Based close to the campus of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) at the University of Sheffield, and built with support from Sheffield City Council, the new centre will be responsible for the development and manufacturing of the Monocell and Monocage carbon fibre chassis in future McLaren cars.
This next generation Monocell will be built using advanced automated manufacturing techniques developed in conjunction with the AMRC. The new facility is due to start construction in early 2017 with the first pre-production carbon fibre chassis expected to be delivered to the McLaren Technology Centre in the second half of 2017 using trial manufacturing processes in the AMRC before going into full production by 2020.
The McLaren Composites Technology Centre is located near the University of Sheffield.
For more than 30 years, McLaren has pioneered the use of carbon fibre in vehicle production. The McLaren MP4/1 was the first car on the Formula One grid to feature a carbon fibre chassis. Compared to the aluminium structures of the time, carbon fibre was lighter but stronger and therefore faster but safer.
By the following season, most competitors had adopted this new material in the construction of their cars, and it continues as the prevalent construction material today. And on the road, the now-iconic McLaren F1 from 1993 was the first road car ever to be built with a carbon fibre chassis. This car still holds the world record for the fastest naturally-aspirated road car.
Since 1981, McLaren has not built a car without a carbon fibre chassis.
The creation of the new McLaren Composites Technology Centre represents the company’s first purpose-built facility outside of the current McLaren campus. Formed through a partnership between McLaren Automotive, the University of Sheffield’s AMRC and Sheffield City Council, the new Composites Technology Centre will create more than 200 jobs through a combined investment of nearly £50 million. The target is that the new Centre will deliver cost savings of around £10million when compared to costs of today and £100 million of GVA (gross value added) benefit to the local economy by 2028.
