There is something of an ongoing joke in the car community regarding McLaren's engines... or engine, as you will soon realize. Like other luxury supercar brands, you would expect McLaren to have at least a couple different engines to suit their car's personalities and functions, but that they do not.

Take a gander at a 570S, 600LT, or 720S spec sheet and you will find 3 different power figures, supposedly, 570, 600, and 720 horsepower. But here's the joke - strap all of them down to a dyno and they will all make within 50 horsepower of each other minus maybe a certain well-built 720. They aren't lying when they say it's the same engine.

Lamborghini makes a 5.2 liter V10 and a 6.5 liter V12 that both go into their long-lasting nameplates like the Aventador and the Huracan. Ferrari makes a few versions of their twin-turbo V8s and N/A V12s that suit either the GTs, sports cars or supercars. But McLaren? They rock just one engine, and it's origin isn't fully British either. And perhaps the Japanese had something to do with it as well.

Keep reading to learn about the strange origin of the engine sitting inside Mclaren supercars.

Nissan's Role

The Nissan R390 GT1 Concept In a Warehouse
via Jalopnik

That's right, Nissan is the Japanese culprit in this automotive love story between a race-eager automaker and a very smart engineering company. It begins with the legendary, yet lost in history, Nissan R390 GT1, a Le Mans destined racecar that was supposed to be Nissan's ticket to future glory at Mulsanne.

The engineering company that helped Nissan develop the engine for their car was Tom Walkinshaw Racing or TWR who ultimately came up with the design for a 3.5 liter V8 with a pair of turbos attached to it - a device that, back then, was still considered to be a marvel magical Japanese technology.

It was called the Nissan VRH35L, and was the final iteration of several Aluminum V8s that Nissan used for racing back in the early '90s called the VRH35 line. The VRH35L, however, was the baddest of them all, making 640 horsepower and around 520 lb-ft of torque.

Related: Ferrari Refuses To Change Stance Over Keeping The V12 Engine

Nissan/TWR's Legendary VRH25L Racing Engine
via Jalopnik

It first debuted in Nissan's R390 GT1 racecar that raced in the appropriate GT1 class at the 1997 24 Hours of Le Mans. Unfortunately, all that special engine design and development only got Nissan so far, and didn't get them the wins they so tirelessly strived for.

Even though the '97 and '98 Le Mans races didn't end up with a Nissan win, they did considerably well for a first time prototype build. In '97, two of the three R390s had transmission failure and left the race early, and the last one came in 12th overall and 5th in its class.

The R390 GT1 In Action At The 24 Hours of Le Mans
via WallpaperUP

Then in '98, they improved with all 4 of their cars finishing the 24 hour long sprint - they finished in 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 10th overall, losing only to, you guessed it, Porsche. Porshe kept winning Le Mans all the damn time and they haven't slowed down, which was the biggest downfall of that poor Nissan.

Related: The History Of Nissan At The 24 Hours Of Le Mans

From The Ashes

A First Year McLaren MP4-12C In Papaya Orange
via Carbuzz

While the Nissan R390 was pronounced dead after the '98 season and then completely replaced by another Nissan prototype, the VRH35L engine lived to fight another day. It's stout aluminum design and epic performance caught the eye of a little company called McLaren, who had just finished building and racing a car that is now regarded as the best automobile to ever exist - the McLaren F1.

The F1 was built in conjunction with the legendary Gordon Murray and none other than BMW, so their next car would be the first production car exclusively designed and built by McLaren itself, that car came to fruition in 2009 dubbed the McLaren MP4-12c. And it's engine was based entirely on that old VRH35L race engine.

When they started designing the 12c, McLaren wanted an exotic powerplant but they wanted it in a package that could fit a relatively small mid-engine car, so they studied the compact twin-turbo V8 design language of the VRH35L motor, and liked it so much that they bought the rights to the blueprints.

They immediately got busy turning this old '90s piece of racing technology into a McLaren branded, roadgoing beast named the M838T. It debuted as a McLaren product in 2011 with the first production year of the 12c and then remained the sole heart of all future McLarens.

Related: Here's Why Eric Clapton Couldn't Buy George Harrison's McLaren F1

A Decade Of Performance

One Of The Best Looking Supercars Ever Designed, The McLaren P1
via duPont Registry Daily

The M838T V8  has undergone multiple refreshes from the first MP4-12C, to the P1's hybrid iteration, to the current 720S's 4.0-liter animal. They have created some amazing driving experiences that surround this engine's great response and smooth power delivery with a very keen attention to driving enthusiasts.

The 2016 McLaren 570S was so good in fact, that it won Motor Trends 2016 Best Drivers Car, and the current generation 720S has gotten nothing but rave reviews because of its seemingly alien level of acceleration.

Yet, neither of these wonderful cars, or any of the modern McLarens would be as good or possibly even exist of it wasn't for Nissan and TWR who conceived the VRH35L engine and set out to race against the best of the world.

Next: The True Story Behind McLaren