(shouting)
- In 1953 at the age of 15,
Bruce McLaren retrofitted an Austin Ulster
into racing spec by himself.
At age 22 he became the youngest
Formula 1 Grand Prix winner in history.
So with all that success 1963 he was like,
I'mma start my own company,
and I'mma call it McLaren Motor Racing.
In time the McLaren badge would become
one of the most famous and storied in all of racing.
But that was it, it was a racing company.
They didn't build cars for the street.
But Bruce, ever the dreamer,
thought that they could.
Tragically in 1970 when the project was still
in the prototyping stage Bruce died doing what he loved.
Testing a new race car.
He was 32 years old,
a year younger than me.
The M6GT prototype was shelved,
and so was the dream of the world's greatest street car.
Sometimes a dream can survive the dreamer,
and sometimes a company can aim for the moon,
and actually hit the mark.
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on McLaren.
(80's chiptune music)
We're at McLaren Newport Beach sitting in front of about
3 million dollars worth of P1.
(hip-hop beat)
Thanks guys.
Back to the story.
Ron Dennis took control of the racing company in 1980,
merging it with his own Project 4 racing.
McLaren thrived under Dennis' stewardship,
as their cars dominated circuits throughout the 80's.
But the decision that would launch
a bold new direction for the company
didn't start in a boardroom,
or even a track.
No a legend was born when Dennis,
technical director Gordon Murray,
and shareholder Mansour Ojjeh got stuck in an airport
waiting for their flight.
And when they got bored they started to talk about things.
Crazy things.
Like that old idea of making a McLaren street car.
It was just a conversation to pass the time.
But the idea stuck around.
(laughter)
Dennis had already created a sister company
to McLaren Motor Racing called McLaren Cars,
and up until this point the company
didn't really have anything to actually do.
They had a formal meeting in 1990 to come up with
a general idea of a McLaren street car.
It lasted for 10 hours.
Nobody went to the bathroom.
They didn't even buy them lunch.
- What about elevenses?
Luncheon?
Afternoon tea?
- Everyone agreed that if they were gonna do this thing,
absolutely nothing would be compromised.
The engine would have to be naturally aspirated,
because even the hint of turbo lag would be unacceptable.
The car would have to be light,
lighter than every other super car.
It would have to be fast,
not only the fastest car on release,
but the fastest car for years to come.
(engine roaring)
To make a basically impossible engine,
the British company turned to the German masters at BMW.
Using nothing but sheer will and wizardry,
not to mention money,
BMW's engineers crafted the kind of fantasy engine
that got them into engineering in the first place.
A six point one liter V12
that could make over 600 horsepower,
without a turbo in sight.
Meanwhile McLaren had to figure out how to build an engine
bay that could handle the raw heat that the V12 produced.
They realized that the best material to use
would be (bleep)-ing gold.
Ya know, gold gold.
So what did the execs say to this ludicrous request?
- Alright, great.
- But believe it or not gold isn't even the coolest part.
McLaren's racing division had already innovated
the use of carbon fiber in Formula 1.
To achieve the desired lightness,
McLaren chose to use this exotic material
to build the body of their new street car.
Making it the first production car ever to do so.
Carbon fiber has a better strength to weight ration than
aluminum, plastic, steel but it costs a fortune.
So McLaren spent a fortune.
Last but not least the team decided
to put the driver seat in the middle.
Why?
Because that's the way it is in race cars, that's why.
Even so McLaren managed to squeeze in two passenger seats
behind and flanking the driver,
which meant that on top of everything else
the new McLaren had three seats.
And ya need all three seats,
cause if you're driving an F1,
you're definitely leaving the party with twins.
Perhaps it wasn't a surprise that McLaren,
famous for their Formula 1 cars
named their new rocket ship the F1.
And you could buy one yourself starting in 1993
for a bargain bin price of just over 1 million dollars.
Given the price tag it shouldn't be surprising that
only around 100 F1's were ever made.
But no matter how few of them there were,
the F1 accomplished its mission.
McLaren's first road car was hailed
as the greatest performance machine of all time.
Exactly like Bruce had always wanted.
It is still the fastest
naturally aspirated production car ever.
And this (bleep) was made in 1993.
Being a racing company McLaren made a racing variant
called the F1 GTR and entered it into competition.
This included the 1995 24 Hours at Le Mans.
Every other company was entering purpose build race cars.
The F1 GTR was just a lightly modified street car.
As in they added a rear spoiler and race tires.
(engine revving)
Nobody expected McLaren to do very well
but against all odds and helped out by a rain storm and
a blistering performance from the drivers,
the F1 actually won.
This made McLaren the first company ever to win in
Formula 1, the Indy 500, and Le Mans.
- Damn!
- If it were possible the halo around the car
had gotten even brighter.
The McLaren F1 remains one of the most
famous cars ever made,
and continues to be a top tier collector's car today.
And don't forget, Mr. Bean wrecked one.
McLaren went mostly dormant for the next 15 years.
A partnership with Mercedes did produce the
Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren in 1999.
A Grand Tourer with over 600 horsepower.
But this was really more of a Mercedes project
that McLaren helped out on.
In 2010 a brand new spin off company was created,
McLaren Automotive.
A kind of spiritual successor to McLaren Cars,
which had made the F1.
Obviously people got excited,
I had a boner for nine weeks.
- TMI, TMI my friends.
- What could the new company possibly do to follow up
one of the all time great machines?
The new companies first effort was the MP4-12C.
A normal super car built to compete with the Ferrari 458.
The car was fantastic, a smooth performance machine
with pinpoint precision.
If anything people faulted it for being a little
too engineered, without the soul
that Ferrari and Lamborghini were famous for.
I.e. it started every time.
(mass cheering)
The 12C was not only McLaren's reintroduction
to the worlds roads, but the first McLaren
that even mere millionaires like me could buy.
The McLaren badge had come down to earth.
Until it rocketed right back up into space that is.
Because McLaren then announced its next car,
and it was just a hybrid, ya know, like a Prius.
But it had a total of 900 horsepower.
It's made almost entirely out of carbon fiber
and it goes zero to sixty in two point eight seconds.
The P1 flipped the book on what hybrid technology
could do for cars.
Combined with the P1's light weight and dynamic suspension,
the result was one of the most ballistic cars ever made.
(engine roaring)
At long last the F1,
had an heir.
While the P1 was busy gracing
billionaire garages the world over,
McLaren hadn't forgotten about us poor millionaires.
For the 2015 model year the 12C was replaced by the 650S,
more or less just an updated version of the same car.
And then they opened the floodgates.
The 2016 season saw no less than three new McLarens release.
570S is an entry level McLaren.
I'm so rich.
The 540C was meant for the Chinese markets,
but still available elsewhere,
and the 675LT is a high end long tail version.
A Grand Tour variant, the 570GT came the following year,
and for the 2018 season the 720S was released
as a replacement for the 650S.
Clearly someone at McLaren thinks this strategy makes sense.
But in general these are all great machines,
tailor made for different purposes and purses.
Assuming your purse is really big, and mine is.
Donut pays me 1 million dollars for every Up To Speed.
McLaren Automotive has finally delivered on the vision
its founder had almost 50 years ago.
The F1 reset the bar for cars forever,
the P1 did it again.
Ron Dennis did the badge proud,
but in 2017 Dennis sold the last of his shares
in the company and stepped away.
McLaren goes into the future under new leadership.
But what a start Dennis had given them.
That's everything you need to know,
to get up speed on McLaren.
Hit the subscribe button, the more subscribers we get
the more cool stuff like this that we get to do
and we'll bring you guys along for all of it.
Thanks to McLaren of Newport Beach for letting us
come down here and look around and shoot this.
This thing's got two turbos on it.
You wanna know how those work,
watch this episode of Science Garage.
You like F1?
Check out my son Nolan's show.
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I love you.
I love him.