McLaren’s powerful Twin-Turbo V8 traces its roots all the way back to an ’80s Nissan Le Mans engine – Jalopnik

McLaren makes some of the most advanced supercars in the world, with their carbon fiber fairings, highly advanced suspension systems and mind-boggling aerodynamics. However, the centerpiece of most McLarens – their twin-turbocharged V8 – is anything but new. In fact, they can trace their lineage back to a Nissan engine that came onto the market almost 40 years ago. Let me explain.

Currently, McLaren’s flagship is the M840T, which it co-developed with Ricardo. It’s a 4.0-liter, 90-degree twin-turbocharged V8 beast that can pump out anywhere from 604 to 822 horsepower depending on the model (it even got an electric component in the Speedtail, but that’s neither here nor there). It first debuted in 2017 with the 720S and has been used in all kinds of really cool McLarens like the Senna, Elva, GT, 750S and 765LT. While the M840T is undoubtedly very powerful, it is not exactly a new engine.

It is an evolution of the slightly smaller M838T, an engine that McLaren produced together with Ricardo from 2011 to 2021. In many ways, this is the engine that put McLaren back on the map after not making a road car for more than a decade. The 3.8-liter V8 with twin turbos made its debut in the revolutionary MP4-12C at the time with a strong output of 592 hp, which puts it well above contemporary competition such as the Ferrari 458 Italia and the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560-4. As is McLaren tradition, the automaker started cramming the engine into everything it made, finding its way into the likes of the 650S, 675LT, 570S, 600LT and even the legendary P1 (I thought it got an electric motor to help it along).

So even if we count the time McLaren has been using this engine, it is – at least – 14 years old. Now things get even crazier.

You see, McLaren didn’t just create this engine from scratch; As an emerging production car company, the company had neither the money nor the resources for it. That is why they had to switch to an existing engine: the long-forgotten Nissan VRH35L. It’s a twin-turbo 3.5-liter aluminum V8 that was originally intended for endurance racing at Le Mans, and we’ve talked about it before, but it was during Trump’s first term, so that’s ancient history.

It was the final development line of Nissan’s VRH35 architecture that debuted in 1989. Nissan and Tom Walkinshaw Racing teamed up to build the powerful engine for entry into the GT1 racing category in 1997, putting them right at the heart of the crazy Nissan R390 GT1 race car.

Early in the development of the MP4-12C, McLaren used the VRH35 as the basis for its engine program and purchased the rights to it from TWR, according to a 2011 Car and driver first ride. Of course, the bike has changed a lot since those early days, but its lineage can be traced back directly to 1980s Japan. Pretty neat.