McLAREN FORMULA 1
WEISMANN TRANSAXLES
AYRTON SENNA
553 Laps Led
13 Pole Positions
8 Victories
1988 World Champion
A GORDON MURRAY-PETER WEISMANN design, the McLAREN MP4/4 totally
dominated the opposition in 1988. Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost
won 15 out of the 16 races held. Together they led 1003 out of
1078 laps and earned 15 pole positions.
This car is the direct decendant of the laydown
Brabham
Bt55. Initially, the Mclaren design
team resisted our transverse technology, so the first 3 shaft
longitudinal transaxle was designed by Pete Weismann to allow
Gordon Murray to design the MP4/4 as low as possible. Honda's
tiny 1.5 liter V6 turbocharged engine complemented the package
beautifully.
The success of our longitudinal freed us to design the transverse.
This picture shows how much smaller and compact our transverse
is compared the longitudinal. Initially, the MP4/5A used the longitudinal.
Then the MP4/5B was introduced mid-season with the transverse.
The MP4/5 won the World Championship, winning 14 out of 16 races.
Since then, transverse transmissions have become the norm in the
F1 pitlane.
MP4/5B Transverse
MP4/4 Longitudinal
Ayrton Senna on his way to victory!
MP4/5B
Spa, Belgium 1989
Ayrton Senna fastest in testing at Monza
in 1990.
The MP4/5B's low profile can be seen clearly here.
Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna with the
MP4/6.
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2007 Weismann Transmissions.
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