The 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine from designed and developed in collaboration with Ricardo and fitted to the McLaren 12C has claimed victory at the 2013 International Engine of the Year awards.

The lightweight and highly efficient unit won the ‘3-litre to 4-litre’ category, making it the first new winner of the accolade for five years.The M838T engine, designed and developed in collaboration with Ricardo, is fitted to the 12C and 12C Spider and was recently upgraded to produce 620bhp at 7500rpm. Despite this, there were no compromises to efficiency or emissions. Acceleration from a standstill to 60mph takes just 3.0 seconds, while returning 24.2mpg on the combined cycle and emissions of 279g/km.

Now in its 15th year, the International Engine of the Year Awards were presented at Engine Expo 2013, and voted for by a panel of 87 automotive journalists from around the world.

Mark Vinnels, Programme Director – New Vehicle Projects and Richard Farquhar, Head of Powertrain Programmes from McLaren Automotive received the award at a ceremony in Stuttgart, Germany. He said: ‘We set ourselves ambitious targets with the M838T engine driven to produce a no compromise unit that was powerful yet refined, compact, lightweight, responsive and efficient.’

Ricardo Engineering added: ‘In addition to the collaboration on design and development, the McLaren V8 is assembled at a state-of-the-art engine production facility at Ricardo’s Shoreham Technical Centre. The facility provides a near clean-room production environment in which each and every process is carried out according to strict, best-in-class quality principles and within a comprehensive ‘no faults forward’ culture.’