We’ve all had a boss/friend/lover who’s just a little too tightly wound. You know who I’m talking about. Their almost demonic attention to detail is usually ‘fessed up as an attribute, “perfectionist,” “meticulous” or, my favourite, “organized” all ascribed as the hallmarks of a fastidious mind. That they need to count exactly 1,203 jellybeans in the jar is not seen as a compulsion too far, but proof that they value quality control. Washing their toilet seats every time someone pees is just “germ control.” In other words, they’re anal-retentive.
For those of us inferior types who have clothes “areas” and arrive everywhere at seven o’clock-ish, it can all be a bit much. Easy to deal with if it’s a colleague in another department or a long-lost college buddy you meet for drinks every half century or so, but if the perfectionist in your life is a close friend, a lover or, worse, a boss, your life can be a living hell.
Or not.
Ron Dennis is the head of McLaren and he is almost as famous for his exacting eccentricities as he is for winning Formula One championships. He is reputed to have checked every single electrical wiring outlet when his fabulous F1 factory in Woking, England, was being constructed. Every single tile in McLaren’s new 50-million-pound supercar factory — 350,000 of them — had to be inspected individually to ensure that it did not stand proud of its neighbour. So determined was he that food smells from the factory’s kitchen not pollute the rest of the plant that he has the cafeteria kept at a lower cabin pressure than the rest of the building so when the doors are opened the “fouled” air can’t rush out. All these peccadilloes are readily admitted by every single employee I’ve talked with at Woking. They almost always had a few examples of their own to add to the Dennis legend.
And they love him for it.
Ron Dennis, chairman of Mclaren Automotive.
Handout, McLaren Automotive
It’s almost impossible to find anyone inside McLaren not giddy with their work and with nothing but the kindest words for their crotchety old boss. The affection is genuine, their love of work obvious and the pride infectious. According to Alan Foster, operations manager of the supercar portion of the factory, absenteeism barely cracks the 1% mark and staff turnover is almost non-existent. Mr. Dennis may have some despotic tendencies, but he’s their despot and it would appear they will follow him anywhere.
One of the reasons may be that, unlike so many compulsives, Mr. Dennis’s world doesn’t come a-cropper when things don’t go according to plan. Indeed, it appears he can stand some chaos (okay, maybe not chaos, but a little disorder). Legend has it that, prior to the 1984 introduction of 1.5-litre turbocharged engines to McLaren’s F1 cars (yes, we have been here before), none of his famed MP4 racers could house the complicated Porsche-engineered, TAG-branded V6. The solution? Mr. Dennis bought a 1983 Porsche 911 and plunked the Formula One engine into the trunk. Yes, a 1,500-horsepower (in qualifying trim), F1-powered 911. The company still owns the car and trots it out every once in a while. So, if you’re anywhere in Surrey and you spot a seemingly ordinary white ’83 911, don’t challenge it to a race.
Mclaren P1
Handout, McLaren Automotive
Certainly, one can’t argue with Mr. Dennis’s success. Since having merged with Mr. Dennis’s Project Four Racing team (hence all the cars being labeled MP4s), McLaren has won 12 Formula One driver’s championships and eight constructor’s championships, the latest Lewis Hamilton’s hard-fought 2008 title. The second-oldest team in Formula One (after Ferrari, of course), McLaren also dominated CAN-AM racing from 1967 to ’71 with its fearsome Chevy Big Block powered M8s.
More telling has been the response to the company’s production cars. The Gordon Murray-designed, BMW-powered 1992 F1 is legend, its barely modified racing cousin, the GT, finished first, third, fourth, fifth and 13th in the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. The 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren wasn’t quite as successful (a disagreement on the design focus between the Germans and English was blamed for the overweight and overwrought result). But it is with the MP4-12C and the recently introduced P1 that the company is really making its mark. Unlike the F1, which was extremely limited in production (only 106 were made), the MP4-12C is a top seller in the supercar segment, with McLaren producing some 3,500 of them (105 in Canada!) since its release in 2011. Even the company’s hyper-expensive super-hybrid, the P1, will eventually outsell the F1.
And, it is this sales success that is the best indicator of the strength of the McLaren name. A relative newcomer to the supercar world, McLaren has already sold out the entire P1′s production run. Porsche has yet to do so with its almost-as-phantasmagorical 918 and Jaguar declined to produce its mega-motored C-X75 hybrid supercar simply because it didn’t feel its brand could carry the price tag. One could also posit that McLaren has forced the entire supercar industry — Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, et al — to raise their game in building super cars that are also, well, good cars.
All because Ron Dennis sweats the details.
