You assume some automotive engineering stays frozen in time. You’re wrong.
Take carbon fibre. On the surface, it feels static. Lightweight strands woven into resin. Used for everything from the wings of a Boeing jet to the monocoques of F1 cars. We treat it like a finished concept. But it’s evolving. Fast.
McLaren Automotive saw this shift. Last year, they unveiled a manufacturing technique called McLaren ART (Automated Rapid Tape). It’s not just a tweak. It’s a fundamental change in how the British supercar maker handles its primary structural material.
From Fighter Jets to Sheffield Factories
To understand why McLaren cares about carbon tape, look at where the tech comes from. It doesn’t hail from a car plant. It hails from aerospace.
The goal? Create structures that are lighter, stiffer, and stronger than anything previously possible. Boeing and Airbus use this logic to build fuselages and wing spars for modern airliners. Fighter jets use it to keep weight down without sacrificing structural integrity.
McLaren didn’t just copy the idea. They adapted it.
They installed the technology at their composites technology centre in Sheffield. Why Sheffield? Because building a car requires a different approach than building a plane.
The Robotic Difference
Here is the mechanical nuance most people miss.
In aerospace, the part is usually fixed. Giant robotic heads move across a stationary wing or body panel to lay down the material.
McLaren flipped the script.
They mounted the car component on a moving, rotating bed. The robot stays relatively static. The part moves. It allows for tighter control over complex geometries. The carbon arrives as ribbon-like tape.
This method replaces—or supplements—standard prepreg. That’s carbon fibre pre-impregnated with resin, cut into shapes and laid by hand or machine.
The first component to benefit from this shift was the fixed plane on the active front wing of the McLaren W1.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
What does moving the tape offer?
The front wing element produced using ART was 10% stiffer than an equivalent made from standard prepreg.
Why does stiffness matter in a supercar?
Aerodynamics. A stiffer wing doesn’t flex under high-speed airflow. It maintains its angle of attack. It delivers consistent downforce. That translates directly to lap times and track stability.
But there is a secondary benefit. Economics.
Reducing Waste, Increasing Reach
Standard prepreg requires cutting shapes out of larger mats. Those offcuts? They’re waste. Often unrecyclable in the immediate process.
ART tape is continuous.
Engineers can lay tape precisely where the load paths demand it. Joints. Edges. High-stress points. In low-stress areas? They use less. The result is a part that is optimized at a micro-level.
The yield is staggering. Up to 95% of the tape ends up in the final component. Very little is lost to the floor.
This efficiency changes the conversation. Carbon fibre remains expensive. But if you waste less of it, you can justify using it more often. McLaren’s goal was always to integrate ART into the monocoques—these are the core tubs of the cars. Less weight. Higher stiffness. Same strength.
The W1 Legacy
McLaren has been building carbon structures since day one.
The McLaren F1 of 1993 had a carbon chassis. The MP4-12C (2011) used an advanced carbon tub. Since McLaren Automotive formed in 2010, carbon has been the skeleton of every supercar.
But the W1’s wing is a proof of concept for the next generation. It shows that aerospace techniques can be domesticated for road cars.
Will every future McLaren use full ART monocoques? The company remains tight-lipped. They won’t confirm if the project has moved beyond the initial stages.
But the physics don’t lie.
Lighter parts stiffen the car. Stiffer cars corner harder. Harder cornering means faster laps.
We are watching carbon fibre transition from a exotic luxury material to an engineered tool. And McLaren is holding the wrench.
The tape is on. The robot is moving. The rest of the industry is watching.
