It may sound hard to believe, but it's been almost 50 years since a 27-year-old New Zealander named Bruce McLaren started an automotive company that has forever changed the way we look at supercars and race cars. Starting off with just half a dozen loyal employees, McLaren now has more than 2,000 people in its payroll. With its fair share of ups and downs over the years, McLaren has persevered and is now one of the most prestigious in engineering ridiculously fast and powerful cars in the entire world.

2 September 2013 will mark the company's official 50th anniversary but it has already taken the time to point out many of its greatest accomplishments. Some of these include a Formula 1 team that is now a household name (outside the US, at least), having won more races (182) than any other constructor. In the US, McLaren's legacy is rooted in its days spent in the CanAm series from 1967-71 as well as its time participating in the Indy 500 with Johnny Rutherford behind the wheel. Today both Indy and NASCAR rely upon McLaren Electronics' standardized ECUs to control their engines and feed data back to the garage.

With road cars ranging from the F1, through the Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR McLaren to today's MP4-12C, the next chapter will focus on the upcoming P1, the highly anticipated supercar that has the potential to shatter many previous records. Bruce McLaren once said that "Life is measured in achievement, not in years alone." The man's wisdom was evident long before his name became synonymous with racing and supercar excellence. Here's to another half century and beyond.