[Mani59]

     Featured on BIMMERPOST.com

Hi all,

Today was a very exciting day for me (and 9 others) since we had a tour of the fantastic McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) based in Woking, Surrey, UK.

The MTC is home of the McLaren F1 team plus McLaren Automotive which is where they make the McLaren road cars.

So I thought I would share the photos I took. Whilst we were shown some of the F1 areas (such as the workshops / offices / Mission Control) and a tour of McLaren Automotive, there was no photography allowed in these areas sadly.

The MTC is enclosed in it's own lake with the building designed by Norman Foster. It really is a stunning looking building:









Some local wildlife too:


The view of the lake from inside:


The boulevard:










Inside signed by Emerson Fittipaldi:


Daniel Ricciardo's actual race winning car from the 2021 Italian Grand Prix (minus it's power unit):











The McLaren F1 collection


Never forget what power these!




Our host said that when Ron Dennis first signed up Lewis Hamilton, Ron said to Lewis that if you win the championship in your first year, you will get a McLaren F1 LM (which recently sold for $23m). Anyway, when Lewis got to F1 and in his first year, he missed out on the championship by half a point! So Ron did a new deal saying that if you win 3 consecutive championships with McLaren, then you get the car. Unfortunately, Lewis left for Mercedes so never did it.










Ultimate series road cars:











































The LEGO Senna:






This room is entered through a secret door and contains several more F1 cars (and show cars). Apologies for the poor quality of the photos - it was a very dark room so I had to bump up the ISO significantly!



















The all white car seen on the extreme right is the test Lamborghini powered McLaren:
























The Trophy Room where we were told that this is the largest collection of F1 trophies in the world (just a few photos below rather than all of them). It's written into the driver's contract that they are not allowed to keep the trophy.








The blue Fosters trophy is Ayrton Senna's last trophy win with McLaren (he went to Williams the following year). As Ron went to congratulate Ayrton on the win, he whispered into his ear "it's not too late you know".


Le Mans trophy:

[FrankMstein]

Nuckin Futs!! When I win the lottery I'ma buy one of these F1's!

[AlexFL]

Where can I buy this life-sized lego Senna?

[NickyC]

Thank you for all the wonderful pictures!

While it was a great joy to see all of these, I also had a bit of sadness seeing those cars sitting there and thinking of old days past which are never coming back. The V10s, all my heroes from the 90s and 2000s, I miss it all so. F1 is still great but it will never be as magical as it was to me back in those days.

Thank you again though!

[Alfisti]

Jesus you can tell when they had money and when they didn't. The HONDA alonso cars are just fucking dreadful, they look shite design wise and brutal livery.

The 98/99 look lovely, so do some of the chrome cars before all the stupid flip ups.

Great history thanks for sharing.

[Mani59]

Thanks all - the 98/99 silver McLaren's are lovely indeed!

Originally Posted by AlexFL

Where can I buy this life-sized lego Senna?

That life size LEGO Senna is amazing! The background behind it is that a team of 30 worked for over 2700 hours and used 468,000+ bricks to build the model. It has working lights and sounds too.

It weighs 1.9 tonnes.

They did the same to the 720s too a few years ago at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017:

[Germanauto]

Amazing. Thanks for sharing these photos, will certainly head over there myself next time I'm in the U.K.

I've always been indifferent toward McLaren. Never had an affinity toward them in Formula 1 or their road cars. But I certainly appreciate their engineering and presence in the automotive world.

[stein_325i]

Fantastic pics as always Mani, thanks for sharing!

[forza1976]

Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

[AddictedTo///M]

WOW! Couldn't be more jealous. Just incredible.

[Entropy89]

That is an awesome experience!

[M2 SoCal]

Originally Posted by Mani59

Hi all,

Today was a very exciting day for me (and 9 others) since we had a tour of the fantastic McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) based in Woking, Surrey, UK.

The MTC is home of the McLaren F1 team plus McLaren Automotive which is where they make the McLaren road cars.

So I thought I would share the photos I took. Whilst we were shown some of the F1 areas (such as the workshops / offices / Mission Control) and a tour of McLaren Automotive, there was no photography allowed in these areas sadly.

The MTC is enclosed in it's own lake with the building designed by Norman Foster. It really is a stunning looking building:









Some local wildlife too:


The view of the lake from inside:


The boulevard:










Inside signed by Emerson Fittipaldi:


Daniel Ricciardo's actual race winning car from the 2021 Italian Grand Prix (minus it's power unit):











The McLaren F1 collection


Never forget what power these!




Our host said that when Ron Dennis first signed up Lewis Hamilton, Ron said to Lewis that if you win the championship in your first year, you will get a McLaren F1 LM (which recently sold for $23m). Anyway, when Lewis got to F1 and in his first year, he missed out on the championship by half a point! So Ron did a new deal saying that if you win 3 consecutive championships with McLaren, then you get the car. Unfortunately, Lewis left for Mercedes so never did it.










Ultimate series road cars:











































The LEGO Senna:






This room is entered through a secret door and contains several more F1 cars (and show cars). Apologies for the poor quality of the photos - it was a very dark room so I had to bump up the ISO significantly!



















The all white car seen on the extreme right is the test Lamborghini powered McLaren:
























The Trophy Room where we were told that this is the largest collection of F1 trophies in the world (just a few photos below rather than all of them). It's written into the driver's contract that they are not allowed to keep the trophy.








The blue Fosters trophy is Ayrton Senna's last trophy win with McLaren (he went to Williams the following year). As Ron went to congratulate Ayrton on the win, he whispered into his ear "it's not too late you know".


Le Mans trophy:

Amazing, thanks for the share

[MrPorter]

Photos don't do justice to just how ORANGE the MCL36 is in person. Were the others as stark of a difference between what you see with your eyes vs. what shows up on TV/photos?

[THEROK]

D Ricc needs to go. All talk. The 1 result because you know what happened. On the decline for a while now.

Mac F1 only looks right with the high downforce kit and black OZ wheels.

BMW M powered the Mac F1 only after G Murray's first choice provider, Honda, declined.

Thanks for the photos.

[RoGo330i]

Totally fascinating. Thanks so much! My neighbor has a McLaren that he mostly keeps in his garage. I'm going to borrow some of Mani59's knowledge, like I know what I'm talking about, and see if I can get a ride around the block!

Great pics and history!

[spansar]

Just to think, I had the opportunity to go work there for 1 week to see if I liked it. Sad to say after 2 days I decided to say it was not for me. I guess I was not that much into motor sport or cars then.. you really had to love the sport and I guess my younger self was a different person then. Remember after the cars came back from a race, we all went down to the workshop rooms to hear Ron Dennis give a speech on what happened, e.g Juan Pablo Montoya had a puncture and it was touch and go on finishing the last lap. Also the cars were back in the workshop and I remember they where in such a state, not cleaned and bits of tyre rubber all over the bodywork. Also during the live qualifying laps they piped announcements around the building speakers to let us know what was happening. I also recall you were not allowed to drink tea or coffee at your desks At break time everyone all gets up and walks to the canteen to have a cuppa.

Thanks for the photos and memories. I recall being given a one-on-one tour by the colleague that I was going to be replacing, and it has hardly changed.. Looks the same to me apart from some more cars..

[DeeKay]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Thank you for all the wonderful pictures!

While it was a great joy to see all of these, I also had a bit of sadness seeing those cars sitting there and thinking of old days past which are never coming back. The V10s, all my heroes from the 90s and 2000s, I miss it all so. F1 is still great but it will never be as magical as it was to me back in those days.

Thank you again though!

Jesus I swear I can hear the sound of the roaring V10 from these pictures! Must say the 2005 V10 powered car Kimi drove is my favourite. Such a speedy, yet fragile piece of engineering art

[IcewaterPete]

What an experience! Many thanks for sharing so much of it with us. Oh the V10 Mercedes...the most amazing sound in Motorsport history. To be able to see all of those cars and trophies then hear the stories had to be awesome. I had no idea that the drivers had to turn over the trophy. Really let’s you understand who is in charge!

How does one get the opportunity to tour the facility?

[spansar]

Originally Posted by IcewaterPete

What an experience! Many thanks for sharing so much of it with us. Oh the V10 Mercedes...the most amazing sound in Motorsport history. To be able to see all of those cars and trophies then hear the stories had to be awesome. I had no idea that the drivers had to turn over the trophy. Really let’s you understand who is in charge!

How does one get the opportunity to tour the facility?

Take a wad load of cash in a suitcase and say you are interested in purchasing a McLaren Speedtail

[Mani59]

Thanks all!

Originally Posted by MrPorter

Photos don't do justice to just how ORANGE the MCL36 is in person. Were the others as stark of a difference between what you see with your eyes vs. what shows up on TV/photos?

The silver Vodafone McLaren's were so much shiner in person than what you see on TV. And the West silver McLaren's of Mika and Kimi just look so awesome in person since you can see all the little details that the TV often misses or cannot see.

Originally Posted by spansar

Just to think, I had the opportunity to go work there for 1 week to see if I liked it. Sad to say after 2 days I decided to say it was not for me. I guess I was not that much into motor sport or cars then.. you really had to love the sport and I guess my younger self was a different person then. Remember after the cars came back from a race, we all went down to the workshop rooms to hear Ron Dennis give a speech on what happened, e.g Juan Pablo Montoya had a puncture and it was touch and go on finishing the last lap. Also the cars were back in the workshop and I remember they where in such a state, not cleaned and bits of tyre rubber all over the bodywork. Also during the live qualifying laps they piped announcements around the building speakers to let us know what was happening. I also recall you were not allowed to drink tea or coffee at your desks At break time everyone all gets up and walks to the canteen to have a cuppa.

Thanks for the photos and memories. I recall being given a one-on-one tour by the colleague that I was going to be replacing, and it has hardly changed.. Looks the same to me apart from some more cars..

It still makes me chuckle to hear that when Ron was in charge, there was a slight issue with one of the floor tiles in a corridor at the MTC. When he asked for the tile to be replaced, it was not an exact match to the rest of the tiles so he ordered the entire flooring to be replaced such was his eye for detail!

Originally Posted by IcewaterPete

What an experience! Many thanks for sharing so much of it with us. Oh the V10 Mercedes...the most amazing sound in Motorsport history. To be able to see all of those cars and trophies then hear the stories had to be awesome. I had no idea that the drivers had to turn over the trophy. Really let’s you understand who is in charge!

How does one get the opportunity to tour the facility?

Unfortunately, it is closed to the general public which is a great shame.
However if you own a McLaren, then I think you can tour the facility if you get in touch with your McLaren dealer (Aston Martin let you tour their factory if you own a Aston).

Otherwise it is by invitation only

The only other thing I can think of is to take a look at the McLaren F1 website for competitions to win a chance to tour the facility.

[M3 boi]

Originally Posted by Mani59

Thanks all - the 98/99 silver McLaren's are lovely indeed!

That life size LEGO Senna is amazing! The background behind it is that a team of 30 worked for over 2700 hours and used 468,000+ bricks to build the model. It has working lights and sounds too.

It weighs 1.9 tonnes.

They did the same to the 720s too a few years ago at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2017:

Am I the only one who want to see what kind of mpg the body of a car made with blocks can get? 😂