Wired UK – September 2019

GEAR

HOW WE TESTED _ Inside the tent torture chamber

There are now more than 400 music festivals each year in the UK attracting

close to 14 million visitors – and there’s no guarantee of good weather. WIRED

decamped to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking to pitch some tents

in their Monsoon test facility. For each tent, we ran an eight-minute, half-

monsoon cycle, with heavy, persistent rain from all angles. After the storm, we

assessed how the seams, vents and fabrics had handled the downpour. Sadly,

health and safety prevented us from being inside the tent during the test.

McLaren’s Monsoon chamber can

subject cars to 1,000-litres-of-water-

per-minute downpours – the

equivalent of driving into a real

monsoon at 80kph. Every car that

comes off the McLaren production

line has to pass this tough test.

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