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The McLaren M838T engine is a 3.8 litre 90 degree twin-turbocharged flat-plane V8, designed and developed by in collaboration with Ricardo plc.
Contents
Development
McLaren bought the rights to the Tom Walkinshaw Racing developed engine (based on the Nissan VRH engine) which was designed for the IRL Indycar championship but never raced. However, other than the 93 mm bore, little of that engine remains in the M838T. In only 18 months, Ricardo went from a clean sheet of paper to a running prototype.
Developed with help from Ricardo, the engine redlines at 8500 rpm, however 80% of the engine's torque is available as low as 2000 rpm. McLaren claims that the engine has the highest horsepower to CO2 emission ratio of any current production engine.
The engine is built at Ricardo's engine assembly facility in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex. The turbochargers are supplied by MHI, and are different units from those used in Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions.
Applications
The engine was designed and built for the McLaren MP4-12C, where it produces 441 kW (592 hp) and 632 N·m (466 ft·lbf). However, in 2012 McLaren released an update increasing power to 459 kW (616 hp). For the GT3 racecar, the engine produces less power at only 368 kW (493 hp).
The engine has a bore and stroke of 93 mm × 69.9 mm (3.661 in × 2.752 in) and a bore spacing of 108 mm (4.252 in).
McLaren and Ricardo redeveloped the M838T engine for use in the McLaren P1. The engine has been upgraded to optimise cooling and durability under higher loads. The engine block has also been modified to incorporate an integrated electric motor as part of a hybrid drive train. The petrol engine produces 542 kW (727 hp) at 7,200 rpm with an additional 131 kW (176 hp) from the electric motor. At 4,000 rpm the engine is said to produce 720 N·m (531 ft·lbf) of torque while the electric motor can produce a maximum of 260 N·m (192 ft·lbf) from 0 rpm upwards.