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McLaren BMW VS McLaren Mercedes

Started by Megatron , Dec 07 2001 11:10

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3 replies to this topic

#1 Megatron

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Joined: January 99

Posted 07 December 2001 - 11:10

One thing that always amazed me is that McLaren ran with a big BMW V12 in the back of their F1s in Le Mans, with success while they were also running with a Mercedes (Ilmor) V10 in Formula One. Wasn't there some serious conflict here considering that the two German companies were (and are) bitter rivals?

And while were on the subject of McLaren using competitors engine's...

Didn't McLaren run Chevy engines in their CanAm cars at the same time they were using the Ford DFV in Formula One?

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#2 byrkus

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Joined: October 01

Posted 07 December 2001 - 11:20

Lotus used Cosworth in F1, Renault in road cars and (sometimes) Pratt&Whitney gas turbine in Indianapolis... :up:

That's quite a combination!!

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#3 Vitesse2

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Joined: April 01

Posted 07 December 2001 - 11:38

The McLaren F1 was designed as a road car, as a joint project with BMW, well before there was ever any tie-up between McLaren and Mercedes. It was only the continual change in sports/GT racing regs that made the F1 into a racer - that wasn't really the original concept. And there were no works McLarens in sports car racing, they were all private entries.

The F1 was actually the fulfillment of a dream that Bruce had had - he ran a prototype McLaren M6GT on the road, but the series production never happened.