Briton Mike Coughlan, the former McLaren Formula 1 Design Director, is now working in NASCAR as the director of vehicle design for Michael Waltrip Racing in Cornelius, N.C.
The British-born engineer suspended from McLaren after the infamous 2007 “Spygate” scandal after Ferrari engineer, Nigel Stepney, passed on secret design documents to him.
In a forward-looking interview Coughlan spoke with Auto123.com about his impressions since joining the NASCAR world.
He came back to racing after helping design the Ocelot, a composite-based light tactical vehicle for Force Protection based in Ladson, South Carolina.
Why go back racing again?
“I came from an environment (at McLaren-Mercedes) where I drew a new car every year… and I had a great time. There was no chance that there’d be a new vehicle every year with the Ocelot”.
Through former McLaren colleague Steve Hallam, he was contacted by MWR’s Cal Wells who asked him “to come back to racing”.
Coughlan told Auto123.com it was too tempting. “NASCAR - for good or for bad - is becoming a more engineering-led sport. As an engineer you believe it’s the right choice.”
As a design engineer, he doesn’t have to attend races, but, has been to a few already. “I’ve been to Bristol; every motor racing fan should to go Bristol.” He also attended the night race in Charlotte.
Even though the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars are very, very, similar one to the other, Coughlan says that finding speed in NASCAR takes “twice” as many steps as in Formula 1 due to their design.
Coughlan said he doesn’t miss the huge F1-style budgets as he originally worked on because he started in production vehicle parts design.
Although he’s not working entirely with a clean sheet of paper, as in the Formula 1 days, Coughlan’s happy he made the move to MWR.
“NASCAR, it’s a great show,” he concluded.
The British-born engineer suspended from McLaren after the infamous 2007 “Spygate” scandal after Ferrari engineer, Nigel Stepney, passed on secret design documents to him.
In a forward-looking interview Coughlan spoke with Auto123.com about his impressions since joining the NASCAR world.
He came back to racing after helping design the Ocelot, a composite-based light tactical vehicle for Force Protection based in Ladson, South Carolina.
Why go back racing again?
“I came from an environment (at McLaren-Mercedes) where I drew a new car every year… and I had a great time. There was no chance that there’d be a new vehicle every year with the Ocelot”.
Through former McLaren colleague Steve Hallam, he was contacted by MWR’s Cal Wells who asked him “to come back to racing”.
Coughlan told Auto123.com it was too tempting. “NASCAR - for good or for bad - is becoming a more engineering-led sport. As an engineer you believe it’s the right choice.”
As a design engineer, he doesn’t have to attend races, but, has been to a few already. “I’ve been to Bristol; every motor racing fan should to go Bristol.” He also attended the night race in Charlotte.
Even though the NASCAR Sprint Cup cars are very, very, similar one to the other, Coughlan says that finding speed in NASCAR takes “twice” as many steps as in Formula 1 due to their design.
Coughlan said he doesn’t miss the huge F1-style budgets as he originally worked on because he started in production vehicle parts design.
Although he’s not working entirely with a clean sheet of paper, as in the Formula 1 days, Coughlan’s happy he made the move to MWR.
“NASCAR, it’s a great show,” he concluded.