1988 was due to be the last year for the turbo engines before they were banned, so most teams were making a concerted effort to establish themselves with naturally aspirated cars. Team boss Ron Dennis had previously tried to secure Honda engines for his Formula 2 team and welcomed the Japanese company after four successful years with the TAG engines. With the engines coming at the expense of Williams (who had won the previous two Constructors' Championships from McLaren), a strong 1988 was possible. The car was good enough to finish second in the Constructors’ Championship, secure the services of Ayrton Senna and persuade Honda to switch its engine supply deal from Williams to McLaren for the following season.įor 1988 McLaren had secured the use of the 1.5L V6 Honda turbo engines which since late in the 1985 season had been the best engine in Formula One.
The Steve Nichols designed McLaren MP4/3- TAG won three races with Prost finishing fourth in the drivers' championship, Prost's win in Portugal was cause for celebration as it was the Frenchman's 28th career win, taking him past the previous record of 27 wins by triple World Champion Jackie Stewart. In 1987 it was becoming increasingly difficult to compete with major manufacturer-backed teams using, effectively, a privateer engine financed in-house by TAG and built by Porsche. The Honda-powered MP4/4 is one of the most dominant Formula One cars ever built, winning all but one race and claiming all but one pole position in the 1988 season. Nichols based the design MP4/4 on the MP4/3 from 1987 using the same design principles, but with more time, different components (smaller fuel tank, smaller engine, for example) and different rules the car was a significant development. Honda had made the Constructors' Championship-winning engines of 19, and for 1988 they switched partners from Williams to McLaren, who had struggled with their dated TAG- Porsche engines. This car, however was unsuccessful largely due to the tall height of the car's BMW straight-4 engine. Murray set parameters for Nichols and the design department that the MP4/4 had to be a low-lying car, the concept being derived from Murray's Brabham BT55, which competed 1986 season. Neil Oatley, Gordon Kimball, Pete Weismann, Tim Wright and Bob Bell also contributed towards the design of the car. Gordon Murray, as Technical Director, subsequently confirmed this in an internal memo allocating responsibilities for the design department, nominating Nichols as chief designer for the car, and giving himself the role of liaising between the drawing office and production.
#FASTEST DRAG CAR IN FORZA HORIZON 2 FULL#
It was designed by American engineer Steve Nichols, the full responsibility for the design of the chassis having been conferred on him by Ron Dennis. Powered by Honda's RA168E 1.5-litre V6- turbo engine and driven by teammates Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the car competed during the 1988 Formula One season.
The McLaren MP4/4, also known as the McLaren-Honda MP4/4, is one of the most successful Formula One car designs of all time.
Pete Weismann (Chief Transmission Engineer)ĭouble wishbones, pull-rod actuated coil springs and dampersĭouble wishbones, rocker-arm actuated coil springs and dampers
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