A question to which it is unfortunately impossible to answer after almost thirty years. However, before we get to talk about that never established bond, it is only right to take a step back to the premises that led one of the most titled teams on the grid to compete in a world championship season without the official support of a manufacturer. The withdrawal of Honda, partner of McLaren and winner of four consecutive world championships with her, had forced Ron Dennis, owner of the British team, to look for an alternative solution. Although the announcement of the Japanese company had come publicly on 10 September 1992, at the end of a championship dominated by Williams against which even Ayrton Senna had not been able to oppose, Dennis already knew that he had to find another engine supplier for the following year. The hope of the former mechanic of Jack Brabham and Jochen Rindt was, however, to exploit the Honda engines again thanks to a Mugen or Tag branded ‘rebranding’ operation.
A scenario that would have made sense according to the consolidated bond with the Honda engineer Osamu Goto, one of the architects of the success of the Japanese in the highest formula. Honda, worried about the possibility of negative performance of the engine, which would no longer be developed under his direct control, would however oppose. Thus the plan B was triggered, that is to try to acquire Ligier, in those years a customer of Renault together with Williams. Dennis was not even able to do this, because the transalpines cited problems with the McLaren fuel supplier, the Dutch Shell, as an excuse, imposing the national company Elf as the only collaborator for the development of gasoline and lubricants. The third option was Ford, another automotive industrial giant present in Formula 1, but even here there were problems of a political nature and beyond.
In fact, the Detroit house already had a first team that held the exclusive, the Benetton of rising star Michael Schumacher. A team at the helm of which was another manager on the rise, Flavio Briatore. Consequently, it is difficult for McLaren to obtain the same technical counterpart of the Anglo-Italian team. Thus it was that Dennis found himself forced to fall back on ‘customer’ Ford V8s, less performing than the official ones supplied to his colleagues at Enstone. To win the sympathy of Ford herself, the Woking team principal leveraged the hiring of his new second driver for 1993, Mario Andretti’s son Michael. The American, one of the top drivers of Formula Cart, thus arrived in the Circus as a companion of Senna. An experience that ended bitterly without reaching the end of the World Cup. The American was replaced a few races from the end by the Finnish talent Mika Hakkinen, already present in the team after a couple of running-in championships at the now dying Lotus. The MP4 / 8, born around the Ford V8, proved to be a good single-seater, so much so that Senna won five race wins making the most of his immense talent and favorable weather conditions. Finally equipped with an effective active suspension system with Bilstein actuators, a transverse 6-speed semi-automatic transmission, as well as the ‘fly by wire’ technology for the accelerator, the car made use of the lightness of the American engine optimized in the electronic management by the TAG.
However, the power was not enough to counter the Wiliams 10-cylinder Renault which again won the title, this time with the returning Prost, and a single-seater unattainable for all rivals. Towards the end of 1993, McLaren therefore sought to consider a new partnership in view of the following year. Legend has it that the covert direction of the first contact between McLaren and Lamborghini was none other than Bernie Ecclestone, who would have had every interest in bringing McLaren back to the top and rekindling interest in a championship monopolized for two years of row from Williams. Whether this story is true or not, it is certain that the Lamborghini aroused Dennis’ curiosity. The engine built by the former Ferrari technical director, Mauro Forghieri, had not up to that moment shone also because it was mounted on a single-seater certainly not from the front row. The sinking of the Lambo project in 1991 saw the bitter end of a plan initially born with other objectives, despite which Chrysler, owner of the Bolognese company, however, continued to maintain its presence in the maximum formula. For 1994 there was therefore an opportunity to climb the hierarchy on the grid and McLaren represented the ideal springboard. The meeting in Detroit between Ron Dennis and Bob Lutz, president of the Chrysler group, took place in the summer of ’93. Also present for the occasion was Daniele Audetto, another former Ferrari man, at that time in charge of Lamborghini sports management in F1.
An intense winter testing program and an exclusive supply for the following season are the subject of discussion. The resources deployed by McLaren were first-rate: the construction experience on the chassis and the level of the drivers, first of all Ayrton Senna. For its part, Lamborghini undertook to work to improve the reliability and performance of its V12. Another aspect was the renunciation of the agreement with Magneti Marelli for electronics and the passage to the TAG, closely linked with McLaren. Under the supervision of designer Neil Oatley and his colleague Giorgio Ascanelli, the MP4 / 8 was quickly modified to accommodate the Lamborghini engine. To change were the anchor points of the engine and the gearbox, the radiators, the electronic management and other elements that led the car to become longer than nine and a half centimeters compared to the single-seater with the Ford V8. Obviously, the wheelbase was also longer, as was the body, and the overall weight clearly increased. The transmission always remained the six-speed semi-automatic transverse transmission with steering wheel drive. Clearly, only a team with McLaren skills could have done it in such a short time. The debut, with a completely white livery and devoid of the classic Marlboro color, took place on the small English circuit of Pembrey.
The MP4 / 8B Lamborghini immediately aroused the interest of Senna who said he was well impressed by the power qualities of the Italian V12, as the engineer Mauro Forghieri still says today when talking about the tests carried out on the track. The Brazilian ace complimented the engine that he considered to be among the best-performing drivers in his F1 career. Among the drawbacks was the brutal power delivery, but with ample room for improvement if developed properly. A few less horsepower in the highs and more torque in the mid-range would have been the ideal solution in Senna’s judgment. An observation immediately noted by the technicians because in the meantime, between Silverstone and Estoril, the tests continued. In Great Britain it was Hakkinen who drove the MP4 / 8B and today there is still a short video that runs on the web of that collective session, during which we see the white McLaren of the Finnish darting through the fast corners of the historic track across the Channel. The most striking of these short shots is the powerful sound of the V12 from Sant’Agata Bolognese. It wasn’t all plain sailing, in fact, with Hakkinen at the wheel, the engine literally exploded into pieces in the stretch between Hangar Straight and the Stowe curve, even opening a hole in the bottom of the body. In any case, the judgment of the future twice world champion was the same as that of the Senna: extremely powerful engine that pushed hard, much stronger than the Ford HB ‘customers’.
The proof was times that were over a second better than the standard MP4 / 8. This increase in performance was not penalized by the greater weight as well as the consumption of the tires which remained optimal thanks to a balance well calibrated by good weight distribution. It is said that Senna was so enthusiastic that he clamored for the Lamborghini to be used by McLaren immediately in the last races of the 1993 season. ‘Magic’ had not yet made arrangements with Williams and the switch to the Italian 12-cylinder seemed to be the element capable of to convince him to stay in Woking again in 1994. The last tests in Portugal, at the end of September with the engine modified by Forghieri according to Senna’s instructions, gave the Brazilian even more confidence. The times of the Paulista champion and Hakkinen were constant and of all relief, with Ayrton able to approach the pole obtained in the Grand Prix a few days earlier by Prost with the super Williams. A series of confirmations that led to a new meeting between Ron Dennis, Bob Lutz and Daniele Audetto.
The three met at the Francorforte Auto Show and reached an agreement for the supply in view of the 1994 season. Lamborghini would have guaranteed a budget of 20 million dollars and the status of team factory at McLaren. However, nothing was signed, not even a declaration of intent. Dennis, in front of his interlocutors, would have stated that a handshake between gentlemen was worth more than a 200-page contract. The engines were now ready to be sent for other tests and perhaps the first race weekend, but shortly after nine in the evening of the day before the departure for England, the phone call from Ron Dennis arrived at Lamborghini, declaring that he wanted to retire. from the deal. What had changed to bring someone like the McLaren owner to veer so sharply after the promises made? The theses are currently conflicting: from the intrigue of power between builders with related political implications, to the fact that Dennis had changed his mind about the project. The engine, whose genesis by now dates back to 1988, would not have offered sufficient guarantees to the English manager, as well as having to bear 50% of the expenses for the development and overhaul of the engines. An economically not advantageous solution in the eyes of the number one of the British team.
The new agreement, this time official, of McLaren with Peugeot, ready to enter Formula 1 the following year, arrived like a bolt from the blue. The Woking team would not have paid anything, the supply would have been free, as well as financial support from the house of the French lion. After the sensational reverse of Dennis and given the results of the tests on the track, the Benetton of Flavio Briatore would have knocked on the Chrysler’s door to understand if there was the possibility to agree and have the engines exclusively. The engines would be followed up with the support of the TWR of Tom Walkinshaw, a company that at the time collaborated with Benetton. Briatore and Walkinshaw then flew to Detroit to meet Lutz and Audetto, but the president of the Chrysler Group was still furious about the failure to marry McLaren and did not want to meet other Formula 1 exponents. By now he no longer considered the members of the paddock. of men of their word. The sharp no pronounced by the number one of the US company consequently handed the Forghieri project to the archives of history and definitively put an end to Lamborghini’s brief adventure in the world championship circus.
(Photo MP4 / 8B Lamborghini: Twitter)
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