McLaren: The Engine Company

Description

McLaren: The Engine Company is the previously untold story of McLaren Engines, an American company founded in 1969 by Bruce McLaren and his partners to build engines for McLaren's legendary Can-Am and Indy Cars. From this base in suburban Detroit were born the mighty big-block Chevrolet V8s that powered the iconic orange cars to two of their five consecutive Cam-Am championships. McLaren's busy dyno rooms also spawned the howling turbo Offenhausers that put Mark Donahue and Johnny Rutherford in Victory Lane at Indianapolis three times between 1972 and 1976. For decades this non-descript shop was the hotbed of horsepower for factories and top independents alike. McLaren Engines developed the turbocharged Cosworth DFV Formula 1 engine that powered Indy cars for both Team McLaren and Penske Racing. It rendered BMW's turbo engine for U.S. IMSA racing that later became BMW's Formula 1 weapon. The long list of race engines developed here powered Buick Indy and IMSA cars, BMW GTP cars, Cadillac LeMans prototypes, Porsche Trans-Am 944s and David Hobbs' F5000 single seaters. There were McLaren-built big-block turbo V8s for offshore boat racing and even a Cosworth-Vega engine for American dirt tracks! Author Roger Meiners combines his life-long passion for motor racing and technology with his historian's sensibilities to make the engines, cars, and key personalities come alive within this book's pages. Ride along with Meiners as he uncovers little-known details of the company's transition from a race shop to an engineering company, developing lust-worthy performance cars such as the sensational 1987 Buick GNX, the 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo, the FR500 Ford Mustang concept, and other projects that the public never saw. Today the company, known as McLaren Engineering, is a subsidiary of Canada-based Linamar Corporation, and is sought after by global automakers for its unrivaled testing, development and manufacturing capability. Cover Table of Contents Introduction Acknowledgments Foreword Preface: two men, two visions SECTION I CHAPTER 1 The Beginning: Tragedy and Perseverance CHAPTER 2 Bruce McLaren: Driver to Europe CHAPTER 3 Rev-Em Racing: Teddy, Tyler, and Bill CHAPTER 4 Bruce McLaren Motor RacingLtd. (BMMR) The Tasman Cooper Cooper-Oldsmobile—The ZerexSpecial CHAPTER 5 McLaren’s EngineProgram—Before Detroit The Oldsmobile F-85 Aluminum V8 Gary Knutson The F1 Indy Ford The Chevrolet “Small Block” The Chevrolet “Big Block” CHAPTER 6 The First “In-House” McLaren Engine Shop SECTION II. FOUNDING McLAREN ENGINES, Inc. CHAPTER 7 Moving to Detroit McLaren’s Headquarters in America CHAPTER 8 1970: Indy and Can-Am The First McLaren Indy Car The 1970 Can-Am Season Reynolds Block Chevrolet Racing Chevrolet Racing: The Cosworth Vega NASCAR Engine Development CHAPTER 9 1971: Knutson Returns—With Bailey Roger Bailey’s Ticket “Herbie Horsepower” Roger Meets Herbie CHAPTER 10 McLaren Racing 1971–1976 A New McLaren Indy CarMcLaren unveiled 1971 Can-Am Season 1972—McLaren’s Last Can-Am Season Can-Am Big Block Summary 1972: McLaren M16 Wins the 1972Indy 500 1973: The IndyCar Program Continues The Tragic 1973 Indianapolis 500 1974 IndyCar Season Team McLaren’s First Indy Victory The 1975 Indianapolis 500 1976 Indianapolis 500: Another Winfor McLaren CHAPTER 11 Developing the Turbocharged Cosworth DFV Taming the Vibes CHAPTER 12 IndyCar Racing: 1977–1979 1977: The M24-DFX Makes Its Debut The 1977 Indy 500: Touching 200 The 1978 Season The 1979 Season CHAPTER 13 A Skunkworks F1 Engine 1977–1979 The BMW 320 Turbo Engine 1977: Ready to Race The 1978 Season The 1979 Season CHAPTER 14 Crisis and Crossroads Team McLaren Leaves America Decision A Reprieve .… SECTION III. A NEW McLAREN ENGINES: THE RACING BUSINESS CHAPTER 15 Rebuilding Mayer Motor Racing The CART Technical Committee BMW Engine Programs The McLaren Mustang Peugeot V6 Turbo Porsche Turbos 924 and 944 1997 Saleen Mustang at Le Mans CHAPTER 16 The Buick Turbo V6 Racing Engine The ARS Engine A Version for IMSA Buick Turbo V6 Drag Car Buick LeSabre Turbo V6 Bonneville Car The Buick Hawk: Six Valves per Cylinder CHAPTER 17 BMW Returns: The IMSAGTP Car CHAPTER 18 Project 734: McLaren GoesOffshore SECTION IV. A NEW McLAREN ENGINES: THE AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING BUSINESS CHAPTER 19 McLaren International, McLaren Engines, and ASC-McLaren ASC-McLaren The Buick GNX The Pontiac Grand Prix Turbo CHAPTER 20 Other Niche-Market Program Opportunities The GMC Syclone Prototype The Supercharged Oldsmobile W-Car Convertible Proposal A Niche-Market Postmortem CHAPTER 21 A New Customer: Ford Motor Co. The Breakthrough “Belden Court”–The Vehicle Development Center CHAPTER 22 Other Automotive Engineering Business Legend Industries The PPG Pace Cars O’Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Other OEM Projects General Motors Delphi Eaton Corporation Catalytic Converter Testing and Development Other Projects SECTION V. TRANSITIONS CHAPTER 23 The McLaren Engines/ASHAMerger The Cadillac LMP Engine The Ramjet ZL1 Crate Engine The Transition Continues: A New Investor Indy Car Racing: One More Time Acquiring Dart Machine, Ltd. Selling Gerodisc CHAPTER 24 Linamar Acquires McLaren CHAPTER 25 McLaren Acquires New OEM Programs Generation III Viper Engine Development The Generation IV Viper Engine Lamborghini Huracán Competition Engine Programs Electric Vehicle Powertrain CHAPTER 26 A New Headquarters and a New Name Project Unity: Going Forward Appendices About the Author Index