Inside the McLaren Technology Centre

Full disclosure: I'm a McLaren nut.

McLaren's F1 was the supercar king during my youth. I was once allowed to sit in one of Ayrton Senna's racers as a child at the Sydney motor show. And the British outfit won the first Grand Prix I attended in person. There are four McLaren model cars on display in my home. Right now though, all of them - the real ones, not replicas or toys - are part of an honour guard parked in front of me. This is going to be a good day.

The McLaren Technology Centre lies in an otherwise nondescript semi-industrial area in Woking, Britain, a little distance from the "carbon fibre triangle"  that is home to rival outfits like Mercedes-AMG F1, Red Bull Racing and HAAS F1, but in a much more majestic setting.

Designed by Britain's Norman Foster (no doubt working closely with detail-obsessed former McLaren chief Ron Dennis), the building is a marvel to behold.   

Visitors approach the centre by driving along a circular access road that curls around a man-made lake beautifully integrated with the building's curved form - the two combining to create a ying-and-yang-like circle when viewed from the air. 

It's not a domineering monolith, hangar or box, but a jewel-like lozenge of metal and glass home to truly irreplaceable treasures as well as some of the sharpest minds in motoring. Home to McLaren's Formula 1 team, technical research department and the production facility for its range of exotic supercars, the property is a truly magnificent space. Unfortunately, it's also quite exclusive, open only to customers, contractors and the occasional special guest from the media or other fields.

So it's an immense privilege to park my borrowed Range Rover among fairly choice metal and walk into the building's exquisite foyer. "Good morning, Mr McCowen", my host, Duncan Forrester says.

"I take it you haven't been informed about our photography policy?"

Gesturing to the Canon DSLR hanging from my shoulder, Forrester tells me that the brand does not allow on-site photography, as it could compromise secrets of its F1 and road car departments. Agreeing to make use of McLaren's own imagery, I stash the camera back in the 'Rangie and savour a second chance to take in the building before examining more than two dozen race and road machines stretched out behind floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking the lake.

The names leap out at you: Hunt, Hulme, Senna, Prost, Hakkinen, Raikkonen, Button, Hamilton, Alonso and more. Every car has a story to tell, each one part of the legend and legacy of a brand founded in competition. The cars are glorious examples of the breed retained by McLaren as part of its historic collection - the team stores retired machines in a secure facility nearby, occasionally rotating through its display.

It's intoxicating stuff. We pore over brutal V8-powered Can-Am cars, pause alongside the most dominant F1 car in history (the 1988 McLaren MP4/4, piloted by Prost and Senna), get hands-on with the cheeky "f-duct" aero bypass system used by Jenson Button to win the 2010 Australian Grand Prix and study the incredibly delicate aerodynamics of Lewis Hamilton's first title winner.

Hamilton had a gentlemen's agreement with McLaren that he would own one of the brand's most important cars if he managed to secure enough success for the team in his early years. He didn't quite make the mark, so the prototype McLaren F1 LM remains on display in the MTC. Basking in the glow of its Papaya Orange paint, I hear how Hamilton left a secret mark somewhere on the car so he knew it was the same model promised by Ron Dennis early in his career.

Originally conceived by Dennis and McLaren race car designer Gordon Murray during the all-conquering 1988 season, the McLaren F1 is a titan of the automotive world. It was the world's fastest car for more than a decade until bested by the Bugatti Veyron, blending a world-first carbon-fibre structure, central driving position and monstrous BMW V12 engine to redefine what people thought was possible from a road car. The F1 took victory in the world's greatest race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at its first attempt. Examples that come up for sale fetch in excess of $10 million, it's one of the rarest modern cars in the world, and there are five examples on display at the MTC. 

McLaren insures the 1995 Le Mans winner pictured below for ?40 million ($64.5m), and you can bet that the XP5 prototype (a car that set a speed record), the one-of-three McLaren F1 GT longtails, a podium-winning Gulf-livered F1 GTR and Lewis' favourite orange machine would also command eight-figure values. 

Having had a good look at the brand's history, Forrester leads me past a kitchen and dining area kept at a lower atmospheric pressure than the rest of the building (it prevents food smells from reaching other areas), buff blokes practising F1 pit stops (they're contractually obligated to hit the gym at least three times per week), a hall containing almost every F1 trophy the brand has won (drivers aren't allowed to keep them), odd cylinder-shaped elevators (inspired by the pistons in a race engine) and past a waterfall feature attached to the lake (used to cool the F1 department's wind tunnel). There's magic everywhere you look.

At it's peak, that wind tunnel was used 24 hours a day to evaluate dozens of parts on a daily basis as McLaren tried to out out-engineer Michael Schumacher's Ferraris. Today the tunnel is also used to hone the aerodynamics of road cars and other projects such as sports equipment, contributing to the outstanding success of Britain's Olympic cycling team.

McLaren technology is part of the electrical infrastructure of every car on the F1 grid, and a modified version of the brand's race-developed tracking system is used to guide aircraft at London's Heathrow airport.

Moving to the facility's automotive assembly hall, I fully expected to see a state-of-the-art army of laser-wielding robots silently assembling the brand's Sport Series and Super Series road machines. Instead, the brand employs man-power to hand craft its vehicles, siding with the touch of an experienced craftsman over the cold reliability of computers.

That's not to suggest the building is low tech - a recent infrastructure tweak introduced smart tools that can communicate with oversight software to ensure every bolt is torqued to the correct specifications. No wrench is left unturned.

We see a surprising array of colours on the build floor, where electric blue, Kermit green and vibrant yellow cars stand out among the regular white, grey and black options. There's no production line, as each car rides on specially crafted trolleys that employees push between stations.

Heading back toward the foyer, we have a coffee with McLaren designer Rob Melville in a display area currently home to the new 570 GT, before Forrester presses part of a curved wall that swings open to reveal a hidden theatre. Settling in on white leather seats tailor-made for the curved room, the team activates another panel that reveals a yet-to-be released supercar on a carbon-fibre turntable. We can't say much about the new model yet, suffice to say that it, too, combines McLaren's technology, attention to detail and race-forged know-how in a manner fitting the brand.

The new machine promises to be sensational to drive and strong value even at $500,000-plus.

Because that price includes a tour of the MTC.