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McLaren creates "plan" for home race in Woking

Published on 16 Aug 2017 10:01
6
By: Chris Soulsby

Most teams on the grid have a home race - some of which are more notable that others - however, McLaren has gone one step further to draft up and design its own track directly on its doorstep. The name? The Woking International Circuit.

McLaren's "absurdly ambitious plan" shows a 3-mile long circuit through Woking, featuring 18 corners and one DRS zone, taking drivers on a trip through the town's commercial, residential, and industrial areas.

With this plan coming directly from McLaren during F1's summer break, many will be wondering what the boffins at McLaren are actually doing to help the team progress up the grid and develop the MCL-32 for the second half of 2017. Regardless of this, the guys and girls at McLaren have a dream, and that dream is to help Woking become one of the most glamorous locations of the F1 calendar alongside Monaco and Singapore.

Jonathan Neale was one man who was excited about the prospect, although over-enthusiastic: "Why not bring Formula 1 to the streets of Woking? Obviously, aside from the huge social and financial commitment needed to set up the infrastructure, re-profile roads, re-lay Tarmac, fit miles of Armco, build grandstands, pay for race-hosting fees and gain approval and sign-off from the FIA, we don’t see any barriers to our vision," he joked. "In an era that’s often seen as being hemmed in by bureaucracy and narrow-mindedness, that’s actually very refreshing."

McLaren did not claim all of the glory, and gave some of the credit to Mika Hakkinen who drove his championship winning MP4/13 of the 1998 season around Woking: "It was Mika who first raced a Formula 1 McLaren around the streets of Woking, way back in 1998," said Zak Brown.

"When I say ‘raced’, he wasn’t actually racing it, he was driving it. Slowly. Which was probably an even tougher test for Mika, because he never drove anything slowly," he added. "Still, that event lit a spark that started a fire that turned into a dream that we converted into an idea: to host a round of the Formula 1 world championship on our doorstep, in Woking."

The most important part of the Woking International Circuit is that McLaren may have provided Liberty Media with a "feasible" replacement venue for the British Grand Prix which will no longer be held at Silverstone from 2019.

Chris Soulsby

RogerF1

Posts: 501

And McLaren is actually on that said road leading out of Woking and is an impressive facility. Rather have a Woking GP than a boring London street GP.

1
Aug 16 2017 - 22:59

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Replies (6)

f1fan0101

Posts: 1,804
Would be cool lol
- + 0
- Aug 16 2017 - 12:21
Barron

Posts: 625
Utterly bonkers. Woking is Nowhere. On the road to Morenowhere from Nowhereinparticular. It is a dormitory for London and the best bit of it, is the road leading out of it (to Nowhereinparticular).
- + 0
- Aug 16 2017 - 13:10
- F1racefan97
  
  Posts: 113
  Woking isn't as bad as you say, I used to live very near there, but you are absolutely right it would be a strange place to host a GP, although saying that it's not like Silverstone is at the centre of anywhere, the nearest town is Northampton and that's not exactly near or huge ?
  + 0
  
  Aug 16 2017 - 14:15
- Barron
  
  Posts: 625
  I completely agree except Silverstone (in its purest sense) is the home of F1. Other than that it's just another abandoned WWII airfield. Sorry, I'm quite sure Woking is a nice place but apart from the McLaren connection, it's just another railway station on the commuter line from (and to ) hell.
  + 0
  
  Aug 16 2017 - 21:00
- RogerF1
  
  Posts: 501
  And McLaren is actually on that said road leading out of Woking and is an impressive facility. Rather have a Woking GP than a boring London street GP.
  + 1
  
  Aug 16 2017 - 22:59
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
No idea how good of a track tehre is in Woking though.
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- Aug 16 2017 - 22:35