[Mikeyb]

It's definitely an and car.....

Just completed a 1600 mile bottom of Europe to blighty trip.. Including paul ricard, a double stop at the ring and then a day at Spa... Car was just sensational I have to admit...better than I imagined in fact and I knew it would do well... Whilst I have to admit to not pushing too hard on the ring (i was in a gt3 rs to learn the circuit) as I didn't really want to push the margins there.. Car got an enormous amount of attention as you'd imagine.... Didn't get the impression that had been that many there as yet.. Not wholly surprising I guess... we had a full on day at spa where I suppose you might argue that it showed that mclaren race there regularly.. Only things quicker were a couple of radicals and a 458 challenge, and that was only marginal.. He was on full slicks and I had p zeros so I thought we had a moral victory. I took a number of passengers and it's fair to say at spa it needs harnesses for the passengers otherwise they are all over the cabin... I have always wanted them myself although am still sceptical taht i want to shell out the mso price...As the day wore on we went quicker and quicker of course, but the most surprising thing was the car performed better and better... I have the steels and they were if anything better at the end of day .. Sure we scrubbed a bit off the tires but not as much as I thought we would... Last tank of gas lasted 66 miles... Sure we were taking care to cool down and so forth, but even so it was impressive... We were doing 4- 6 laps in a clip on average I would say..

Then you take your helmet off, set the (iPhone) stanav for the coast and cruise home... Unbelievable really.. Watching the sun go down approaching calais with tunes on the stereo after a few days like that in the same car was astounding.. actually the stereo was equally improved .. I didn't use it much as we mainly use the car for between 100 and 300 mile 'spirited' drives.. But with quality files have to say I was very impressed with that also...

Couple of small issues... Inevitable windscreen seal on the autobahn... And also a blockage in the exit pipe from the aircon dumped the condensate into the interior which took a call to Ben and a suggestion how to cure it which was easy, but needed a hundred miles or so of windows down and heating on full to dry out the interior.. It's a frustratingly simple fault but also easy to fix..

I loved my car before but think its other world now.. Still tryng to shift the 458 ...

Didn't get it on the track at paul ricard as we were with lotus f1.. Taking the right hander at the end of the mistral straight was truly eyepopping even in an 8 year old car... We were on some kinda test circuit and only using half the straight, but we were still close to 270 kph before turn in... Even the guys there wanted to have a good look at the mclaren!

Also just want to say tough luck to grip force... Horrified to see what happened there when we were having so much fun doing a similar thing..

Other memorable moments... Being a 430 and noble m400 sandwich up from Adenau to the ring entrance... Even hardened ring watchers would have enjoyed us three going line astern up that road...shame the 430 was in front if we were honest... Kinda kept things sane though I guess...

What a piece of kit we have...

 

[andy c]

Great Post Mikey!! With slicks at spa on the challenge, that's got to be worth a whole bunch of seconds,so if you were near that its impressive.
Yes, what a car !!

 

[garyw]

Excellent post and it's got me all excited as I'm off for a trip to the Ardenne and Champagne region of France in a couple of weeks time and really looking forward to seeing how it handles the trip...
I do have 12 Porsches following me (I booked it when I still had my Turbo) so it should be a damn good test!!

I bought the car to do GT and keen to get some proper use under its belt.

 

[isv]

Great writeup. Am looking to do a trip to the ring next year so it's pretty neat to read reports like yours.

 

[HyperMac954]

This year was the first time I'd visited Europe in more than a decade, and ever since, I keep trying to guess when I can go back and do another drive across the continent. Posts like this aren't helping... lol! Congrats - sounds awesome!!

 

[texas mongrel]

MikeyB
I love the whole drive to the track, race, and drive home thing - I do that with all my cars and whilst I respect the all-out trailer and slicks guys, as you said, there's something so special about thrashing the balls off a car and then cruising home, it gets you really connected with your machine.

 

[Peloton25]

The enthusiasm in the first post is just pouring through my monitor - I can just see the grin on your face after a lap of Spa too. Sounds like you had a massively good time and I'm glad to hear you can flog the car like that and only have one minor mishap along the way.

Having been at the track with friends in the past and seeing other production exotics come off smoking in places they shouldn't or losing a clutch or experiencing brake fade/failures I know that many are not totally up to the task they purport. Great to see the McLaren engineers got plenty of things right.

>8^)
ER

 

[Mikeyb]

MikeyB
I love the whole drive to the track, race, and drive home thing - I do that with all my cars and whilst I respect the all-out trailer and slicks guys, as you said, there's something so special about thrashing the balls off a car and then cruising home, it gets you really connected with your machine.

texas,
have to agree.. having driven a few full out race cars recently and not having the faff of getting there and back is fabulous.. there is something to be said for the all out field... we have to carry extra weight in our road cars of course, which the race cars don't need... full slicks helps massively of course, (unless you're a 458 challenge apparently.. i suspect it was the matching race suits that were slowing things down... ).. but i was within an inch of putting tunes on as we went round both the ring and spa, just cos we could ! full helmets kinda reduce the sound levels however.. !

the radical guys were packing up long before we left so i guess we got a bit more track time.. then the limited speed slog home won't have been much fun i guess, but for sure they were having a ball on the track... having run the gauntlet of the law on the road for so long i am considering an sr8.. just working out just the logistics that we are discussing.

we're all in a fortunate position to have one of these, and you have to tip your hat to those that still make the effort in other kit... i met one chap who had a lotus elise, think perhaps it was 15 years old, who went round and round and round, left spa i think 45 mins before me but got the same train across.. he had stripped bucket seats in his and a canvas roof... his remark to me was 'i think your trip home was a little more comfortable than mine'... great fella and he was great company, despite hypothesising that the tyres on my car were likely more valuable than his entire set up... like i said, top chap...

 

[Mikeyb]

The enthusiasm in the first post is just pouring through my monitor - I can just see the grin on your face after a lap of Spa too. Sounds like you had a massively good time and I'm glad to hear you can flog the car like that and only have one minor mishap along the way.

Having been at the track with friends in the past and seeing other production exotics come off smoking in places they shouldn't or losing a clutch or experiencing brake fade/failures I know that many are not totally up to the task they purport. Great to see the McLaren engineers got plenty of things right.

>8^)
ER

thanks peloton... !
i have run the car in warm clims over the summer, so i have enjoyed having the car at good temperatures on the road so have felt the improved performance with warm tyres and brakes regularly... i think what surprised me was the durability of the whole thing... .. i will admit that at one time as we were going quicker and quicker through eau rouge, the g forces did move my head slightly inwards and downwards so i was looking straight at the seat stitching and i thought 'good i wish it were double stitched'...
(sorry mark, but i think andy's doing a good job with your education.... ) actually not even sure mark will see this i guess...

 

[texas mongrel]

Mikey
I've "walked the walk"; just returned from the Ford GT rally in New Orleans. 1200 miles in four days, two hard days at the track (including 3 spins!) had an awesome time! I will definitely be pushing hard with Tony Joseph for help in setting up the 2013 McLaren US rally which hopefully will be a mix of heavy track days and good socialising

 

[Ritesh]

Great write up!!! Thank you!!!

Now...where are the pics or the video? Gawd... I envy you Brits who get to drive the circuits and the roads of Europe!

 

[Mikeyb]

Great write up!!! Thank you!!!

Now...where are the pics or the video? Gawd... I envy you Brits who get to drive the circuits and the roads of Europe!

here's a couple ..

texas, great work with the GT.. thankfully i didn't spin in the mc... perhaps i wasn't trying hard enough !!

 

[Ritesh]

EAU ROUGE!! My favorite corner at my fav. track in the world! Drooooolllll!

BTW... quit calling David Texas. He is less Texas as I(Damn I sound like a *******)! He is a Brit through and through.

Oh and David... Maybe I could show u better lines in the FGT!

 

[Mikeyb]

EAU ROUGE!! My favorite corner at my fav. track in the world! Drooooolllll!

BTW... quit calling David Texas. He is less Texas as I(Damn I sound like a *******)! He is a Brit through and through.

Oh and David... Maybe I could show u better lines in the FGT!

well noted on the correct names ritesh thanks.. ! i kinda liked calling someone texas, but david will just have to do... (sorry david!!!)
yes an iconic corner and even more fun to drive.. actually not quite as hard as it looks on the Tv as if you get your entry right to the uphill bit, you kinda get spat out at the right place over the crest at the top.. we weren't flat of course through there, need a little more downforce for that, but the interesting thing was over the curb on the entry (where webber took alfonso (!) last year) shows how good the mac is cos you don't feel that you're on curb at all...

and then the long (ish) run down the kemmel straight...

 

[texas mongrel]

EAU ROUGE!! My favorite corner at my fav. track in the world! Drooooolllll!

BTW... quit calling David Texas. He is less Texas as I(Damn I sound like a *******)! He is a Brit through and through.

Oh and David... Maybe I could show u better lines in the FGT!

Ritesh
I made the mistake of having Mark McGowen (Ford's development driver for the GTProgram) "show me the lines" in my car and then tried to emulate him. The lines weren't the problem (I had them pretty well covered), it was the way he really piles on the gas before the apex to carry more speed out of the turn. Consequently I learned the meaning of power oversteer through a corner! Eventually sort of got the hang of it, but I'm always amazed at how professional drivers make it look so easy. As he kept telling me "you have to go slow to go fast"

Now, if we can only get McLaren's test drivers to come to the planned US Rally and show us the ropes, that would be awesome.

PS, if you ever want to try the GT, no problem, its a ton of fun!

 

[Ritesh]

Tex,

I will PM you. I have anothe 12C owner in Austin who wants to organize a track day or a GTG for F1!

 

[texas mongrel]

Ritesh, I'll be at the GP with the Park Place guys. Still haven't booked a hotel- we have a place about 45 min from the track but I'm thinking that if I get a hotel in Austin then I can take advantage of the "hospitality" and not have to worry about driving 'cos PP have arranged a shuttle bus to and from the track.
Always up for a tack day, maybe I can bring the Ford and the Ac?

 

[McDc]

Mikey, I just got to read this, great write up, thank you

Spa and the 'Ring are epic tracks. Hopefully we can do some spirited trackday activity together next year. And you know what treatment your car needs over winter time

and this...

i will admit that at one time as we were going quicker and quicker through eau rouge, the g forces did move my head slightly inwards and downwards so i was looking straight at the seat stitching and i thought 'good i wish it were double stitched'...

just made my day

 

[Mikeyb]

Mikey, I just got to read this, great write up, thank you

Spa and the 'Ring are epic tracks. Hopefully we can do some spirited trackday activity together next year. And you know what treatment your car needs over winter time

and this...



just made my day

Thanks mcdc! Look forward to seeing pics of your new track tool !

 

[falb]

Not quite a related note but.... Just wrapped up the championship in Radical Challenge SR3 US and won a full ride to the Radical Europe Spa race!!! I am totally pumped to race at a historic F1 track and get a sample of what you Europeans taste so often.