Codenamed "PLT-MCTC - 01" — which stands for "Prototype Lightweight Tub, McLaren Composites Technology Centre — 01" — the tub completed its 280km journey to the British sportscars and supercar maker’s global headquarters from the McLaren Composites Technology Centre. There it will be involved with stringent crash testing duties.
The composites centre was set up last year as part of McLaren’s plans to increase the rate of innovation of its lightweight carbon fibre chassis that are at the heart of all its cars.
This will help the firm’s designers and engineers to find further weight savings as the company develops its next generation of vehicles as part of its ambitious Track25 business plan.
McLaren aims to win the automotive race to lightweight which will become ever more important as cars move towards hybrid powertrains which are generally heavier than their traditional petrol counterparts. All McLaren’s sportscars and supercars will be hybrid by 2024.
The composites centre employs 60 people which will rise to over 200 when full production starts in 2020.
Carbon fibre has long been part of McLaren’s DNA, the company having first introduced the material into Formula 1 in the early 1980s. Given the material’s lightweight and strength characteristics, it hasn’t produced a road car without it since.
