So if you had a bunch of your buddies around, hangin' out in the garage and bench racin' on a Sunday afternoon before the NASCAR race starts, the conversation just might revolve around cars and, more specifically, performance. The "what ifs" and sometimes alcohol-induced imagineering derived in those innocent situations is what will drive an individual to try new things.
Now imagine having a whole shop devoted just to performance engines, adapting them to new projects, and making the parts and pieces that will perform better than anybody else's stuff. That's the core to the thinking behind the McLaren Performance Technologies' Belden Court facility, based in Livonia, Michigan.
If the McLaren name might sound familiar, you may remember Bruce McLaren's name on the cars that took multiple wins in Can-Am and Indy racing back in the '60s. Back then, McLaren Motor Racing started McLaren Engines in order to research how to get every available horsepower out of an engine. Through the years the company name may have changed but the shop has been in the same Michigan location since 1969. And the company's focus hasn't shifted too much from the original concept of designing, testing, manufacturing, and marketing for both production and racing engines.
McLaren Performance Technologies, which is not part of the McLaren Group (which runs the F1 team in partnership with Mercedes-Benz), is housed in two locations: McLaren Engines (the main shop that takes up 66,000 square feet of space), and McLaren's Belden Court facility. Linamar, a Canada-based, worldwide business specializing in precision CNC manufacturing and assembly for the automotive market, recently acquired McLaren Performance Technologies.
But the McLaren Performance Technologies' main focus has always been engines and how to make them work better, and their Belden Court shop has become something of a Skunkworks-the place where innovation is tested on real cars. Where some companies, like Saleen, which modifies a car only after it rolls off the assembly line, McLaren works with the OEMs in developing new induction and powertrain products. The Belden Court facility is a 15,000-square-foot building, and it's committed to developing everything from complete prototypes and concept vehicles for Ford and other OEM programs.
And rather than developing costly super-slippery dream cars from local design studios, the folks at McLaren's Belden Court shop regularly install their new powertrains in vintage cars. Looking around the shop, we see cars in development for the annual SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as cars brought in by customers (how would you like to tell your buddies McLaren is building your next power plant?). We're talkin' fastback Mustangs, '50s-era sedan deliveries, a Dodge Charger, and a couple of replica Cobras thrown in, too. Anything needed to complete a project, however complex (from complete chassis fabrication to finished, driving cars) is all done here.
The intermingling of different types of cars in the shop means basic hot-rod thinking-adapting parts to make the overall project better-is prevalent and widely encouraged. Remember the Cadillac LMPs that were fitted with twin-turbo 580hp Northstar engines for GM's 2000 LeMans entry? Those engines were assembled at the McLaren facility in Livonia.
But whether it's a GM, Ford, or some other make of motor, the guys at McLaren Performance Technologies and their Belden Court facility will figure out a way to make it go faster!