McLaren’s switchover to its own brand-new wind tunnel at its Woking factory is expected to take place this month, bringing an end to a 12-year partnership it had using the Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe (TGR-E) facility in Cologne.
The squad originally began using Toyota’s former F1 wind tunnel back in 2010 and it has helped in the design of every McLaren challenger since.
But while the change of wind tunnels means that McLaren will no longer use the Cologne facility, the Japanese manufacturer does not think that this is the end of the road for their partnership.
TGR-E managing director Rob Leupen said: “Our door remains open to McLaren. We wish them nothing but success with the new wind tunnel and, whilst that naturally changes what services McLaren requires from TGR-E and how often their engineers are likely to be in Cologne, we have an open dialogue and are playing a constructive part in the process of integrating their new wind tunnel into their development programme.
“I think on this activity we have clearly shown how TGR-E can add long-term value to top-level engineering projects, and we look forward to supporting innovative companies like McLaren in the future.”
Source: Autosport