Few if any, names are more recognized in the racing community than McLaren Engines and its incredible five decade span of international racing achievement. Now the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) has released author Roger S. Meiners' highly-detailed history of the company and its extraordinary penetration into virtually every arena of  top tier motorsports and the engine development programs they conducted for all the major automakers over the years. McLaran's reach is truly international in scope. As its former Operations Director and ongoing consultant. Meiners is well positioned to relate the company's rise to world-wide performance powerhouse and legendary status as an engine development company.

The company was founded in 1969 by Bruce McLaren and his partners to build engines for McLaren’s legendary Can-Am and Indy Cars. From its base in suburban Detroit, Mclaren began with Oldsmobile's tiny 215 cubic inch aluminum V8s, transitioned to Chevrolet small blocks and finally 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 gave rise to the howling turbo Offenhausers that put Mark Donohue and Johnny Rutherford in Victory Lane at Indianapolis three times between 1972 and 1976. 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 keen insight and  personal experience with McLaren brings the engines, cars, and key personalities to life with a detailed chronology of the company's history laid down with compelling commentary and wonderful period photographs. Meiners reveals little-known details of the company’s transition from a race shop to an engineering company, developing iconic 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. Engine fans and motorsports enthusiasts are in for a rare treat between the pages of this remarkable book thanks to great writing and first rate production values. Add this one to your library today and enjoy a tremendous story of motorsports achievement all spawned from the imagination and perserverance of legendary racer Bruce McLaren.