WATCH: McLaren Arturas boogie for 60th birthday

Two McLaren Arturas took to the track in a choreographed display of precision driving to mark the 60th anniversary of Bruce McLaren founding the company in September 1963.

McLaren was a New Zealand racing car designer, driver, engineer and inventor. He started Bruce McLaren Motor Racing in 1963 and built the M1A race car as the first vehicle to bear his name in 1964.

The team first entered Formula One in 1966 and after McLaren’s death in 1970 an American motor racing entrepreneur took over the team. 

In 1981 British businessman Ron Dennis took over as team principal of the McLaren F1 team and established McLaren Cars in 1985. McLaren’s first purpose-built road car was the F1, based on a concept developed by SA designer Gordon Murray.

Powered by a BMW V12 engine, the F1 set the Guinness World Record for the world’s fastest production car, reaching 386.4km/h. It remains the fastest naturally aspirated supercar to date. 

After a brief collaboration with Mercedes-Benz for the SLR McLaren, McLaren Automotive was relaunched as a standalone manufacturer in 2010 and re-released its own supercar, the 12C, in 2011.

Based in Woking, England, McLaren produces various sports cars including the 750S, Senna, Speedtail and Artura. The latter is a hybrid electric sports car launched in 2022. It combines a twin-turbo 3.0l petrol engine with an electric motor to produce a combined output of 500kW at 7,500rpm and 720Nm of torque. 

The McLaren Group is now owned by the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the sovereign wealth fund owned by the royal family of Bahrain.

McLaren has a storied F1 history, including eight World Constructors’ Championships and 12 World Drivers’ Championships, as well as an enviable list of talented drivers to represent the name including Ayrton Senna, Emerson Fittipaldi, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton.