Inside Look: Supercar Factory

Building a supercar is no walk in the park, and sharing space with a dedicated and highly-strung F1 team can hardly be seen as a boon either.

But success is still very much in the hearts and minds of all employees at the new McLaren base of operations that just incorporates the two factions. Let's take a look:

On May 12, 2004, the McLaren Technology Center was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

The McLaren Technology Centre is the new corporate headquarters for the McLaren Group, in which DaimlerChrysler holds a 40 per cent share.

Around 140 highly qualified employees manufacture up to 500 units of the Gran Turismo in each year. The SLR is available in limited numbers, in keeping with its exclusive character, and during the vehicle's seven-year life span, a total of just 3500 units will leave the Woking plant.

Overall, the McLaren Technology Centre measures approximately 22,500 square meters, of which almost 18 per cent, or 4000 square meters are accounted for by the SLR supercar production.

Three of the seven production 'fingers' in the building complex are dedicated to the painting and final assembly of the SLR.

Interestingly, the remaining four production fingers are reserved for the Team McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 team, McLaren Electronic Systems, McLaren Marketing and McLaren Applied Technologies.

The 21st-century SLR Silver Arrow is manufactured in Woking using high-end components produced by specialists from the partner companies Mercedes-Benz and McLaren.

A "one man, one engine" principle is applied to the production of the high-performance 5.5-litre V8 engines for the Mercedes SLR McLaren, which is conducted in a specially equipped hall at Mercedes-AMG's engine production facility in Affalterbach.

The decision to bring AMG on board as the engine supplier for the SLR ultimately benefits the customers of the SLR, thanks to the company's proven technology and its long-standing expertise in the construction of high-performance engines.

The responsible engineer puts his or her signature on the engine tag of the supercharged, twin-intercooled AMG V8, documenting the company’s philosophy of exclusivity for the customer. What's more, the signature guarantees highest quality and care.

Interestingly, the blown V8 takes AMG engineers double the time, or some five hours longer to build than any other AMG engine.

After the 460kW (626hp) V8 engine comes from Mercedes-AMG in Affalterbach, the specialists from McLaren Composites in Portsmouth deliver the body-in-white, which is made of carbon fibre

The individual components are assembled to produce the complete vehicles at the McLaren Technology Center, the center of SLR production.

The final assembly of the Gran Turismo is largely performed by hand and takes place at nine stations along a line that is around 80 meters long.

The cars produced in Woking pass through a quality gate before moving on to each following station, ensuring that standards are uniform and remain consistently high.

Following the assembly process, each vehicle undergoes a final test on the rolling test rig in addition to driving tests to fine-tune the chassis.

The car may be delivered to the customer only after the quality inspector and the test driver have given the go-ahead.

At the McLaren Technology Centre, high-tech materials from the aviation sector and Formula 1 are being used for the first time in the series production of the body and chassis.

The SLR's doors, bonnet and complete body-in-white are made from carbon-fibre composites, or CFCs.

Previously, CFC components were built by hand in a time-consuming process. In order to achieve a high degree of automation, McLaren worked with experts from the Mercedes-Benz Technology Center in Sindelfingen to divide the production process into a 'preform' stage and a resin saturation stage followed by the hardening phase.

For example, the longitudinal members of the front body structure consist of a central cross member and the encircling molded part or internal web.

The cross member comprises several layers of carbon fibre stitched together by a machine. After the form has been cut to shape, the web blank is inserted into a braided polystyrene core.

This core element is clamped into a specially developed braiding machine that produces the longitudinal member from 25,000 ultra-fine carbon filaments that are unwound simultaneously from 48 reels.

Such a precise process allows the fibers to be braided around the core at a precisely defined angle to create the desired contour. Several layers are overlapped in certain areas, depending on the thickness required.

McLaren Composites also manufactures over 50 carbon fibre components for the high-performance sports car.

The degree of integration achieved in the manufacture of the bodyshell is remarkable. The entire floor assembly, for example, including all support members and securing elements, is made from one piece.

The core of the carbon fibre composite roof frame structure (also manufactured as a single piece) are automatically filled with foam before the resin injection, creating a particularly crashproof sandwich structure. High-strength bonding and riveting techniques ensure a reliable connection between the individual carbon components of the chassis and the bodyshell.

The aluminium engine mounts are bolted to the carbon fibre composite bulkhead and also bonded in place. The carbon structure includes integral mountings for the aluminium and steel rear axle.

When a supercar factory is also home to one of the world's quickest Formula One teams, things like the Mercedes SLR McLaren are born - and we await the next McLaren venture with baited breath.

The McLaren Technology Center is an all-in-one structure that facilitates not only the production of the super sports car and the housing of an F1 team, but it also acts as a hi-tech showroom, designed to meet the specific needs of the customers of the Silver Arrow for the 21st century.

For the full article on the new SLR supercar, click here.