Sikkens provides McLaren’s F1 team with striking high gloss chrome finish
The McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 racing team has unveiled the MP4-29, its new car for the 2014 Formula 1 season, and once again, it features a high performance, high gloss chrome coating provided by Sikkens. A full technology partner of the McLaren Group, Sikkens is the leading vehicle refinish brand from AkzoNobel. AkzoNobel and McLaren have been working together since 2008, when Sikkens first began providing high-performance solutions for the F1 team, and AkzoNobel was first named an official supplier.
As the teams rev up for the 2014 season, McLaren brings quite a few new ingredients to the circuit: a new driver, a new racing director, and a radically different car. And the car will be sporting an even better finish, as Sikkens has responded to the challenge of continuous improvement with advances in the extreme environment technology that is designed to give the team an edge on the race track. In the pre-season testing in Jerez, Spain in late January and in Bahrain in February, the results were indeed promising.
McLaren demands the absolute highest quality, highest performance, and most advanced coatings available. Because every gram counts, they must be ultra-lightweight, but at the same time, they must conform to the most rigorous technical standards. To achieve those objectives, the skilled professionals on the McLaren paint shop floor work in close cooperation with Sikkens technicians and engineers throughout the development process, first in the lab and the McLaren Technology Centre, and then in test runs on the track under the extreme conditions of F1 racing.
In addition to the payoffs for the McLaren team, the McLaren-Sikkens partnership brings important benefits for Sikkens customers. The continuous improvement of our Sikkens vehicle refinishes system is a direct result not only of our working together with partners like McLaren, but also listening to the needs of local painters working with our products on a daily basis. For example, spinoffs from these partnerships find their way into products like Autowave 2.0, a new turbocharged waterborne basecoat system. Autowave 2.0 is being introduced to AkzoNobel/Sikkens bodyshop customers all around the world during 2014 and onwards.
This year’s F1 season is just weeks away. McLaren’s gleaming new MP4-29s will take it up against the competition at the Australian Grand Prix opening race on March 16, with Jenson Button teaming up with a new colleague, Kevin Magnussen.
To follow further developments on the Sikkens-McLaren partnership, as well as other news from Sikkens, visit the Sikkens website at www.sikkensvr.com or check out Sikkens on Facebook.
