McLaren celebrates carbon fiber by burning rubber
McLaren hosted a gala opening for its new carbon fiber technology center in Yorkshire by whipping sweet, smoky doughnuts in a Senna.
McLaren , a company known for its quality, fastidiousness and currently mediocre Formula 1 team, is moving the production of its carbon fiber monocoque in-house at a new facility in Yorkshire, England, and it celebrated the occasion with burnouts in the all-new Senna. We like McLaren.
The Senna hypercar was joined by probably-the-greatest-Formula-1-driver-ever Ayrton Senna's own McLaren-Honda MP4/5, though regrettably the priceless race car didn't share in the smoky celebration.
The McLaren Composites Technology Centre, which should employ around 200 people once fully operational in 2019, marks McLaren's first venture outside of its home area of Woking and will supply the McLaren Production Center with carbon tubs and other bits for McLaren's road cars.
McLaren has a long relationship with the vaunted material, being the first Formula 1 constructor to offer a full carbon chassis and its been a primary component in every vehicle, road or race, that the company has produced since.
The Senna, named for Ayrton Senna possibly the world's greatest Formula 1 driver, is McLaren's most extreme road car to date. It lacks the complexity, and therefore the weight, of the company's P1 hybrid hypercar, producing 789 horsepower with a weight of 2,641 pounds. Its looks may be polarizing, but its performance would probably make ol' Ayrton soil himself, or at least make him proud.
