The iconic McLaren Technology Group throws out stats, which like the building itself, blows you away.
“The wind tunnel produces enormous heat and the vast lake that borders the MTC is used to keep it cool. This means the lake is 3-4 degrees warmer than other nearby bodies of water. The same lake water flows around the lower levels of the building down elegant steps. When the wind tunnel is being used regularly, the flow gets quicker. Include the fact that Woking’s power supplier has to be warned when the wind tunnel is used as it takes 3.5 megawatts of electricity and the resulting surge has to be compensated for! Details like that – like the lowered air pressure in in the canteen to keep food smells escaping into the rest of the building – are McLarenesque solutions to practical problems.”
The building itself is as stunning a construction as the cars inside it. (Picture acknowledgement McLaren)

Paul Butler writes to say “After arriving at the car park at McLaren we were quickly transported away in a luxury black minibus, and very quickly we were presented with all I can describe as being similar to a villain’s lair from a James Bond film! – Once inside we were greeted by members of the McLaren’s team – amazing, this was Bruce’s daughter! This really did make the day special as she was so friendly and generous with her time.
We were split into two groups, first group we were treated to a view of the production line of the cars, amazingly with no machines in sight! These cars are totally built by hand and I can assure you no-one was doing a rush job. In front of us we could see the dynamic testing where the cars are road tested and then the “Monsoon” test area where the cars are subjected to 12k litres of water during a test!
We were then treated to a look at the vast number of Formula 1 cars on show at the front of the building, luckily rules had changed recently allowing us to take photographs! This wrapped up what was a very exciting tour of a facility that normally doesn’t allow visitors!”

And Phillip and Martina Reynolds say they loved the visit to McLaren for a number of reasons:-

1. It was very authentic with McLaren’s daughter doing the tour.

2. The building is spectacular but the only items in the building that had any colour were the cars, which is a deliberate policy of McLaren to keep the focus of staff on cars.

3. The area where they build cars is cleaner than a hospital operating theatre, quite astonishing, and of course the cars look amazing in all their various stages of build.

4. There were many F1 Winning cars on display which just reinforced the long sporting heritage that is McLaren.

5. And Phillip gleefully says “I even got permission to buy one from my wife – although there was a caveat, I would have to sell my other toys :)”

We’d love an update or a picture if this happens! (Although, many toys beat one toy?) H

Thanks to Paul Butler for these great pictures of a thoroughly enjoyable day!