new #10R article with pics

right, i found this article on circuitdriver.com, unfortunately, i can't copy anything of that site with all the copyrights and stuff, and you have to make a username, but your done in about 5 secs!
just go here: http://www.circuitdriver.com/
and then scroll down to the head of the article: Big Mac Flies.
fine read.

oh, the text is here, for the pics you need to have an account.

Bennett digs into his well thumbed book of Supercar Superlatives as he pulls off the drive of a lifetime. Is it the ultimate supercar? Probably. Is Bennett a jammy git? Definitely.



I’ve always watched the supercar wars with a sense of amused detachment. Sure I used to have the Athena prints on my bedroom wall and I can still recall the first time I saw a Countach and a Testarossa on the road, but as time marches on I’ve decided that really they are a bit futile. Too big and too fast to be used properly on the road and fast but too big and too heavy to be much use on the track, where Caterhams, Radicals and well sorted 911s make them look like lumbering dinosaurs.


Over the years I learnt that they had to be difficult to drive and, most importantly, must have really awkward, baulky gearboxes and strange driving positions. My job as a motoring journalist brought me close to these mythical beasts but to be honest the closest I got was semi-super Ferraris and Porsches. The serious stuff was out of reach, but by then I was sold on lightweight sportscars with buzzy engines and deft responses, so wrestling with a narky supercar didn’t really appeal.






Back in the 80s, scene of the last supercar wars, things peaked with the ludicrous Jaguar XJ220. This time round it will be the equally ludicrous Bugatti Veyron – bloated and turboed to the hilt to produce its 1000bhp from 16 cylinders and projected top speed of 252mph. Give it a year or so and someone will try to match it on a German Autobahn with a snapper poised to take the magic speedo pic before nipping off to change his pants. It’s daft.


But hell, what am I talking about? Given the opportunity I would be first behind the wheel of any number of them and there are supercars that are worthy of the title. Ferrari’s F40 is one and the other is the McLaren F1. Both have purity and a purpose that I truly admire. The F40 was conceived as a racer for the road whereas the Macca was conceived purely for the road but with race influences in the design. Ah, the design. Gordon Murray has always been something of a guru. I loved the Brabham F1 cars and his sense of lateral thinking (think fan car). Oh, and his obsession with Bob Dylan.






When Murray penned the F1 he really did tear the Supercar design book up and toss it in the bin. It really was a fresh start that placed function above everything and it simply hasn’t been matched since. Sure everyone is going doolally over the Enzo at the moment and yes we’ve been trying to get hold of one (don’t fall for the so called ‘exclusive’ first UK drives you’ve seen so far), but really it does nothing to move the supercar game on beyond the F40.


When the McLaren F1 was launched 10 years ago my invite to drive it must have been lost in the post. Or maybe it was because I worked on a ‘mag that still considered the internal workings of the Ford Crossflow as being high tech. It has to be said that I have never considered what it must be like to drive one and it has certainly never crossed my mind that I may get to drive one myself. Very few journos have and there were only 63 ever built. But here I am at Castle Combe with an F1 GTR to hand and an empty track. What are the chances of that? Well, pretty slim really.






We’re at Combe filming for the next In-car Active DVD ROM and the McLaren is being used for the bonus footage. It belongs to one Nick Mason. And how did we pull that one off? Well our man Hales is Mr Mason’s chosen partner in historic racing and as such gets to call in a few favours when it comes to the Ten Tenths stable of race cars. Me? Well I am just unashamedly along to blag a drive in the world’s greatest car. The drive ,though, is by no means certain since Nick, understandably, doesn’t know me from Adam. Oh, and I have to say that such overt blagging is not my style, unlike some of my motoring press colleagues who are happy to blag their kids’ Christmas presents. However, needs must and I need to drive this car and lose my supercar virginity.


Hales makes the call and because it’s Hales the request is granted. Blimey. The enormity of the situation begins to sink in but it’s tempered by the excitement. This particular car is, of course, a GTR and identical in spec to the machine that won at Le Mans in 1995. It is actually the factory GTR development car and as such has never raced itself. Its spec is part race, part road and with the restrictors required by the Le Mans regulations at the time it puts out about 620bhp. Hubba, hubba!






Despite what Gordon Murray says of the McLaren, I think the race track is the most suitable environment for the F1. There is just no place in this country that you could use the sort of performance that the F1 can dig into save for a deserted motorway. Its potential is just too outrageous, its limits somewhere in another universe. For that reason I’m glad to be togged up in a helmet and a race suit and on a circuit where I know it’s just me and with nothing coming the other way or about to pull out on me. On a circuit I can push safely but within reason. Sure you might lose the sheer cor-blimey factor that comes with loony speeds on the road but ultimately we’re in the best environment.


Up close the thing that strikes you most about the McLaren is its size. No, we’re not talking the usual supercar gargantuan but small and manageable. Even with our Caterham film car parked alongside the Macca still looks wieldy. Clamber inside and into that fabled central driving position and that Gordon Murray ethos of positioning the driver is immediately obvious. It is positively spacious with nothing to bang your elbows or clobber your shins on. There’s even decent headroom. It’s all-important stuff because if you feel comfortable then the less intimidated you will be by the car.






There’s no time for buggering around. There is a lull in filming but soon it will be needed and that’s the reason we’re here. Hales has driven it a few times as well as other McLarens. He looks a bit concerned. “It’ll swap ends before you know it if you get the power down too soon,” he reassures. “Don’t worry, I’m just going to trundle round,” I reply. Well I was. Er, well I thought I was.


OK, so it’s time to dip into the supercar book of superlatives. I keep old copies of Car from the 70s for this very purpose. Well there’s no point in making that sort of nonsense up is there? Sadly I know that merely writing “it’s chuffing quick” just isn’t going to do. And quite right because the least I can do is try and relay some of the experience. And it’s difficult because even now two days later I’m still kind of coming to terms with it. Coming to terms with the sheer speed of it and just coming to terms with the fact that I’d driven a McLaren F1.






So is it difficult to drive? No actually, it’s not and nor should it be. That huge V12 has lugging power and the carbon clutch may be competition tough but it’s also light and progressive. The gearbox too is very user friendly. It’s straight cut but it’s got synchros and it’s probably more manageable than your average Ferrari road car ’box. It’s in a conventional H pattern as well, just to confound all you dogleg first purists. Don’t be wimpy with the shifts though because a less than fast change is unlikely to be tolerated. Ultimately all of the above, combined with its excellent driving ergonomics, makes the F1 somewhat easier to get to know than you might expect of the world’s fastest road car turned race car.


How fast? Well like I said, ‘chuffing fast’ and while some track day cars might boast similar power-to-weight ratios as the McLaren, thanks to their highly tuned engines and anorexic frames, what they will never, ever match is the sheer brute force that comes with 6-litres, 12 cylinders and 600+bhp. It’s twice the capacity of a current F1 engine and what it gives is power everywhere. It literally oozes the stuff from a seemingly never-ending supply. Somewhere like Combe just isn’t big enough. There’s always more and never is there a moment where the F1 isn’t accelerating and taking chunks out of the horizon. Strangely though it’s not savage, possibly because of its sheer spread. But boy is it relentless. Oh, and the noise. It doesn’t scream like a Formula One car or rumble like a big V8. No, it’s almost symphonic with no hard edges, just a big-lunged bellow. Some speed perspective? From Camp round to Avon rise the Big Mac pulls 160mph. The frightening thing is that given enough road there’s still another 80mph to come.






So it’s a handful, right? Well potentially yes. On sticky Michelin Pilot road tyres there’s way, way more power than there is grip but because its not actually difficult to drive then you can concentrate purely on guiding the thing, judging the throttle openings and feeling for the grip. Snap open the throttle coming out of a corner before it’s straightened up and be prepared to do something about it – quickly. This is not a car to provoke unless you know you can deal with it. Me? Well I opted for the cautious approach. If you want powersliding action then check out Hales filmed from the helicopter when the DVD comes out.


And it handles? Well here’s the strange bit. Firstly yes, it does handle but not in the intuitive way that you might think. It’s a combination of things really but neither the steering or the front end in general felt as attached to the tarmac as they might. Personally speaking I was carrying as much speed in as I wanted to but I could still detect a lack of bite and a reluctance to really grab the apex with the sort of vigour you might expect. Road tyres and ride height are the obvious culprits and it’s the reason that the McLaren eventually grew a serious front splitter and that long tail. The GTR that won Le Mans though really was far more road car than racer, which is really impressive.






I manage to sneak in 10 laps but really it’s the kind of car that you want to drive all day. Brake a little later here, get on the power earlier there, push just that fraction more. Power is addictive as we know. But now I’ve done it – driven the world’s fastest road car properly on track. It’s like a monkey off my back. When people ask the inevitable dinner party question “so what’s the fastest thing you’ve ever driven?” the reply will leave no room for debate or confusion. Thank you Nick Mason. Thank you Hales and thank you God!

if you drag the pix into the address bar you can save them ;)

Nick seems to be giving out his F1 alot.
btw, who is Nick Mason?

go ahead mini magic.

a member of the band "pink floyd"

the drummer..

what he said ^

;)

Hello,

it's an extract from EVO I think. This McLaren rocks I agree ! Maybe, It is the test against Edonis ?

Goodbye
Philippe

i don't think thats from evo, i have that article. i'd scan it but photoshop isn't being nice to me :(