Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Limited was formally incorporated by Bruce McLaren and Teddy Mayer on September 2 1963. The two men rented a shed, with an earth floor, in Wellington Crescent, New Malden. It was anything but glamorous. The team’s first two mechanics: Tyler Alexander (a pal of Mayer’s) and Walter Willmott (a pal of McLaren’s) began work on a substantial rebuild for the ex-Mecom Racing Team Zerez Special sports car, which McLaren had purchased in the United States. This had started out life as a 1961 Cooper T53 Formula 1 car and had been converted into a sports car spec by Mecom in 1962.

• Octopus Box Samsung Software

It was raced successfully by Roger Penske before being sold to McLaren. The team modified the space frame and stuck in a large Oldsmobile V8, which was rather bigger than the Coventry Climax for which it had been designed.

Not long afterwards Mayer found a proper workshop for McLaren and, in the early part of 1964, the operation moved to Feltham, where the original Zerez design was rethought and a new car was developed. This would become known as the McLaren M1A and because McLaren did not have the capacity to manufacture large numbers of cars, the design was licenced to Elva in Rye, which had at that point just been taken over by Peter Agg’s Lambretta Trojan Group. Around 200 McLaren-Elvas would be built in the years that followed. At the time McLaren was still racing for the Cooper factory Formula 1 team and so kept his own team at a relatively low profile.

However the US tyre giant Firestone had new management and was keen to make a bigger international impression and so commissioned McLaren to build them an F1 test car. The McLaren team thus moved to a much bigger factory in an industrial estate in Poyle. It is easy to find. If you go west down the main northern runway at Heathrow Airport, it is the first place that the planes pass over.

At the time McLaren felt that the Coopers were becoming less competitive and had ambitions to run his own F1 team and so the Firestone commission was very useful. Early in 1965 he recruited a bright young aerospace engineer who had previously worked at the National Gas Turbine Establishment at Farnborough, Robin Herd.

McLaren wanted new ideas and felt that aerospace was the place to find them. By September Herd had built a car called the M2A. The car featured sections of a material called Mallite – light wood sandwiched between two sheets of aluminium. The car was fitted with the same Oldsmobile engines as the M1A. While the Firestone testing pushed ahead, Herd and another new recruit, fellow aerospace engineer Gordon Coppuck, began work on a full F1 version of the car, which would meet the new 1966 3-litre Formula 1 World Championship rules. The car initially featured a downsized 4.2-litre Ford V8 IndyCar engine.

McLaren announced that he was leaving Cooper to start his own team and appeared with the new car for the Monaco GP. The team then fitted the car with a Serenissima V8, which enabled McLaren finished sixth at the 1966 British GP, scoring the team’s first point. The team also ran a pair of M1Bs in the new CanAm Series for Bruce and Chris Amon and in the British sports car series. For 1967 it was decided to try out the BRM V12 engine, but this was delayed and so some of the races were run with Formula 2 BRM V8s.

The best result was fourth at Monaco. That year, however, armed with the Chevrolet-powered M6A, Bruce and Denny Hulme dominated CanAm, winning five of the sixth races and finishing 1-2 in the championship. Denny won the World Championship that year with Brabham but decided to leave the team at the end of the year to join McLaren, expanding the F1 team to two cars, with a new M7A from Herd and his team and Cosworth V8 engines. The result was a competitive challenge and Bruce won the Race of Champions and Denny the International Trophy. At the Belgian GP, however, McLaren won the team’s victory. Hulme followed up with wins in Italy and Canada and McLaren finished second in the Constructors’ World Championship. And in CanAm the domination continued with four wins in six races and another championship 1-2 for Denny and Bruce.

The team continued to grow but in June 1970 McLaren was killed testing a CanAm car at Goodwood, Mayer took over the running of the operation and by 1974 Emerson Fittipaldi was able to win the team its first Formula 1 World Championship. James Hunt would win a second in 1976, while over in the United States McLaren continued competing in CanAm until the end of 1972, by which time McLarens had begun appearing in the Formula 5000 championship and in IndyCar racing.

The cars won the Indy 500 three times between 1972 and 1976. Towards the end of the 1970s, however, there was pressure for better results from sponsor Marlboro and in 1980 a merger was organised with Ron Dennis’s Marlboro-sponsored Formula 2 team – Project 4 Racing. The result was McLaren International, and with John Barnard designing the ground-breaking MP4-1 and a deal was struck to use Porsche-designed TAG turbo engines.

The result was consecutive World Championships in 1984, 1985 and 1986 for drivers Niki Lauda and Alain Prost and then, after a switch to Honda power in 1988, four consecutive titles in 1988-1989-1990 and 1991 for Prost and Ayrton Senna. The company’s first road car – The McLaren F1 – was unveiled in May 1992 at the Sporting Club in Monaco.

The car is still regarded as one of the greatest ever supercars. It has been followed by a series of other McLaren-built road cars, most recently the 12C and 12C Spider and the new McLaren P1TM.

In 1995 McLaren won the Le Mans 24 Hours on its first attempt with an F1 driven by Yannick Dalmas, JJ Lehto and Masanori Sekiya. Mika Hakkinen would add two more Drivers’ titles for McLaren in 1998 and 1999, the team by then using Mercedes engines.

The team has won a total of eighth Constructors’ Championships in F1 in addition the the Drivers’ crowns. The organisation has continued to expand to encompass McLaren Electronic Systems, which supplies technologies to every team in F1, NASCAR and Indycar, and McLaren Applied Technologies, which applies McLaren expertise to a wide range of industries from elite sport and healthcare to energy and product design. And there are plans for even more ambitious growth in the future. “McLaren started as the dream of one man, and it’s since grown to encompass the hopes and dreams of more than 2000 men and women, who work as tirelessly as Bruce McLaren himself once did to ensure that everything we do reflects well when compared with everything we’ve ever achieved,” says Ron Dennis. “Our 50th anniversary provides an opportunity for every single McLaren employee to realise that he or she is an utterly crucial part of an organisation with a history and a culture that really mean something. Call it McLaren’s DNA, if you like. Call it McLaren’s brand continuity, if you prefer.

Call it McLaren’s corporate culture, if you will. Call it McLaren’s undiminished hunger to win in everything we do, and you’d probably be getting closest to what I mean, what I think, and what I feel.”. On Ken Collins I remember going to the TT in ’64, and that people seemed almost shocked that “the americans were coming” and could challenge european sophistication. Bruce’s ex Zerex special was one of (I think) three prototypes with big american engines that year, but it was the second year of the Cobras, and they won the GT category. The following year, Colin Chapman had “caught up” with the Lotus 30, but it was 64 that I think of as the year that the big change happened.

We can only speculate as to what would have happened if Bruce had lived. Great article, as ever, Joe! On kieranmathers Great summary, thank you Joe. It’s sad that this year Maclaren aren’t doing too well on the track, even while their road cars continue to impress. They also had the best stand at the Geneva Motor show this year (arguably, those the Lamo stand was also excellent) I’ve always wondered if Ron Dennis ran a manufacturing business school for British entrepreneurs what kind of astonishing high-end businesses we’d have today. I have a huge amount of respect for Maclaren, but it is very much ‘the house that Ron built’. On Blake Great history article.

I have a quick question. I have read elsewhere that the M in MP4-1 stands for Marlboro and not McLaren, so the chassis naming never really was meant to commemorate the man himself even though today people regard it as such. I think that is very fascinating stuff and wondered if that is true? And more importantly for my curiosity are there other interesting chassis denominations you are aware of off the top of your head? Thank you as always for a great read to start the day (here in the US). On AuraF1 I have both family and friends who work at McLaren both in the F1 side and the applied technologies side.

Ron is a very, very obsessive character and that has rubbed off on the ‘feel’ of the whole established business – it is a bit clinical, but the idea that they are just data driven drones in nonsense. They absolutely love racing and they just all seem to like their high tech, aerospace, sci-fi atmosphere. They don’t put up the slightly uncomfortable clubbing, young and trendy front that Red Bull have to (can you imagine how trendy that club is with newey and Marko stood there?). I’ve met Ron twice, very briefly, I don’t claim to know him in the slightest but he came across as utterly passionate about his organization and its successes. The people I know at mclaren basically say the same thing – he’s not always the easiest person to like but he inspires everyone. On mark powell When Mclaren were at the top of their game Ron was the man, he really knew how to bang the Mclaren drum, get all the right sponsors and the right drivers at the right time.

Ron Dennis was the right man in those times of success. As Peter A Forbes commented Ron may not be everybodys cup of tea, but i have a lot of respect for the guy. Never a truer word said. The man has done very well, it is a pity his acheivements have slipped by unnoticed and without recognition for his service to industry,people get these awards for far less like my own boss.you know what i mean.M.B.E. On Paige This story is a demonstration of why all of the talk of Perez being a “pay driver” really is nonsense. McLaren has no problem making money. It is a massive enterprise, and there is a reason why it has some of the most long-standing sponsorship deals in F1 today.

Losing Vodafone is a temporary setback. They will have no problem finding another title sponsor, and they don’t need Carlos Slim to get one. Teams that have been around as long as McLaren always go through ups and downs in performance. McLaren will be back in the not-too-distant future given the sheer scale and solidity of their enterprise. With that said, they need to quit disenfranchising top talent. The amount of talent that McLaren has lost over the years is simply staggering.

One wonders the scale of missed success this team has had given the losses of names like Senna, Prost, Barnard, Newey, Raikkonen, Alonso, Fry, Hamilton, and Lowe over the years. Sure, they’ve always been able to cultivate replacements. But I’m thinking they have probably missed at least two or three Brawn-Byrne-Schumacher periods since the 1980s. On Ports They were amazing days, when a few blokes could rent a shed, weld a few tubes together and come up with a race-winning chassis.

I assume McLaren went for the Oldsmobile V8 because it had the aluminium block. That’s what attracted Jack Brabham and Repco when they cast around for a suitable basis for their 3 litre F1 engine. Brabham and Ron Tauranac really started something a few years before Bruce got going. By the way, that first sports car was the Zerex Special.

Thanks for keeping an eye on the historical side Joe, it’s always important to know where we came from. On 'The other' Nick W Thanks Joe for a thoughtful piece on a great team.

Always been my favourite team not least as they gave me a very memorable day circa 1995, courtesy of Team McLaren. Spent a good few hours there being shown around the ‘old’ HQ at Woking, not just the F1 facility but also the road car. To say the place was impressive is un understatement and would imagine the new facility to be even better. Highlight for me was the mouth-watering display of the cars in the foyer especially Senna’s 1993 Adelaide winner – which was simply amazing.

It wasn’t just the facility that impressed but also the quality of all the people we encountered. Aside from the visit, I have several very personal reasons to be thankful to people at McLaren since 1988 and still have some treasured memories of the team and its drivers, especially AS. It’s always annoyed me when the organisation (and Ron in particular) have been accused over the years of being rather cold and ‘corporate’.

In my experience, that’s nonsense. The organisation IS the people inside it. Highly talented, driven, focussed and generous sums it up for me.

The team clearly cares about its heritage and, in my experience, its fans. Not all F1 teams can make these claims. I also seem to remember (correctly I hope?) that the Tommy charity for kids benefitted from McLaren’s generosity. Thanks again for a great piece.

Ryan Tannehill has led the Dolphins to a perfect record. (USATSI) Sorting the Sunday Pile looks at the biggest storylines of the week. Send questions, complaints and Slanket coupons. Listen to the Eye on Football Podcast Week 3 Recap the player below. Three games into the season, Jeff Ireland's offseason decision to play the role of Mr.

Shovelstuff and stick all his chips in the center of the metaphorical poker table looks all right. Though they're not the belle of the ball, the are undefeated and, at 3-0, tied up top with the in the AFC East. Thanks to the presence of on their roster, they look like a playoff contender. It's not a grandiose statement, either.

Teams who start the season 3-0 make the playoffs 75 percent of the time in the NFL. Miami's wins aren't against dominant opponents but they opened up 2-0 on the road (against the and ) and scrambled to beat a beat-up team in their home opener on Sunday. Tannehill was instrumental in that win, driving the Dolphins for a field goal before half to make it 13-10 and showing all kinds of poise as he marched Miami for a game-winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Tannehill belongs in the conversation with, and. There shouldn't be any more debate about that. Ireland deserves some credit, too, because getting Tannehill weapons this offseason was critical to his development.

A week after calming everyone with a strong performance, once again didn't have a big game, catching just two balls for 22 yards. But just as in Week 1 he draws coverage away. And had big games once again.

The duo combined for 10 catches, 105 receiving yards and one touchdown, plus Gibson's catch to set up a one-yard TD pass to. Miami's still got issues, so let's just yet. For the third consecutive game Tannehill was on his back too much. He was sacked four times by the Browns, five times by the Colts and another five times by the Falcons in Week 3.

Those aren't necessarily pass-rush heavy teams. Atlanta shouldn't have been able to move the ball as effectively as they did either. Was out, was extremely limited and didn't have to protect his blindside. Credit Dirk Koetter for a very nice gameplan against Miami but and running well should be a red flag for the Dolphins, even with out. There's still a lot to love for Miami, though.

Octopus Box Samsung Software

Tannehill - who is on pace for 4,410 passing yards this season - is reason No. He's completing 66.4 percent of his passes this season and is averaging 7.73 yards per attempt. Both of those numbers are big steps forward from 2012. Quietly Marching In Speaking of undefeated teams, I would bet Sean Payton would prefer we not even mention the at 3-0. They're undefeated and, thanks to the aforementioned Dolphins, the only team in the NFC South with a winning record. By contrast, New Orleans didn't get their third win last season until November 5th.

Payton's the obvious difference but let's give Rob Ryan credit where credit's due. His attacking defense is generating sacks and turnovers and this is a vastly improved unit (it was going to improve by default, but still). Through three games last season the winless Saints gave up 102 points, generated six turnovers and had six sacks. Through three games this year they've given up just 38 points, had six turnovers and eight sacks.

But the numbers don't tell the full story - New Orleans has swarmed opposing quarterbacks this offseason. 'It was all just pressure everywhere,' defensive end said Sunday. 'When you're part of a D-line like that, I mean, it's a party.' Just don't tell anyone. Music City Mediocrity This is not intended to rip the because I remain impressed with what Mike McCoy's doing. They've scored on their first three possessions each week this year and are making strides with a roster bereft of talent.

But San Diego's final play on Sunday. It takes longer to read it than the amount of game clock (two seconds) it actually burned off: (:02) (Shotgun) P.Rivers pass to D.Woodhead to TEN 44 for 13 yards. Lateral to E.Royal to TEN 33 for 11 yards.

Lateral to L.McClain to TEN 46 for -13 yards. Lateral to P.Rivers to SD 45 for -9 yards. Lateral to K.Allen to SD 40 for -5 yards. Lateral to E.Royal to SD 35 for -5 yards.

Lateral to K.Allen to SD 33 for -2 yards. Lateral to D.Woodhead to SD 33 for no gain. FUMBLES, RECOVERED by TEN-A.Verner at SD 29. Penalty on SD-P.Rivers, Illegally Kicking Ball, declined. And it resulted in this monstrosity from. Red Flags Let's not get carried away and freak out about the just yet.

But there are major red flags for that team and the flags that are flying aren't just on the offensive end of things. Their defense, right now, is kind of a mess. There are offensive issues, of course. Combined to complete 47.3 percent of his passes for 277 yards, zero touchdowns and four interceptions in the last two games. Laying an egg against the is one thing; getting beat down by the Colts should be a massive concern. Kap has caveats. 's his top target and can be nullified.

Was out Sunday. The 49ers didn't establish a running game. Michael Crabtree remains hurt.

But when is this all going to change? (And what does it say about the, yeesh?) Whatever.

My biggest issue is the defense. In 2011 and 2012 San Francisco gave up more than 25 points in a regular season game just five total times. In 2013 they've already given up more than 25 in all three of their games. Again, the Packers is understandable. They got beat up by the Seahawks on the road. And on Sunday, yeah, you could say that Andrew Luck is really good. But this game wasn't competitive and that's a major concern.

Maybe Luck was just amped up to face his old coach from Stanford. Colts coach Chuck Pagano certainly seemed to think so. 'I know he's grinning from ear to ear,' Pagano said. 'I've never seen him smile the way he was smiling after this one.' No one for the 49ers is smiling.

They're 1-2 and they just lost their most explosive defender 'indefinitely' with checking into inpatient rehab this week to take care of some serious personal demons. (All football stuff aside, I genuinely wish the young man the best and hope he can get on the path to recovery.) The pass rush is going to suffer mightily when Smith's gone. What I want to see is the outcome of matchups against the (Week 4, on the road) and (Week 6, at home).

San Francisco has the sandwiched between those divisional games and where's the hope that they're suddenly going to get better? Their offense was lights out in Week 1 but we jumped to a conclusion expecting Kaepernick could simply carry a passing attack by himself. Suddenly this is a reeling team that needs to right the ship despite everything trending against it. That's not me counting them out by any means. I'm simply pointing out the red flags in the event they continue to struggle.

Less Metallica, Plz Jim Schwartz is a pretty intense dude. Rodgers-McCarthy You'll never hear me complain about the scrutiny that our modern media gives certain issues in. I like the over hype. It makes for more drama, it creates more storylines and as a result the NFL's silly season runs year round. So with that in mind, what do we think about Mike McCarthy and going at it on the sidelines and getting caught by Fox's cameras? Me, personally, I say no big deal.

And McCarthy's with me. 'I think anytime you get into a situation where there's change with personnel and play calls it's frustrating,' McCarthy said. 'I had called a play in a certain situation and he was frustrated by it. So I feel good - one every three weeks would be awesome. 'He's competitive man.

That's what I love about him. I didn't really think it was that big a deal honestly.' If the Packers win, this is no big deal. But the Packers didn't win and now suddenly we've got to wonder if Green Bay's coach and quarterback are on the same page.

They are, folks. Nothing to see here. Cowboy Up Not much was made of the on Sunday. And that's not just good - though it was quite good because they whipped the Rams in Dallas - but it also fits with their offseason profile. Despite years and years of making the most noise when there was no football being played, Jerry Jones' team remained relatively quiet this offseason. Now they're quietly the front-runners in a weak NFC East.

As noted earlier this week, that division stinks. In fact, Dallas' win over St. Louis was the East's first non-division win.

The were pummelled by the, the lost to the and the fell on Thursday at home to the. Meanwhile Dallas cruised to an easy victory featuring abusing a would-be vaunted Rams secondary and going off against the same team he beat for a Cowboys rookie rushing yards record. There was also setting the Cowboys career record for sacks (115) as Monte Kiffin's defense put on his back a whopping six times. Louis had nothing against Dallas all day and now the Cowboys, who've looked good for most of their three games so far, are in the driver's seat in that divison.

Dallas is the only team in their division with a record above.500, the only team with a positive point differential and the only team that looks anything resembling 'complete' (maybe you prefer 'competent'?). A lot can happen in a few weeks, obviously, but Dallas is quietly miles ahead in the NFC East right now. The Browns are a late addition to SSP but. They deserve more, though, because Sunday's first win of the season, a triumphant Brian Hoyer-led victory over the Vikings, was a legit scorcher. It was a game that exhibited the polar opposite of tanking, with Rob Chudzinski and Norv Turner getting real aggressive in an effort to win. There might be a kitchen sink sitting in the playbook but not much else, with Cleveland whipping out a fake field goal AND a fake punt during their victory. I've been beating the 'Cleveland's not tanking, dammit!'

Drum for the last few days - ever since the Trent Richardson trade - and Sunday's win was prime justification for the Browns not giving up. Seriously: they won their first game, they looked more inspired and they have a first-round draft pick hanging around as a bonus. Maybe T-Rich will blow up in Indianapolis. But maybe Willis McGahee will blow up in Cleveland too. Either way it's far too early to completely write them off and they're still sitting on some pretty good talent to build off of.

Jordan Cameron is on pace to catch 106 passes for 1434 yards and score 21 touchdowns. — Adam Levitan (@adamlevitan) Tight ends and Chud, man.

Concerning Statistics Two numbers that worry me right now. 1) 2.99, 's Yards Per Carry.

OK actually his yards per carry after you take out Peterson's first carry of the year, a 78-yard touchdown run. And maybe that feels like cheating to you but it's important to recognize that after Peterson ripped off that monster run he's been largely ineffective.

He wasn't 2012 AP on Sunday either, carrying the ball 25 times for 88 yards. Maybe Peterson will heat up - he only had 230 rushing yards through three games in 2012 and was just fine numbers-wise by the end of the year - but the difference this year is the have started 0-3 not 2-1.

2) 45.7, 's completion percentage this year. It's one thing if you're not hitting that magic 60 percent number we like to see from quarterbacks who succeed. But Freeman's hitting less than a coin toss' worth of his throws. He's been burned by a few unlucky spots this year but there's every reason for concern in land. Although reports of warming up eventually didn't matter, it wouldn't be surprising if Greg Schiano eventually yanked his starter if the Bucs keep losing. GIF O' THE WEEK would make.

WORTH 1,000 WORDS Potent Quotables So my daughter is laying here under me and just out the blue she says. I can't believe you lost to the Browns Daddy! Smh — Adrian Peterson (@AdrianPeterson).