I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post here all non technical related topics about Formula One. This includes race results, discussions, testing analysis etc. TV coverage and other personal questions should be in Off topic chat.
User avatar
SiLo
130
Joined: 25 Jul 2010, 19:09

I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

Hi guys,

I recently got to visit the Merc HQ in Brackley for work (my company is an HPE partner, which this was organised through) and figured I would take lots of pics and post here for everyone to see.

I'm not sure what the limit on pics here are, so I have created an album that you can view with lots of text also here:

https://imgur.com/gallery/Gk8Y2qi

DISCLAIMER: I was not allowed to take any pictures inside the actual factory, they made us put stickers on our cameras so we couldn't take any. I will do my best to summarise what I was told and the bits I saw below!

FACTORY TOUR
The factory tour was incredible, their design offices sit right above it and everyone sits in small areas with around 5 designers in a hexagon (6th side is the side you walk in). We got to see their race room, which is where they sit staff for race weekends that are looking over data from the cars, listening to radio transmissions or watching feeds from other teams to see what they are doing. each station has three screens and a direct comms line to people at the circuit. There is a guy who is Irish and is nicknamed Potato, he has his own direct line and his own button on the comms board at each station.

Downstairs is where the serious stuff happens. We got to hold lots of components of the engine and gearbox (all old) made out of different materials. Most of them where for hydraulic fluid and were absolute pieces of art. We also got to hold these cubes made of Aluminium, Titanium, Stainless Steel and Densamet. Densamet is used for ballast as is twice as dense as steel, very odd to hold in the hand.

We got to hold parts of the bodywork made from carbon which were incredibly light, and then parts of the suspension that have titanium cores (much heavier). We also got to see the moulds for the new monocoque, although they were upside down on the floor so I couldn't really tell a great deal about it.

We then got to see the 2018 car Lewis won the last race with, along with all the trophies they won during the season. I think someone posted the image of the car parked diagonally on here yesterday, but I was stood inches from the car. It was incredibly dirty!

I have more stories that I have written up in the imgur images so please look through that for those, they had some very interesting bits to tell us. One thing I do remember is that during the height of the oil burning saga, they actually had a second bladder for oil built into the tea-tray so they could burn more oil, similar in a way to BAR when they got banned with the second fuel tank.

I asked what other things they were doing that they couldn't have told us two years ago, and the only other answer I could get out of our guide was that they were doing some very interesting stuff with exhaust gases, but wouldn't go into anymore detail. Our tour guide was actually from the marketing team but goes to around 16 races a year to commentate for the internal Mercedes customers that are at each race.
Last edited by SiLo on 10 Jan 2019, 15:24, edited 1 time in total.
Felipe Baby!

User avatar
dans79
267
Joined: 03 Mar 2013, 19:33
Location: USA

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

For some reason that link doesn't work!
197 104 103 7

User avatar
rscsr
51
Joined: 19 Feb 2012, 13:02
Location: Austria

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

dans79 wrote:
10 Jan 2019, 14:53
For some reason that link doesn't work!
the URL itself works

User avatar
rscsr
51
Joined: 19 Feb 2012, 13:02
Location: Austria

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

This link works. Apparently you have to use the bold modifier outside the URL modifier.
https://imgur.com/gallery/Gk8Y2qi

User avatar
SiLo
130
Joined: 25 Jul 2010, 19:09

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

dans79 wrote:
10 Jan 2019, 14:53
For some reason that link doesn't work!
I fixed the link issue thanks to rscsr above :)
Felipe Baby!

zac510
22
Joined: 24 Jan 2006, 12:58

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

The engineering of that tap might be great but I bet it has terrible intuitive usability.

gibells
3
Joined: 08 Apr 2009, 16:23
Location: Andalucia, Spain

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

SiLo thanks for sharing mate. Absolutely amazing photographs. They look like they've taken it all to another level.

User avatar
Morteza
2308
Joined: 10 Feb 2010, 18:23
Location: Bushehr, Iran

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

It was an absolute joy going through the photos and reading the descriptions. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us, I'm sure you had a lot of fun.
"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."~William Shakespeare

User avatar
SiLo
130
Joined: 25 Jul 2010, 19:09

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

zac510 wrote:
10 Jan 2019, 16:31
The engineering of that tap might be great but I bet it has terrible intuitive usability.
Well I figured out the blower function pretty quick which made me jump back as I wasn't expecting it.

After I used it the I realised that when you have that level of engineering and inspiration in your toilets, it makes it easier to understand how they do what they do.
Felipe Baby!

User avatar
SiLo
130
Joined: 25 Jul 2010, 19:09

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

Morteza wrote:
10 Jan 2019, 17:35
It was an absolute joy going through the photos and reading the descriptions. Thank you so much for sharing your experience with us, I'm sure you had a lot of fun.
I'm trying to get over to the Red Bull HQ for a similar visit as well, watch this space!
Felipe Baby!

zac510
22
Joined: 24 Jan 2006, 12:58

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

SiLo wrote:
10 Jan 2019, 18:54
zac510 wrote:
10 Jan 2019, 16:31
The engineering of that tap might be great but I bet it has terrible intuitive usability.
Well I figured out the blower function pretty quick which made me jump back as I wasn't expecting it.

After I used it the I realised that when you have that level of engineering and inspiration in your toilets, it makes it easier to understand how they do what they do.
That's just bad design then, triggering a blower accidentally! Design/usability and engineering greatness are separate things - an object can be either, or both, but too commonly only the latter.

sorry for the OT, but this bad design of unusable bathroom sink actuators, soap dispensers, hand dryers etc is prevalent everywhere and really annoys me!

User avatar
nevill3
16
Joined: 11 Feb 2014, 21:31
Location: Monaco
Contact:

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

I thought I saw the Dyson branding on the taps
Sent from my Commodore PET in 1978

User avatar
strad
117
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 01:57

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

Yep Dyson.
Bet you can't by one at the local Home Depot.
To achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster.”
Sir Stirling Moss

Pat Pending
3
Joined: 22 Feb 2016, 13:11

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

strad wrote:
11 Jan 2019, 04:48
Yep Dyson.
Bet you can't by one at the local Home Depot.
Not Home Depot but similar (I think) - https://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/dyson-ai ... 8zEALw_wcB

£1,350!!

I've used those taps and like most Dyson products they do the job but no better than other vastly cheaper & simpler alternatives.

User avatar
strad
117
Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 01:57

Re: I visited the Mercedes HQ in Brackley for the day and had a tour of the factory! (Lots of pics included)

Post

:shock:
To achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster.”
Sir Stirling Moss

Post Reply