Aston Martin is preparing for a housewarming: next month the team should move to a new base. The construction of the main building as a whole has been completed and the work is now in its final phase. Guy Austin, project manager for the construction of the new Aston Martin base, spoke about what is happening now at such an important facility for the team.
Guy Austin: “We already held the presentation of the 2023 car here six weeks ago, on the new base. And now I’m standing in the same place where the car was then. But a lot has changed in six weeks.
The preparation of cars for racing is carried out in this room. We try to adapt our contractor so that we can start installing the equipment as soon as possible. Now let’s see what’s going on there.
This is the main street and here is the production site, where the installation of machines is already underway. This week we will receive a few more machines, we will immediately begin installing them, and all this is very pleasant. And here, for example, will be our first autoclave – there will be four in all.
An autoclave can be compared to a kind of pressure cooker, where carbon fiber components are “cooked” under pressure and at very high temperatures. We have purchased two new autoclaves and the two who work at the team’s old base are also moving here. But first they are modernized…
Currently, about 200 people work at the facility every day, they are representatives of various professions: electricians, plumbers, heating technicians, even painters and plasterers still work. They are engaged in repairing the upholstery in those places where it was damaged during the installation of equipment.
The work starts at 7:30am and ends around 4-4:30pm, then the evening shift begins, which ends between 10pm and midnight…
Let’s go to the second floor. This is where the technical department is located and Dan Fallows, Eric Blandin and other specialists get to work. All our engineers will be able to settle here, in this open space with excellent lighting. Here everything is already approaching completion and we are no longer worried about this part of the project.
In a next phase we deliver the ordered furniture that is already on its way and we will start furnishing it in a week. In general, arranging the property takes about a month …
Here on the right is the conference room and directly behind it the office, which will be occupied by Mike Krak, the team leader. And here will be Lawrence Stroll’s office, where our team’s partners are currently installing audio and video equipment…
The construction of the new wind tunnel is also in full swing, using huge amounts of concrete, lots of steel construction – overall it looks like we are building a modern Stonehenge. The wind tunnel should be ready in the third quarter of 2024, so there is still a lot of work to be done…
And this is the old team base building that will be demolished in the next stages, and it will be a sad day, because I built it in 1990 for Eddie Jordan. But in the summer, in June-July, we plan to start construction of another new building, which will house a restaurant for employees, a gym, a racing simulator, and so on.
This building should also be ready in the third quarter of next year, around the same time as the wind tunnel.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
