THE MCLAMBO TEST! The Story of the McLaren-Lamborghini Engine Test (1993)

God knows what I've had a reaction to, but I'm redder than Mike Caughlan when he found out that bloke at the copy shop was a raging Ferrari fan...

i was trackside at the Australian gp listening to these Lamborghini engines...... they are still one of the loudest engines ive ever heard, right up there with the ferrari, honda V12's, and the renault v10.

one of the underrated "what-if"-scenarios from the 1990s. Good to see that finally someone tackles the subject.

Your next storytime should about how Ron Dennis is Ron Dennis' worst enemy.

I'd imagine if this Lambo engine was competitive, Senna might have stayed at McLaren.

Two of the top men from 1970s Ferrari were involved in this project. Mauro Forghieri and Daniele Audetto.

I think that rather than Dennis being worried about Chrysler's commitment he already had wind that Lamborghini would be sold to Mycom Setdco who were not in a position to support an F1 engine program. Something that Larrousse knew which is why he was pursuing Peugeot (only to be beaten to that deal by McLaren and having to use the Ford customer units for 1994.) Interestingly in 1998 it was mooted that the Ilmore badged engines switch from Mercedes to Chrysler branding when Daimler-Chrysler formed, however Mika winning the title was such a boost for Mercedes that never happened.

I didn’t know I could like Ron Dennis less. But Damn, this right here. Had the lambo deal gone threw. We might just still have him here with us today….

I didn’t realize any of this. I was focused on keeping up with how Michael Andretti was doing in F1. Thanks for teaching me something new once again Aidan

I found a 50 second clip of Hakkinen testing that 93 McLaren with a Lambo engine. My goodness what a sound.

Great video Aiden, and got some new info out of it especially the tanking of the test to try and slow the thing down. I find it interesting that Whitmarsh told them to put 200+lb of fuel in it and not tell anyone, I'm sure Senna would definitely noticed the extra weight.

Love this series please keep them coming 🙏

Thanks for this video Aidan. Perhaps one of the first stories of intrigue I've heard nothing about. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the story. There's a very seasoned, well respected Brazilian F1 journalist who tells a somewhat similar story but it's always interesting to hear it from another pov. People here in Brazil are biased af when it comes to Senna but this gentleman took some serious heat when he wrote about this.

Here on YouTube, you can see an episode of the BBC Two programme , Mclaren: A year with the team, where it features the Lamborghini engine test and over at Jodi Kidd channel, she did a tour with Zak Brown and it showed the white Mclaren in storage.

A fascinating story from 1993. Thank you for sharing.

Here’s a video suggestion for you since we are talking about early 90’s Italian V12’s…how Honda ended up working as consultants for the Ferrari engine program in 1993 and were a big part of why Ferrari were absolutely woeful at the start of the year, but led into the first corner at Estoril…

Very informative and excellent video! Thank You For all Of Your hard Work....

You're so good a these. I'd love to see a wrc deep dive serie like these. Keep it up !!

This is a fantastic video Aiden. You always manage to add more detail or nuances to storys i thought i knew everything about! Amazing story this one. You sir are what YouTube is for