A See Inside Manufacturing Tour With McLaren

A group of local teachers and students have been welcomes into the McLaren Technology Centre for a behind the scenes view of McLaren engineers.

The tour was organised as part of the Government's See Inside Manufacturing initiative in conjunction with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The See Inside Manufacturing aims to encourage and inspire young people to see engineering as an exciting and viable career choice whilst increasing awareness of the UK's manufacturing base.

The students walked along the 'boulevard' of McLaren's historic race cars before being allows inside McLaren's top secret wind tunnel and workshops where Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton's Formula 1 race cars are developed and built.

A presentation was then given to the students, by Brad Fincham, one of McLaren's young Vehicle Dynamics Test Engineers. he explained what inspired him to get into the industry and what life is like as a racing and automotive engineer. Frank Stephenson, McLaren Automotive's Design Director, then gave an insight into the design features of the McLaren MP4-12C sports car.

A survey by the Engineering and Technology Board shows that 49% of 7-11 year olds thought being an engineer would be 'boring' and only 12% of 11-16 year olds claim to have any knowledge of what an engineering career would entail.