McLaren

One of Formula One’s most successful teams was founded by Kiwi racer Bruce McLaren in 1963, who's legacy would endure after he died seven years later in a motorsport crash in England. McLaren race cars had already been victorious in Can-Am, and in the ’70s they would win the Indianapolis 500 three times and take Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt to F1 titles in 1974 and ’76. The company matured drastically from 1980, though, after mechanic-turned-businessman Ron Dennis took over the reins – dominating much of ’80s grand prix racing with the likes of Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. The company’s obsessive determination to beat rivals – especially Ferrari – moved to the road in 1992 with the F1, a three-seater supercar powered by a BMW V12 that would be the world’s fastest production car for more than a decade. Its next supercar didn’t turn up until 2011, with the MP4-12 that heralded the start of a new range of models from McLaren Automotive.