Chris Goodwin: PH Meets

How does McLaren set about engineering fun? Chris Goodwin explains all

Following accepted stereotypes - and initial reaction to the 12C - the McLaren mindset matches that of the spotless and sterile MTC in Woking. Which is to say all about the machine, the numbers and an engineering mindset prioritising technology over soul. 'Fun' is not a word you imagine gets bandied about too much in Ron's world.

But appearances can be deceptive. Ron's not averse to mucking about when it suits him - humour might be going a bit far - and when we were first presented with the 650S we were told in no uncertain terms this was a car of heart and soul, as well as technology.

Control weights and feel matter to Goodwin

So in a lull on the 650S launch we collared McLaren's chief test driver Chris Goodwin and asked him how McLaren approaches fun? "Whilst you might imagine we're all about numbers there's also a surprising amount of detail behind making a car fun to drive," he muses. "What everyone is looking for is something they can drive as quickly as they want to drive it without it feeling intimidating, without it feeling too difficult. Difficult enough, but not too difficult."

How's that quantified in the development process though? "I know I've had fun with the car because I start smiling and I start driving faster. You laugh and say 'we're about there, we've cracked it' and there is something you can't measure precisely - it's not a nine versus a seven-and-a-half and quite often it's how you blend everything together."

23.79% more fun
It's easy to stereotype the McLaren working environment as one so focused on quantifiable objectives that the more subjective ones get forgotten - especially when you apply the motorsport mindset. Wrong, says Goodwin.

Experience of McLaren racers has been vital

"Using racing as an example, in F1 you're never going to win a championship unless you've got a car a driver can drive. So if you look at the onboard shots of a McLaren at the Australian GP and if you had the opportunity to look at the onboard shots of a Marussia, let's say. One would be pretty bloody lively, I tell you, but at the back of the grid. And one would be much smoother to drive, the driver inputs would be much calmer but he'd be travelling a lot faster."

He's on a roll now.

"The other racing analogy you could use is we've been racing in sportscar and GT as long as the company has existed, and we've always sold cars to the customer racing teams too. You could engineer a car that's quick, be on pole position for your number one driver but you won't win a race that way. You can only win a race if your co-driver can drive that car and drive it quickly without making mistakes or using a couple of laps to get up to speed. You don't have to sacrifice driveability for speed - I think it's a myth that a supercar has to be difficult to drive. They're much more fun when they're not."

Pedal feel of McLaren M1 combined with...

Back to the future
Subjective benchmarks for control feel and all-round driveability come from surprising places too. "Old racing cars. How fun were they?" he grins. "And that's one of the things we had in mind. We've got an old M1, it's a beast but fun. It moves around, nice brake pedal feel, nice gearshifts, so there's a good example. So that's in my head when we're pushing to get the brake pedal right; in my view the best brake pedal feel I've ever known is in a car from the 1960s and it hasn't got a brake booster, it's just basic kit. If you get a spongy brake pedal you need to get your brake cooling right. Right, done that. If you're getting flex, lack of brake pedal feel, it's because you've got mechanical flex in the system. Get that sorted, then you start looking at things like the brake booster characteristics. So for the 650S, same as the P1, I wanted to arrive at a brake pedal feel that was like driving a 1960s racing car. So relatively light inputs, not needing to absolutely stand on the brake pedal but linear. So there you go, a benchmark, 1960s race cars. Job done!"

His next example is more recent - the 2008 championship winning MP4-23 which, it's a relief to hear, was nicer to drive than it was to look at. "In terms of cornering performance, just that physical sense of bite and turn-in ability you get, that was the best racing car I've ever driven. I don't drive F1 cars that often but I could drive it round a race track and throw it around very, very quickly because you've got a balance on the limit and sheer turn-in performance that says to you 'you know what, I could have done that quicker.'"

...chuckability and fun factor of 2008 MP4-23

That racing mindset comes through in a distinct lack of sentimentality for traditional technology though. "The guys who've been building cars for the last 50 years, they do it well, they know what they're doing and they've been working very hard but you reach a limit, you reach a ceiling of what works with the hardware that everyone's been using and that's why we've been a bit more adventurous." But only when it makes a worthwhile difference, the look on his face when he hears about the optional variable ratio steering for the Lamborghini Huracan saying much. "Why would you want that?" he asks, incredulous. From our chat at the tech launch for that car it'd seem his opposite number at Lamborghini Giorgio Sanna agrees, tactfully telling us it is "an enjoyable gadget" but he'd prefer the standard passive set-up.

Home team
In this day and age it's refreshing to hear someone so openly partisan too. "In the end we'll always produce driver's cars, that's a given," he says. "Yes we want them to look nice, we want them to sound nice, all of the things that maybe other manufacturers make a priority." Touche! "If you start with the driver you end up ticking all the boxes anyway but if you do it the other way round you don't necessarily do it. So you need great visibility and if you don't work that one out you're screwed - style it the other way round you can't suddenly get great visibility." Just like the SLR then? "That's a great example! I saw that shape and I thought 'that's interesting' before it was even a McLaren project. That's the shape we like, now let's make it into a car. And that's not easy to do."

As you'll have gathered if you watched Harris's follow-up tech talk with Goodwin after his P1 drive, his enthusiasm and clarity of thought make him thoroughly fascinating company. Driving the 650S you get a sense of his mindset too; for all the technology in the car that predictability and transparency in its controls and reactions are what leave the lasting impression. That and the sheer outrageous speed of the thing.

Additional photography of M1, MP4-23, etc by LAT Photo

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