Thursday, March 15, 2007

The McLaren Connection

"Did you name her after the car?" Tim gets asked this question a lot at the squadron bar, after people hear we named our daughter 'McLaren'. In a word, no. There will probably come a time in her life when she swears she was named after the car, but since she's still in diapers, I think we have a few years. For those of you who are a bit foggy on your sports car trivia:

Developed by McLaren cars LTD, a subsidiary of the McLaren Formula One Team, the McLaren F1 GTR is the fastest, most powerful and most expensive production car in the world.

The McLaren is powered by a BMW 6.1 Liter V12 engine producing 627 hp with a 0-60 mph time of 3.1 seconds and a top speed of 230-240 mph.

The original McLaren F1 was started in 1991 and 64 cars were made. The LM model was introduced in 1993 with 5 cars built. The GT model had 3 cars. Finally, in 1995, the GTR was introduced, and over the next 3 years, 28 cars were built.

Unfortunately, production stopped in May 1998 after only 100 cars were built.


Indeed, I can see why their eyes light up when they ask about the car-name connection. Sounds like a sweet car. Looks like one, too.


McLaren F1.


Clockwise, starting with the baby: my great-aunt Phyllis, her grandmother Mary McLaren, her mother Helen McLaren Gaines, and her great-grandmother MacKenzie.

According to my great-aunt, they left their clan McLaren (in the 1800s?) and came to the United States from Edinburgh, Scotland. I imagine they were into horse/buggy racing, but I can't be certain.

4 comments:

Katie said...

Wow. Good for you on the genealogy.....That is really cool!I'd never heard of a McLaren car before.

Jen said...

I hadn't either...until Tim's uncle Bob told us about it. Don't tell Claire her mom's so out of it!

Andrea and Ben said...

Sweet history lesson! I am definitely not a car buff, so I am clueless!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing the background. I, too, was clueless about the car! Miss you!