Storm_Cloud
S2 licensed
Joined : Fri, 8 Sep 2006 19:56
Posts : 1368
Quote from amp88 : Just back from having watched the race at the McLaren Technology Centre. My brother won 2 tickets as part of the Vodafone VIP competition.
The prize included a factory tour, including the 'Boulevard' (a foyer containing a number of important cars in McLaren's history - F1 cars from several decades, the Le Mans-winning F1 GTR from 1995, an F1 LM, a Can-Am car driven by Hulme and Bruce McLaren's Austin 7 and some other gems), the wind tunnel (complete with a 2008-spec 60% scale model on display), the 'mission control' area, from which engineers and strategists watch the race, the trophy cabinets and the race preparation bays.
In the race bays we got to take part in a 'pit stop challenge' where we had to change the wheels as quickly as possible. I wanted to try using the wheelgun, but it was incredibly difficult to get the timing right. After ending up with metal filings all over my gloves from a few badly timed moves I changed to be the person putting the new tyre on. That was a lot easier and we did OK, but our group on the tour sadly finished the competition in 3rd place...of 3 teams. Another treat in the race bays was that one of Perez's race cars from this season was sitting on high stands and being stripped. It's one thing to look at pictures and technical drawings but it's quite another to see the real thing up close and be able to smell the car too.
We were allowed to look wherever we wanted (within the scope of the tour of course, we didn't have an 'access all areas' pass), so I spent a lot of the time taking close-up looks of the cars, including time on the ground looking at the floors/diffusers of a few models.
The race itself was pretty decent too, but this will certainly be a day I remember for a long time because of the tour and the location.
Sounds like a great day out. Did you manage to liberate any unofficial souvenirs?