McLaren M838T engine


The McLaren M838T engine is a 90-degree twin-turbocharged flat-plane V8, designed and developed in collaboration with Ricardo.

Development

McLaren bought the rights to the Tom Walkinshaw Racing developed engine, itself based on the Nissan VRH engine architecture, which was designed for the IRL Indycar championship but never raced. However, other than the bore, little of that engine remains in the M838T. In only 18 months, Ricardo went from a modified Nissan engine design to a running prototype.
The Ricardo-developed engine redlines at 8500 rpm, but 80% of the engine's torque is available as low as 2000 rpm. McLaren claims that the engine has the highest horsepower to 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 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, 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 at 7000 rpm and at 3000 rpm of torque. In 2012 McLaren released an update increasing power to at 7500 rpm. For the [FIA FIA GT3 European Championship|GT3 European Championship|GT3] racecar, the engine produces less power at only.
The engine has a bore and stroke of and a bore spacing of.
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 at 7,200 rpm with an additional from the electric motor. At 4,000 rpm the engine is said to produce of torque while the electric motor can produce a maximum of from 0 rpm upwards.
ModelsYearsCodenamePowerTorque
MP4-12C2011-2012M838T
at 7000 rpm
at 3000 rpm
MP4-12C2013-2014M838T
at 7500 rpm
at 3000 rpm
MP4-12C GT32011-2015M838T-
650S2014-2017M838T
at 7250 rpm
at 6000 rpm
675LT2015-2017M838T
at 7100 rpm
at 5500 rpm
MSO 688 HS2016-2017M838T
at 5500 rpm
P12013-2015M838TQ at 7200 rpm
Electric:
Total:
Electric:
Total:
P1 GTR/LM2015-2017M838TQ at 7250 rpm
Electric:
Total: 		Total:
540C2016-2021M838TE
at 7500 rpm
at 3500-6500 rpm
570S2016-2021M838TE
at 7400 rpm
at 5000-6500 rpm
600LT2018-2021M838TE
at 7500 rpm
at 5500-6500 rpm
620R2020-2021M838TE
at 7500 rpm
at 5500 rpm