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McLaren teams up with BMW to build engines!

In some good news for the forensically minded and desperately power-hungry, McLaren has joined forces with BMW. It's to create potential powertrains for the next generation of McLaren cars; likely to fit in its all-new chassis.

The last time McLaren and BMW teamed up, they made the engine that nestled inside the peerless McLaren F1, so we've high hopes for the new partnership. Unlike last time, when McLaren used a 6.1-litre BMW V12 to power its flagship road car, the team at Woking has an exceptionally potent 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 already in use. So where does BMW come in?

Well, McLaren is looking to make engines with previously unattainable specific outputs; or, in regular English, more power from each litre of displacement than ever before. The new engines ought to be more powerful than the current McLaren V8s, while producing fewer emissions. Expect the ability to accommodate electric motors for hybrid setups to be a requirement, too.

The partnership will also include West Sussex-based Ricardo, which was also quite instrumental in both the McLaren F1's creation, and the development of the V8 powering every McLaren on sale today. Ricardo's also helped build engines for BMW motorcycles, so it's a fairly comfortable partnership.

Source: Top Gear

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Below details as shared by Autocar UK

The project also includes a number of other partners and is part-funded by the British Government through the Advanced Propulsion Centre

To be led by McLaren Automotive, the project includes McLaren’s existing engine manufacturing partner Ricardo, BMW Group and Grainger and Worrall, which will deliver complex, lightweight casting technology. Other organisations involved include Lentus Composites, which focuses on specialist composite structures, and the University of Bath

The total cost of the project is £28m, including a £14m contribution by the Government. The remaining £14m is split among the project collaborators

McLaren Automotive boss Mike Flewitt said: “We will continue to independently design and build our own engines, and the benefits of this project will help us accelerate the development of our next generation of powertrain, as confirmed in our recently announced Track22 business plan.”

The next step in McLaren’s Track 22 plan is the arrival of its 650S replacement codenamed P14.

With government funding also involved, we can safely assume that this engine development program might most likely a joint technical exercise like what Geo Technologies, Gordon Murray and Shell did for Project M and might not end up in a Mclaren car in the near future. Would love to be proven wrong.