 6.0-litre Chevrolet V8 that produced 530bhp.

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Initially built with an Oldsmobile V8, it was re-engined with a more powerful Chevrolet unit for the first season of Can-Am in 1966. It was still some way off the outrageous pace of the monstrous McLaren race cars that were to come.

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The M8A was an evolution of the previous M6A design. The engine now had 7.0 litres of swept capacity, produced 620bhp and had become a stressed component within the chassis, increasing torsional stiffness and saving weight.

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The biggest visual difference between the M8A and M8B was the addition of the massive aerofoil wing at the back. The 1969 engine a 7.1-litre Chevrolet V8 producing 680bhp. It completely dominated the 1969 Can-Am season.

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The M8C was developed as a customer version of the M8A. Fifteen M8Cs were built by Trojan. They featured a more conventional chassis that did not use the engine as a stressed member. Customers chose their own engines.

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Bruce McLaren died in pre-season testing of the M8D. The car won nine out of 10 rounds and the entire Can-Am championship. It had the nickname ‘Batmobile’. 7.6-litre Chevrolet V8 with 680bhp.

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The M8E was a customer car based on the M8B and built by Trojan. The high pylon-mounted rear wings of the M8B were replaced with a lower wing to comply with the ban on high-mounted wings.

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The all aluminium V8 increased in size to well over 8 litres. Power was no 740 bhp, making the M8F the first Can-Am to break the 1000 bhp/ton. The last of McLaren’s astonishing run of championship-winning cars.

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McLaren M20 was developed for the 1972 season. It served as a replacement for the M8Fs, but it later became the final Can-Am design created by McLaren before they left the series after failing to win the 1972 championship.

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The M8FP was the Trojan-built customer version of the M8F. Trojan production cars for Can-Am were M8FP models in 1972.

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The LT170 was a hybrid of the Lola T70 and McLaren M6B Can-Am cars, and used a Chevrolet V8 engine. One car was built. This car raced part way through the 1971 Australian Sports Car Championship (ASCC).

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Starting out life as a 1972 McLaren M8F, the C8 used a 454 cu in (7,440 cc) Chevrolet V8 engine, but proved to be fragile, often retiring from races Peter Hoffmann owned the sole C8, and ran it until 1999.

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The M12s were intended as McLaren’s first customer cars based on the M8As which the team had successfully used to win the 1968 Can-Am season, as well as the M8Bs which the team were developing for 1969.

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McLaren's first Indy car, the McLaren M15. The car was very light by Indy standards, weighing in at 1350 lbs when first built (gained 100 lbs during development). It was the lightest cars at the 1970 Indy 500.

This is the wedge shaped Indianapolis car for 1971 using the turbo charged Offenhauser engine and a Hewland LG500 4 speed transaxle. The Chssis is a fill aluminium monocoque with Goodyear 75 gallon fuel bags and fibreglass body panels.

1972 Indianapolis/USAC cars developed from the M16A. These cars were built at Colnbrook in the UK and campaigned by the McLaren team and the Penske team.

The McLaren M16C was the most successful of the M16 variants, with works driver Johnny Rutherford winning eight races in M16Cs, including both the Indianapolis 500 and the Pocono 500 in 1974. It had several tweaks vs the 16B.

McLaren built six revised M16Cs for 1973, for works and Penske use. By now rule makers USAC had basically said that anything goes as far as wings were concerned. The M16C looked a little more like an F1 machine than the previous car, with a full length engine cover, a new, more rounded cockpit surround, and new radiator ducts.

The M16 series had come to the end of its competitive life. It was superceded by the much more modern M24 for 1977. The M24 is basically an M23 with a turbo DFX instead of the NA DFV Cosworth, and of course the wheels are different sizes so the suspension is modified accordingly.

The McLaren M24B was built in 1978 and used during the 1978 and 1979 season. The 1979 CART season was marred by legal difficulties resulting from the USAC/CART split. Nevertheless, Rutherford and the M24B finished 4th in the Indy Car standings.

Fernando Alonso and McLaren, decided to take on the 2017 Indy 500. He slowed and coasted to a smoky halt after completing 179 of the 200 laps. It was a great run, with Alonso having led 27 laps in total, between the frequent yellow flags, and he was classified 24th.

McLaren's 2019 IndyCar went from a planned full-season with proven champions targeted as Fernando Alonso's team-mates, to failing to qualify for a one-off Indianapolis 500 appearance. There were lots of issues but the main one was a preoccupation by the company on improving F1 competitiveness.

McLaren Racing announced on August 1, 2019 it would join the series in 2020 in partnership with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports under the name Arrow McLaren Racing SP. It promised factory support from the iconic constructor with the tested know-how of Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson at the helm.

The F1 GTR race cars that lined up on the grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 were essentially still no more than converted road cars. Indeed, the air restrictor regulations of the period meant the F1 GTR actually had less power than the production F1 it was based on. Yet against faster purpose-built sports prototypes, F1 GTRs finished the 1995 race in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 13th positions, an unprecedented result that made McLaren the only manufacturer to win the world-famous endurance race on its first attempt. It is a record we still proudly hold to this day.

Rivals responded to the dominance of the F1 GTR with purpose-built racers that were then modified just enough to create the road-going versions needed to certify them. McLaren decided to create an F1 GT road car to homologate a race version sharing the same basic form. The racer would be the ultimate evolution of the F1 GTR. Nine F1 GTR ‘Longtail’ racers were built. The F1 GTR ‘Longtail’ took victory in five of the 11 rounds of the FIA GT Championship, and finished first and second in the GT1 class at Le Mans.

The 12C GT Sprint retains many of the unique systems from the road car whilst being optimised exclusively for the race track. In 2012 McLaren took on the best that Porsche, Ferrari Audi and AMG can produce in the GT3 class of racing. Partnered with CRS Racing, McLaren offered teams a competitive package. McLaren has racing in its blood and it was a natural step to take MP4-12C road car and turn it into a GT3 car.

The 12C GT Can-Am Edition was a dramatic track-focused car launched in 2013, paying tribute to the racers of Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme which were extremely successful throughout the 1960s and 1970s. The one-off design study is finished in historic McLaren Orange and satin black, and is the debut appearance of a 12C racing variant outside Europe. A concept it was not subject to the racing regulations.

The first McLaren to use the GTR moniker was the McLaren F1 GTR that won the 1995 Le Mans 24 Hours. Without road-car regulations to hold it back, the McLaren P1 GTR was an extreme track car. It was only offered for sale to P1 owners and include participation in driving events at some of the world’s most iconic circuits with specialist vehicle support. The ultimate track focused driver’s car.

The McLaren 12C GT3 made its competitive debut in 2012, securing four championship titles, 60 race victories and 123 podiums with customer teams globally. The McLaren MP4-12C GT3 was the first McLaren car built for FIA GT series racing since the McLaren F1 GTR finished production in 1997. The 12C GT3 was based on the new MP4-12C.

The 650S Sprint is an evolution of the successful 12C GT Sprint, and moves the game on as the 650S roadcar has done. The 650S Sprint is an easier car to fully exploit and enjoy for a driver, and the levels of engagement and refinement have been optimized. The development programme for the car was extensive.

The McLaren 650S GT3 is one of the latest generation track-focused racers, designed and optimised to contest GT3 championships. Making its competitive debut with customer teams from 2015, it builds on the highly successful 12C GT3. The 650S GT3 offers optimised aerodynamics and enhanced levels of driver engagement.

The 570S GT4 is based on the 570S Coupe from the McLaren Sports Series. The model is homologated to full GT4 specification, and is sold in a ready-to-race configuration, eligible for all GT4-regulated series globally. It is also the model that is used for the newly launched for Pure McLaren GT Series.

The 720S GT3 elevates the extreme performance of the Super Series model to world-class track pace – accessible to professional and amateur drivers alike. The latest GT3 challenger is undergoing an intensive and extensive track testing programme throughout 2018, and will compete with customer teams at some of the most demanding GT races.