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44-508: In 1995 McLaren Cars entered sports car racing using their McLaren F1 GTR in grand touring series like the BPR Global GT Series as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans . The McLaren F1s were powered by a S70 V12, leading to McLaren and BMW signing an agreement to both develop their racing teams with the assistance of BMW Motorsport . This combination was successful in winning the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans . However, by 1997

88-704: A business plan to release a car or model every year, the company unveiled the 650S in Coupé and Spider models in 2014, and unveiled the new Sports Series range comprising the McLaren 570S and 540C in 2015. The company debuted a car for children, the P1TM, after the P1, in September 2016 and announced the same month that they are developing a powerful battery for Formula E . In October 2016, councillors were reported to be looking at

132-537: A new car and in 1992, the F1 was launched with a total production run of just 106 units. Following a brief collaboration with Mercedes-Benz for the SLR McLaren , McLaren Automotive was re-launched as a standalone manufacturer in 2010, spinning off McLaren Racing . The company launched the 12C in 2011 and its Spider variant in 2012. The limited-run P1 went into production in 2013 and ended in 2015. After introducing

176-649: A one-off experiment to see how well a series would perform in Japan in the future, similar to the one-off 1998 Petit Le Mans for the ALMS. With an agreement between the ACO and JAF, the race was agreed to take place at Fuji Speedway , and to combine the ACO's LMP, LMGTP, GTS, and GT class with the JAF's JGTC series GT500 and GT300 classes. The addition of JGTC machinery was done not only to entice Japanese teams into possibly moving into

220-702: A proposition for land opposite the McLaren Technology Centre for construction and announced the "Pure McLaren Arctic Experience" the same month, an event where a participant was trained to drive a 570S in the Arctic Circle . McLaren Automotive is based at the McLaren Technology Centre , alongside the rest of the McLaren Group, and at the adjacent McLaren Production Centre. The two facilities are connected by

264-457: A single car. A large number of European teams which had been on the entry list also failed to show up, most notably BMW Motorsport with their V12 LMR prototypes. Toyota and Nissan had both decided to abandon their sportscar efforts after 1999, meaning neither team took their automatic entries for Le Mans in 2000. European interest in the series was also lacking, especially since teams like BMW and Audi seemed more interested in competing in

308-583: A small team based in Surbiton , Surrey. Auspiciously starting his Formula One career in 1958, McLaren joined the Formula One team a year later. That same year, he won the US Grand Prix at age 22, making him the youngest Grand Prix winner to that date. He stayed with Cooper for a further seven years, winning three more Grands Prix and other races, driving for Jaguar and Aston Martin , and winning

352-585: A solid business case, although Mercedes' AMG subsidiary produced a flagship sports car called the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG . The car had a naturally aspirated V8 with over 570 bhp (430 kW; 580 PS); however, it is not thought to be related to the P8 project. McLaren Customer Racing is the sports car racing arm of McLaren Automotive, established in 2011 as McLaren GT to develop, build and support all McLaren track and GT race activities. The division

396-634: A subterranean walkway, with the MPC built partially underground to minimise its presence. In 2017 McLaren announced the construction of the £50m McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham . The facility will build carbon fibre chassis for future McLaren road cars. The facility aims to give McLaren greater control over the manufacture of composite tubs, providing an opportunity to increase

440-437: Is currently responsible for the design, development and production of the 720S GT3 and 570S GT4 , along with the new Artura GT4 and Artura Trophy. The first car developed by McLaren GT was the 12C GT3, which was launched in 2011, and following a development year, 25 examples were delivered to customers for racing throughout Europe in 2012. The debut season saw 13 McLaren GT customer teams visit 14 countries and between them,

484-473: The 2000 24 Hours of Le Mans . Class winners in bold . Cars failing to complete 70% of winner's distance marked as Not Classified (NC). Although the race was very competitive for Japanese manufacturer's Nissan and Toyota , the event was not considered a major success. Only twenty three entrants showed in total, with just sixteen being in the ACO's classes. Although Nissan and Toyota both had more cars they could have entered, each chose only to compete with

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528-618: The 24 Hours of Le Mans , including Honda , Toyota , and Nissan . Japanese constructors and engine builders were also competing as well, such as Dome , Tom's , and Mugen Motorsports . The ACO therefore was interested in the idea of creating a new sportscar series in Japan similar to the one that had recently been created in the United States , the American Le Mans Series . Thus, the Fuji 1000 km would serve as

572-567: The 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 with Ford . McLaren founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing in 1963. A year later, the company built the first true McLaren race car – the M1 (24 customer cars were produced by Elva). Its successor, the M1B, allowed McLaren into the Can-Am championship, where it dominated with 43 victories, almost three times more than rival Porsche . In 1965, the first McLaren Formula One car,

616-487: The 3 Hours of Monza and the 1000 km on their way to the title with their team of van Gisbergen, Rob Bell and Côme Ledogar. McLaren Special Operations (MSO) is McLaren's bespoke division. Officially launched in 2011, MSO's origins date back over 20 years, as the division grew out of the McLaren Customer Care Programme that was set up in the early 1990s to service, maintain and personalise

660-579: The American Le Mans Series . This left the proposed series with no major manufacturer involvement to help bring in fans as well as other competition. Consideration for a Japanese series was revived once again in late 2000 when Don Panoz and the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) announced their intentions to expand upon their American Le Mans Series , a series endorsed by the ACO. Panoz would plan an Asian-Pacific Le Mans Series (APLMS), competing throughout

704-609: The McLaren F1 in 1992. Between 1994 and 2010, McLaren Cars was registered as a 'dormant company', before the founding of McLaren Automotive in 2010. The new company was originally separate from the existing McLaren companies to enable investment in the new venture, but was brought together in July 2017 after Ron Dennis sold his shares in McLaren Automotive and McLaren Group . McLaren's Formula One founder Bruce McLaren

748-588: The McLaren Technology Centre in Woking , England. The main products of the company are sports cars , which are produced in-house in designated production facilities. In July 2017, McLaren Automotive became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the wider McLaren Group , which is wholly owned by Mumtalakat Holding Company , the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Bahrain . McLaren Automotive replaced McLaren Cars in 2010. McLaren Cars had been founded in 1985 and released

792-712: The Nürburgring , finishing 4th place overall. Team Goh, on the other hand, decided to concentrate solely on Le Mans, with the car failing to finish due to gearbox problems. The car made one final appearance at the Fuji 1000km where it took 3rd place overall, 6 laps behind a winning Nissan. For 2000, Team Goh announced a partnership with Japanese constructor Dome , in which the V12 LM would be heavily modified in order to correct its aerodynamic instabilities and cooling problems. The entire front end would be redesigned to relocate

836-429: The 1997 decline of McLaren, BMW Motorsport announced a deal with WilliamsF1 , at the time Formula One constructors champions, which would see Williams constructing the car's chassis and develop its aerodynamics for the 24 Hours of Le Mans . At the same time, BMW Motorsport turned to Schnitzer Motorsport , a long time BMW racing team, to be the factory team running the car, now dubbed the V12 LM. The V12 LMs would use

880-454: The ACO's sportscars, but also to help fill the field and to bring a crowd. However, the race did not count as part of the JGTC season, thus a full JGTC field was not expected since the race was optional. For the ACO classes, an incentive to bring competitors not only from Japan but also internationally was added in that, like Petit Le Mans , the winners in each class would earn automatic entry to

924-497: The F1 GTRs were no longer competitive against newer breeds of specially homologated supercars from Mercedes-Benz and Porsche . Due to their declining performance, McLaren pulled out of GT racing at the end of 1997. Unwilling to give up so quickly, BMW Motorsport decided to move from grand tourers to Le Mans prototypes , open cockpit racing cars built specifically for racing and requiring no road legality regulations. During

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968-662: The M2B, debuted at the Monaco Grand Prix . After his victories and time in the F3, McLaren was designing and testing a prototype M6GT-registered OBH 500H, a lightweight sports car with an estimated top speed of 165 mph and zero to 100 mph time of eight seconds. McLaren died while testing a race car at Goodwood in 1970 before the prototype could be completed. In 1980, the company merged with Ron Dennis’ Project 4 Racing team. The merger brought back designer John Barnard , who

1012-669: The McLaren F1 for owners. 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000km The 1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000 km was an endurance race backed by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), who ran the 24 Hours of Le Mans , and the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), who ran the JGTC race series. It was run on November 7, 1999. Since the mid-1990s, a large number of Japanese automobile manufacturers had begun to compete at

1056-517: The Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR 722 Edition was announced. The "722 Edition" produced 650 PS (478 kW; 641 hp) at 6500 rpm and 820 N⋅m (605 lb⋅ft) of torque at 4000 rpm, with a top speed of 337 km/h (209 mph) (3 km/h more than the standard SLR). A new suspension is used with 19-inch (480 mm) light-alloy wheels, a stiffer damper configuration and 0.4 inches (10 mm) lower body. In 2007,

1100-637: The Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Convertible was announced, which has been available from late 2007. The car uses the same supercharged 5.5 litre V8 that is in the coupé. A limited edition called the SLR Stirling Moss was introduced. The car was the final SLR produced and a tribute to Stirling Moss . Beneath the scissor-doors is a plaque with Moss' signature on it. The partnership between Mercedes-Benz and McLaren resulted in three further cars being proposed. The P9

1144-489: The car at Le Mans, where the car failed to finish due to gearbox damage from an accident, and at the Nurburgring SRWC round in September. Following this, Bscher would retire the car, ending the racing career of the V12 LM. McLaren Cars McLaren Automotive ( / m ə ˈ k l ær ə n / mə- KLARR -ən ; formerly known as McLaren Cars ) is a British luxury automotive manufacturer based at

1188-488: The car's power output in PS , followed by a model designation (C for club, S for sport, GT for grand tourer and LT for longtail). The entry-level Sports Series consists of the 570S, 570S Spider, 570GT, 540C, 600LT and 600LT Spider. The Super Series, considered to be McLaren's core model range, originally included the 650S, 625C, and 675LT. These were replaced with the 720S in 2017 (and 720S Spider in 2018). The high-end Ultimate Series

1232-587: The completion of the F1's production run, and McLaren didn't return to the production car market until launching McLaren Automotive in 2010, just prior to the release of the MP4-12C (eventually simplified to just 12C) in 2011. McLaren launched its current three-tier product structure in 2015, dividing their range of cars into the Sports, Super, and Ultimate Series. Cars in the Sports and Super Series are given names based on

1276-469: The cooling intakes, while vents were added to the side bodywork to assist in cooling. The car never campaigned and no other team chose to buy the chassis. For Price+Bscher, David Price Racing reached an agreement to campaign for Panoz Motorsports of the United States, leaving Thomas Bscher to campaign his lone V12 LM. Although losing his assistance from David Price Racing, Bscher was able to run

1320-592: The entire Pacific rim. An exhibition event was held in Australia at the end of 2000 with mixed success, with another event played for Malaysia in 2001. However Panoz's other expansion outside the United States, the European Le Mans Series , would suffer from small fields and lack of competition throughout 2001. With a continued lack of interest from major manufacturers in teams in the ELMS as well as

1364-667: The first win in the Blancpain Endurance Series for the 650S GT3 in its debut competitive season. The 650S GT3 was the dominant GT car in 2016. In February, Australian team Tekno Autosports won the 2016 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour at the Mount Panorama Circuit in Australia with drivers Álvaro Parente , Shane van Gisbergen and Jonathon Webb . In the 2016 Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup , British team Garage 59 won

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1408-591: The pace of the design and development of the tubs. Full production will begin at the MCTC by 2020. The MCTC was officially opened by The Duke of Cambridge , Duchess of Cambridge , and the Crown Prince of Bahrain in November 2018. McLaren's first purpose-built road car was the F1 , based on a concept developed by Gordon Murray that he convinced Ron Dennis to back. McLaren Cars went into hibernation following

1452-550: The rejected V12 LM. Thomas Bscher aligned with David Price Racing forming Price+Bscher Racing to concentrate on the new American Le Mans Series as well as the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans . In the ALMS, the car would take only two points scoring finishes, leaving it 13th in the points standings. While at Le Mans, the car would wind up taking 5th place overall, only 20 laps behind the V12 LMR which won. The car would make one final appearance at an FIA Sportscar Championship event at

1496-622: The same S70 V12 as the McLaren F1s, although it would be run in its 5990cc configuration. The chassis incorporated an early use of a raised foot box as well as a front diffuser for better aerodynamics and safety. Debuting at the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans test day in May, the two V12 LM chassis set times which were not favorable, their best lap placing them 11th behind factory entries from Porsche , Toyota , Nissan , and Mercedes-Benz , all of which were running grand tourer -style cars instead of

1540-626: The successful 2013 season, McLaren GT expanded its customer support with the competitive debut for the 12C GT3 car in the Pirelli World Challenge championship in North America. Around 15 examples of the 650S GT3 made race debuts during the 2015 race season, claiming a number of victories. Most notably the McLaren GT customer racing team Von Ryan Racing took victory at the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone, marking

1584-434: The team quickly retired both cars from the event after they had only covered 43 laps for car #2 and 60 laps for car #1. Following the team's dismal results at Le Mans, further testing found that the aerodynamics and cooling of the car were poorly planned and that the car could only perform best if ambient temperatures were at ideal conditions. The team originally planned to enter the 1998 Petit Le Mans , but later declined. It

1628-591: The teams claimed a total of 19 race victories in the FIA GT1 World Championship, Blancpain Endurance Series, Barcelona 24hours, British GT, City Challenge Baku, FFSA French GT and GT Cup. A total of 19 McLaren GT customer teams contested the 2013 season, entering 108 races across 15 championships globally. In total, the teams claimed 27 pole positions, 23 victories, a further 39 podium finishes and three championship titles. Following

1672-504: The theoretically faster Le Mans prototypes . By the time qualifying for the race came around in June, the BMWs had improved to 6th fastest in qualifying, placing behind two Porsches, two Mercedes, and a Toyota. Unfortunately, during the race, both cars suffered quickly. Vibrations were detected in the drivetrains while at speed. In order to not risk a catastrophic failure of the car at speed,

1716-626: Was born in Auckland , New Zealand in 1937, and learned about cars and engineering at his parents' service station and workshop there. By 15, he had entered a local hillclimb in an Austin 7 Ulster, winning his first race in the car. In 1958, McLaren arrived in the United Kingdom with the 'Driver to Europe' scheme, intended to help Australian and New Zealand racers to compete in Europe. His mentor, Jack Brabham , introduced him to Cooper Cars,

1760-451: Was interested in using carbon fibre composite . Carbon fibre was already used in aerospace applications but had never been applied to a complete racing car monocoque . McLaren pioneered the use of carbon fibre in motor racing with its new car, the MP4/1, bringing new levels of rigidity and driver safety to Formula 1. In August 1988, Dennis, Team Principal and Gordon Murray started to develop

1804-674: Was led by the P1 and P1 GTR, now it includes the Senna, Senna GTR and the upcoming Speedtail, intended to be the successor to the original F1. The F1 and 12C were retroactively included in the Ultimate and Super Series, respectively. The structure was expanded to include the GT Series with the release of the McLaren GT in 2019. In 1999, McLaren agreed to design and manufacture the SLR (also known as P7) in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz. DaimlerChrysler

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1848-641: Was the engine supplier to McLaren Racing through its Formula One partner Mercedes-Benz division. The final stages of production of the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren took place at a designated assembly facility at the McLaren Technology Centre. The SLR featured a 5.5 litre supercharged V8 engine that produced 626 PS (460 kW; 617 hp) at 6500 rpm and 780 N⋅m (575 lbf⋅ft) of torque at 3250–5000 rpm. It can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0–97 km/h) in 3.8 seconds and 0 to 100 mph (0–161 km/h) in 6.3 seconds. In 2006,

1892-453: Was therefore decided that the two V12 LMs would be abandoned and that BMW, Williams, and Schnitzer would start anew in 1999 with the V12 LMR . The two V12 LM chassis were therefore sold off to privateers, with chassis 001/98 going to Thomas Bscher while chassis 002/98 was sold to Team Goh of Japan. With BMW moving onto the all-new V12 LMR, only the two privateer teams were left to campaign

1936-529: Was to be a mid-engined baby supercar with a less expensive model, with the P8 (or "SLS") competing with cars such as the Ferrari F430 , Bentley Continental GT , and Aston Martin DB9 . Both cars were to be powered by naturally aspirated V8 engines. The P10 would have been an SLR replacement. All three cars were aborted in 2005, with Mercedes rumoured to have considered the projects simply too costly to turn into

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