McLaren is a British car company that was founded in 1963 by Bruce McLaren, a New Zealand racing driver who was also a designer and engineer. He started the company with the aim of designing and building racing cars. McLaren started out as a small team of engineers and mechanics who were passionate about racing and wanted to push the boundaries of what was possible.
Over the years, McLaren has become one of the most successful racing teams in history, winning numerous championships in various categories. The company has also expanded into other areas, such as building road cars and providing engineering services to other companies.
Famous television shows and movies that have featured McLaren cars include:
- Top Gear
- The Grand Tour
- Jay Leno's Garage
- The Fast and the Furious franchise
- Cars 2
- The Dark Knight
- Need for Speed
- Transformers: Age of Extinction
- Rush
- Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
- Iron Man 2
- Johnny English Strikes Again
- The Transporter Refueled
Famous people who have owned McLaren cars over the years include:
- Jay Leno, comedian and car enthusiast, owns a McLaren F1 and has featured it on his YouTube channel.
- Lewis Hamilton, six-time Formula One World Champion, has driven for the McLaren team and owns a McLaren P1.
- Rowan Atkinson, actor known for his role as Mr. Bean, owns a McLaren F1 and has been involved in a few accidents with it over the years.
- Michael Fassbender, actor known for his roles in "X-Men" and "Steve Jobs," owns a McLaren 570S.
Despite its success, ownership of McLaren has changed hands several times over the years. In 1980, Bruce McLaren died in a tragic accident while testing one of his cars. The company was then taken over by Teddy Mayer, who had been a close friend and business partner of Bruce McLaren. Mayer ran the company until 1982 when it was sold to Ron Dennis, the team manager at the time.
Under Dennis's leadership, McLaren became one of the most dominant teams in Formula One, winning multiple championships with drivers such as Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. In 1990, Dennis formed a partnership with Mercedes-Benz, which eventually led to the German carmaker taking a 40% stake in the company.
In 2017, Dennis stepped down from his role as CEO of McLaren, and the company was sold to a consortium of investors led by businessman Mansour Ojjeh and the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund. Today, McLaren is still a major force in the world of motorsports, and the company continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in both racing and road car design.
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