It was one of Formula 1’s most successful partnerships. Between 1984 and 1987 a Weissach-designed 1.5 V6 turbo powered McLarens to two manufacturers’ titles and 25 Grand Prix victories in four years, endowing Niki Lauda to win his third World Championship and making Alain Prost champion in 1985 and 1986.
When the TAG contract ended in 1987, Porsche was left with a small stock of the Typ 2623 engine. As was the company tradition, experience and materials were rarely wasted. Even as early as 1984, Porsche’s R&D department was looking for other ways in which this small but extraordinarily powerful turbo V6 could be used.
One possibility was to replace the turbo jet in the helicopters of German aerospace manufacturer MBB, but the V6 proved no more economical than MBB’s turbines. Other ideas included employing the 1.5 in a road vehicle, but no suitable candidate was found. Finally, R&D decided to try the TAG engine in its production 930. The installation was complex and despite several weeks’ intensive work during spring 1987, the result was disappointing with R&D director Helmut Flegl admitting that the car wouldn’t run smoothly. Clearly much more development was required. The unfinished if running mule went into a basement at Woking, emerging occasionally on McLaren open days.
In 2017, Ron Dennis, director of McLaren, sold his remaining shares and severed
