A McLaren worker suffered "critical injuries" when he crashed one of the company's supercars in West Sussex.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-27975898
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Mechanics and showroom suits shouldn't be allowed to drive supercars which are lethal anyway on ordinary roads with potholes, patches of spilt diesel and so on. Only a stone rich halfwit would buy one unless he or she was an experienced competition driver.
I'd love to try one with all due caution of course. But I certainly don't want one.
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>>But I certainly don't want one
Nor me. I've been allowed to drive a Ferrari 456 a couple of times. I have even been urged to test the acceleration (at sensible speeds), but mindful of the stories of hairy beasts piloted by various mechanics and comedians leaping off the road and into trees and ditches, I have stuck with a cautious mimse. That, I only slightly regret but having experienced the thrust from the passenger seat I am quite satisfied.
The 456 is not as lively as that McLaren of course.
I wouldn't want to own one (a 456) even if I had the brass. More tractable and usable than you might expect, but it's noisy, not especially comfortable, and something always needs fettling.
It is 20 years old I suppose, and it's probably more a case of it's being unsuited to ownership by a worriter like me.
I can just about cope with wondering whether the MX5 will pass its MoT next week.
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Have driven a Ferrari 360 round Knockhill.
To be honest I'd have probably enjoyed it more in my old Forester and been not much slower.
Apparently the mechanic in the OPs story was taken to hospital with a wooden fencepost still through his chest.
Ooyah.
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I'm sure they are reasonably easy to drive, but if you unleash even half the power they have on a public road, things get very scary, very quickly. Driving something with many times more power than grip is an art form. Just ask Chris Williams or google the Napier Bentley or the Packard Bentley.
I wouldn't put any of the modern supercars in my dream garage. A Bugatti 35B, Bentley 3 litre, an Alfa 2300 8c, and the Morgan three wheeler I already have would do me. Reckon they'd cost less to maintain too.
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Interesting to see the flat underside in the 2nd photo. Are all "supercars" like that?
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If someone who knows about these cars can't control them, how can a mere mortal like us be expected to? Too powerful for public roads IMHO.
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Knowing the car has silly amounts of power and driving accordingly unfortunately do not go hand in hand. Plenty of examples back this up!
Added - flat undersides are essential for predictable high speed behaviour.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Mon 23 Jun 14 at 22:40
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A front-to-rear cross section that is convex on top and flatter underneath is of course a wing.
The predictable high speed behaviour being that if nothing, or not enough, is done to stop it, it will take off if it goes fast enough. Ask Mark Webber:)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KozNyV-wuG0
Last edited by: Manatee on Mon 23 Jun 14 at 22:53
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>> A Bugatti 35B, Bentley 3 litre, an Alfa 2300 8c, and the Morgan three wheeler I already have would do me. Reckon they'd cost less to maintain too.
There are other contenders... but this isn't the first time I have been moved to say you are a person of impeccable automotive taste Slidingpillar.
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McLaren 650s crashes - Armel Coussine
