McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor but has also competed in the Indianapolis 500 and has won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am). The team is the second oldest active Formula One team after Ferrari, where they compete as McLaren F1 Team. They are the second most successful team in Formula One history after Ferrari, having won 182 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and eight Constructors' Championships. The team is a wholly owned subsidiary of the McLaren Group.
Monocoque, also structural skin, is a structural system where loads are supported through an object's external skin, similar to an egg shell. The word monocoque is a French term for "single shell" or "single hull". First used in boats, a true monocoque carries both tensile and compressive forces within the skin and can be recognised by the absence of a load-carrying internal frame.
Bruce Leslie McLaren was a New Zealand race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor.
The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is a grand tourer jointly developed by German automotive manufacturer Mercedes-Benz and British automobile manufacturer McLaren Automotive and sold from 2003 to 2010. When the car was developed, Mercedes-Benz owned 40 percent of the McLaren Group and the car was produced in conjunction between the two companies. SLR is an abbreviation for "Sport Leicht Rennsport", a homage to the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR which served as the car's inspiration. The car was offered in coupé, roadster and speedster bodystyles with the latter being a limited edition model.
John Barnard is a race car designer and is working with Terence Woodgate designing high specification carbon fibre furniture. Barnard is credited with the introduction of two new designs into Formula 1: the carbon fibre composite chassis first seen in 1981 with McLaren, and the semi-automatic gearbox which he introduced with Ferrari in 1989.
McLaren Automotive is a British automotive manufacturer based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey. The main products of the company are sports cars, usually produced in-house at designated production facilities. In July 2017, McLaren Automotive became a 100% owned subsidiary of the wider McLaren Group.
Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass, carbon, aramid, or basalt. Rarely, other fibres such as paper, wood, or asbestos have been used. The polymer is usually an epoxy, vinyl ester, or polyester thermosetting plastic, though phenol formaldehyde resins are still in use.
The Canadian-American Challenge Cup, or Can-Am, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1987.
Basalt fiber is a material made from extremely fine fibers of basalt, which is composed of the minerals plagioclase, pyroxene, and olivine. It is similar to fiberglass, having better physicomechanical properties than fiberglass, but being significantly cheaper than carbon fiber. It is used as a fireproof textile in the aerospace and automotive industries and can also be used as a composite to produce products such as camera tripods.
McLaren Applied Technologies is a British technology company that works in conjunction with companies such as GSK, NHS and more. Also its electronic division, McLaren Electronics manufactures parts for every F1 team and other sports. In September 2014, Ian Rhodes replaced the founder, Ron Dennis, as CEO of the growing technology company. McLaren Applied Technologies began as "McLaren Composites", mainly for the manufacture for parts for the McLaren F1 and Mercedes SLR. However, it began to grow and won contracts to manufacture parts for other companies and even grew into the energy industry, mainly solar panels. It was dissolved in 2003 and replaced with "McLaren Applied Technologies" a short while after in 2004. Under its old name as McLaren Composites, the company also produced landing equipment and solar panels for Beagle 2.
The McLaren M23 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Coppuck, with input from John Barnard, and built by the McLaren team. It was a development of the McLaren M16 Indianapolis 500 car. A Ford Cosworth DFV engine was used, which was prepared by specialist tuning company Nicholson-McLaren Engines. This helped push the DFV's horsepower output to around 490 bhp.
The McLaren MP4/1 was a Formula One racing car produced by the McLaren team. It was used during the 1981, 1982 and 1983 seasons. It was the first Formula One car to use a monocoque chassis wholly manufactured from carbon fibre composite, a concept which is now ubiquitous.
The Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) is a 100-acre (0.40 km2) manufacturing technology park in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It is part of Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone. Technologies on the AMP centre on materials and structures, covering metallic and composite materials, typically used in precision industries including aerospace, automotive, sport, environmental, nuclear, and energy, oil and gas, defence and construction. Technology developed on the AMP is used in leading edge projects, such as within Formula One and the next generation of military and commercial aircraft, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, as well as advanced 3D-printed facial prosthetics.
The McLaren MP4/3 is a Formula One racing car built and run by McLaren International during the 1987 Formula One World Championship. It was designed under the leadership of long time McLaren engineer, American Steve Nichols, after John Barnard quit the team in August 1986 to join rivals Ferrari. It was the first all-new chassis design for McLaren International since the successful Barnard designed MP4/2 series of cars debuted at the start of the 1984 season and the first McLaren designed by anyone other than Barnard since the Gordon Coppuck designed McLaren M30 had appeared in the last three races of the 1980 season.
In car design, ground effect is a series of aerodynamic effects which have been exploited to create downforce, particularly in racing cars. This has been the successor to the earlier dominant aerodynamic theory of streamlining. American racing IndyCars employ ground effects in their engineering and designs. Similarly they are also employed in other racing series to some extent; however Formula One and many other racing series, primarily across Europe, employ regulations to limit its effectiveness on safety grounds.
The McLaren M2B was the McLaren team's first Formula One racing car, used during the 1966 season. It was conceived in 1965 and preceded by the M2A development car. Designed by Robin Herd, the innovative but problematic Mallite material was used in its construction. The car was powered by Ford and Serenissima engines but both lacked power and suffered from reliability issues.
The McLaren M7A and its M7B, M7C and M7D variants were Formula One racing cars, built by McLaren and used in the world championship between 1968 and 1971. After two relatively unsuccessful years of Formula One competition, the M7A was used to score McLaren's first win at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix.
Robin Herd was an English engineer, designer and businessman.
Carbon fiber reinforced polymer, Carbon fibre reinforced polymer, or carbon fiber reinforced plastic, or carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic, is an extremely strong and light fiber-reinforced plastic which contains carbon fibers. The spelling 'fibre' is usual outside the USA. CFRPs can be expensive to produce but are commonly used wherever high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness (rigidity) are required, such as aerospace, superstructure of ships, automotive, civil engineering, sports equipment, and an increasing number of consumer and technical applications.
The McLaren MP4-12C, later known simply as the McLaren 12C, is a sports car designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. It is the first ever production car wholly designed and built by McLaren, and their first production road car produced since the McLaren F1, which ended production in 1998. The car's final design was unveiled in September 2009 and was launched in mid-2011.
