SEVEN YEARS of SUPERCARS
Views of the 720S. McLaren design director Rob Melville standing beside a 720S.
As it started to rain at the 1988 Japanese Grand Prix, virtually all Formula 1 racers on the track slowed their cars to tiptoe around Suzuka circuit. But not Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, who had earned pole position but stalled at the beginning of the race. He was now working his way back to the front. Senna, who had deft driving skills in wet conditions, delivered an otherworldly performance and won the race, earning his first of three world championships— an astonishing performance not only for him but also his new team, then called McLaren-Honda.
McLaren started life as an English engineering company, and its founder, Bruce McLaren, had a savage talent behind the wheel, winning his first Grand Prix in 1959
