AUGUST 17, 1998

Work begins at McLaren's new base

WORK has just begun on McLaren's new factory at Mizen's Farm to the north of Woking, in Surrey. The first phase of the work will be finished at some point in the year 2000 with the priority being the windtunnel. The team is however taking steps to bolster its aerodynamic program and is buying the half-scale rolling-road which Benetton has been using in the Defense Evaluation and Research Agency windtunnel at Farnborough. We believe that this will be used in the British Aerospace windtunnel at Filton, in Bristol, which was used until recently by Ferrari. British Aerospace is a partner of McLaren. Ferrari gave up the Filton tunnel when it fell out with John Barnard and opened its own windtunnel in Maranello.

McLaren is expected to continue to use the 40 percent rolling road windtunnel at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, Middlesex, which it has been using since the 1980s.