The Stories<\/span><\/a> \/ <\/span>Formula One<\/span><\/a> \/ <\/span>Can-Am<\/span><\/a> \/ <\/span>IndyCar<\/span><\/a> \/ <\/span>LeMans F1<\/span><\/a> \/ <\/span>Customer Racing<\/span><\/a> \/ <\/span>Best McLaren Racecars<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n McLaren’s involvement in motorsports is not just a part of its history; it is the very foundation upon which the company was built. Founded in 1963 by New Zealand-born racer Bruce McLaren, the McLaren Racing team debuted in the Formula One World Championship in 1966. Since then, McLaren has become synonymous with success and innovation in one of the most competitive sports in the world. Bruce McLaren’s racing philosophy was simple yet ambitious: to design, build, and race cars that were better than any before them. From the very beginning, McLaren was at the forefront of innovation. The team’s first significant success came in 1968 when Bruce himself won the Belgian Grand Prix in a McLaren car, marking the team’s first Formula One victory.<\/span><\/p>\n The 1980s and early 1990s were a golden era for McLaren in Formula One. Under the leadership of Ron Dennis, McLaren embraced cutting-edge technology and design. The team’s collaboration with Porsche to develop the TAG turbo engine and later with Honda resulted in some of the most dominant cars in the history of the sport. Legendary drivers like Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Niki Lauda drove McLaren to multiple championship wins. During this period, McLaren won 12 drivers’ championships and 8 constructors’ championships, cementing its legacy as one of the most successful teams in Formula One.<\/span><\/p>\n Beyond Formula One, McLaren has expanded its racing efforts into other areas of motorsport. McLaren cars have competed in the Indianapolis 500, Can-Am, and Le Mans, often with great success. In recent years, McLaren has made a significant impact in the GT racing scene, with its range of sports cars adapted for competitive racing. The introduction of the McLaren GT division marked a new chapter, focusing on making McLaren a staple in endurance racing and GT3 competitions worldwide. Cars like the 720S GT3 and the 570S GT4 have shown McLaren’s commitment to competing across various platforms of motorsport, promoting both brand prestige and technological advancement.<\/span><\/p>\n McLaren is the second-oldest active Formula 1 team and if you have been following their race team for more than five seasons, they have actually been pretty successful at the sport, with some of the most iconic and successful Formula 1 cars ever made. Founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, the team continues to build on a long and successful history in F1. Back in 1968, Bruce McLaren won in Belgium, giving a first Grand Prix victory to his team, who finish second in the constructors’ championship that year. In 1976, James Hunt takes the drivers’ championship for the team, beating Ferrari’s Niki Lauda by one point.<\/span><\/p>\n Dominance came in the 1980s, when partnering Alain Prost, Niki Lauda took the drivers’ championship by half a point from his team mate as they won 12 of the season’s 16 races in 1984. The next year, Prost wins again for back to back honors. Then between 1988 and 1991, McLaren dominated. In 1988 Ayrton Senna took the title from his team mate Alain Prost, with honors reversed in 1989. In 1990 Senna takes back the title and retains it in 1991. The rule changes in the late 1990s allowed Mika Hakkinen to take the drivers’ championship in both seasons with McLaren taking the constructors’ championship in 1998.<\/span><\/p>\n While competitive thereafter, it wasn’t till 2007 that true success came back. Despite a rivalry between Hamilton and Alonso, McLaren won eight Grands Prix but were stripped of constructors’ points and fined $100 million for benefiting from possession of confidential Ferrari data. Hamilton and Alonso finish level on points – one shy of the drivers’ title. In 2008 Lewis Hamilton brings team their first drivers’ championship since 1999, but partnership with Heikki Kovalainen ultimately not strong enough to wrest constructors’ crown from Ferrari and they finish second, 21 points shy of the Italian team. Since then there have been ups and downs.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1966, the debut year of the Canadian American Challenge Cup series \u2013 the Can-Am for short \u2013 Bruce McLaren\u2019s M1B sports cars were outclassed by their more powerful Lola and Chaparral opposition. In 1972 the M20s lost out in the power stakes to Roger Penske\u2019s brutally fast turbocharged Porsches. In the intervening years, however, the Can-Am was McLaren. The orange cars from Colnbrook notched up 38 victories, while privateer cars accounted for two more. Even in that final year of eclipse the works cars won twice and a private example once, bringing the final marque tally to an incredible 43.<\/span><\/p>\n McLaren himself won the Can-Am title in 1967 and 1969, while team-mate Denny Hulme won it in 1968 and salvaged something from the team\u2019s distress by taking his second title in 1970, the year in which Bruce was killed testing an M8D. When McLaren began planning a replacement for the amazingly successful M6A at the end of 1967, the Can-Am had already been dubbed \u2018The Bruce and Denny Show\u2019. In that year\u2019s six-race series they won all but one race. If the opposition had been trampled into the dust in 1967, then they weren’t going to like 1968. With the launch of the M8A McLaren was strong and in 1969 unstoppable. In an unmatched achievement, McLaren won every one of those 11 rounds. In eight the \u2018orange elephants\u2019, as the M8Bs became known were first and second.<\/span><\/p>\n It wasn’t all celebration during these years though. On 2 June 1970, at Goodwood, McLaren was conducting routine testing in Hulme\u2019s intended race car when a tail securing pin went missing. Wind pressure ripped away the rear bodywork and wing and, devoid of its downforce, the M8D slid broadside into a marshal\u2019s post at well over 100 mph (161 kph). Bruce McLaren, just short of his 33rd birthday, was killed.<\/span><\/p>\n McLaren first contested the United States Auto Club’s (USAC) Indianapolis 500 race in 1970, encouraged by their tyre supplier Goodyear, which wanted to break competitor Firestone’s stranglehold on the event. McLaren took Indianapolis by storm. McLaren’s first Indy car, the McLaren M15, was due to be driven in the 1970 Indy 500 by Denny Hulme and Chris Amon, but despite Hulme showing very good early speed, he incurred serious burns in one of the cars, and neither driver started the race. Peter Revson later led the California 500, but the team’s attention quickly turned to a new design. The M16 was the ultimate McLaren IndyCar, a three-time winner of Indy 500. In various guises the McLaren M16 saw frontline service as a works entry in Indycar racing for five seasons, in effect mirroring the long career of the M23, the F1 car that was a born a couple of years later. The M16 would log three Indy 500 victories over its remarkable lifetime, and as such is one of the most successful designs in the history of the race. In recent year McLaren has tip-toed back into IndyCars and more recently gone all-in. Below we take you through all their IndyCar racers over the years.<\/span><\/p>\n McLaren is still the only manufacturer to win the world-famous endurance race on its first attempt. It happened back in 1995 and it is a crazy story about a crazy car company building the fastest car in the world and then taking it racing. When the F1 was released it did not take long for people to start asking for a racing version. The racing version of the F1 that went to Le Mans in June, the GTR, was only slightly modified from the standard road-going model. The regulations pegged its power below 600bhp, so the racer was actually slightly less powerful. The GTRs also had to be fitted with steel roll-cages, the steering rack ratios were quicker, and the rubber bushing in the suspension was removed. By any standards, that 1995 race was an epic, even going on to win the 1995 Global GT Championship.<\/span><\/p>\n McLaren F1 GTR (1995 – 1997)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n McLaren F1 GTR Long Tail (1997)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n McLaren has built cars that consumers can buy and race for a long time. While McLaren does indeed have its struggles in F1 at the moment there is no denying the company has real race pedigree. Most people don\u2019t know that McLaren has a thriving business building race cars that can be purchased by individuals. These competition-honed racing cars are the best of breed and are built to win.<\/span><\/p>\n McLaren’s storied history in motorsport is a rich tapestry woven with innovation, determination, and triumph. From its inception in 1963, founded by the visionary racer Bruce McLaren, the brand has evolved into a synonym for racing excellence. Known for pushing the boundaries of what’s technically possible, McLaren has etched its name into the annals of racing history, claiming victories in some of the most prestigious motorsport events worldwide. This section aims to spotlight the best McLaren racing cars ever made, machines that not only dominated the tracks but also demonstrated groundbreaking advancements in automotive technology. McLaren’s foray into Formula One, the pinnacle of motorsport, has been particularly distinguished. The team boasts an enviable record of over 180 race wins, 12 drivers’ championships, and 8 constructors’ championships, making it one of the most successful teams in the history of the sport. Beyond Formula One, McLaren’s prowess extends to the Can-Am series, where they were almost unbeatable in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, which they won outright in 1995 with the McLaren F1 GTR. With that, lets move onto the good stuff and give you our take on the best McLaren race cars ever created.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" McLaren Race Cars McLaren has built cars that consumers can buy and race for a long time. The pace of new GT car development has really picked up in recent years along with the broader McLaren production range, but there are some cracking cars from the 1990s that were absolutely dominant when it came to racing. The older McLaren race cars no longer in production can still be found pounding race tracks all over the world and continue to win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":366782,"parent":346261,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-389813","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n![](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/2017-Goodwood-Members-Meeting-GT1-47-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEvery McLaren Race Car Ever Made<\/h2>\n
McLaren Formula One Cars<\/span><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/McLaren-F1-Cars.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMcLaren Formula 1 Cars<\/h2>\n
McLaren Formula One Car List<\/h3>\n
McLaren Can-Am Cars<\/span><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/1006214.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMcLaren Can-Am Racers<\/h2>\n
McLaren CanAm Car List<\/h3>\n
McLaren IndyCars<\/span><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/McLaren-M16-Offenhauser-37361.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMcLaren IndyCars<\/h2>\n
McLaren IndyCars List<\/h3>\n
McLaren LeMans Race Cars<\/span><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/1997-McLaren-F1-GTR-Longtail-004-1600.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMcLaren F1 – LeMans<\/h2>\n
McLaren F1 Race Cars<\/h3>\n
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McLaren Customer Race Cars<\/span><\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/2019-McLaren-720S-GT3-002-1600.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMcLaren Customer Cars for Racing<\/h2>\n
McLaren Customer Race Cars<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/0105.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBest McLaren Race Cars Ever Created<\/h2>\n
We Pick The Nine Greatest McLaren Race Cars In History<\/h3>\n