BBC_Top_Gear_South_Africa_June_2017
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EYE WITNESS<br />
THAT TIME<br />
THE<br />
MCLAREN<br />
F1 DID<br />
391KM/H<br />
ANDY WALLACE,<br />
23.04.94<br />
“I<br />
raced the Harrodssponsored<br />
McLaren F1<br />
GTR at Le Mans in 1995 for<br />
David Price Racing, with<br />
Derek and Justin Bell. We were on<br />
course to win when we had<br />
transmission problems, and had to do<br />
the last hours using only fifth and<br />
sixth. We still finished on the podium.<br />
“So I knew the car well and I’d also<br />
been doing McLaren F1 customer<br />
handovers and the development work on<br />
theLM.ThenMcLarenaskedmeifI<br />
wantedtogoreallyfastinanF1.Wedid<br />
the world-record run at EhraLessien,<br />
Volkswagen’s test track in northern<br />
Germany, and used the fifth F1<br />
prototype. You can accelerate off the<br />
banking there at 250km/h and onto a<br />
8.7km-long straight. The McLaren guys<br />
were there, Gordon Murray, Michelin,<br />
BMW… I did a couple of sighting laps,<br />
and discovered a dog-leg on the way back<br />
which wasn’t ideal. To get the record, you<br />
have to do the run in both directions and<br />
take the average. I found myself hitting<br />
the rev-limiter hard in sixth, so the BMW<br />
guys raised it from 7,000 to 8,000rpm.<br />
Apparently the engine was good for 160<br />
000kms with the lower limiter, but only<br />
16 000kms at the higher one.<br />
“The car was stable up to 300kph, but<br />
started to weave around a bit at 370kph.<br />
Being younger and not very clever, I kept<br />
my foot in and it smoothed out again. I’d<br />
love to say I was processing all this in<br />
slow motion, the way racing drivers<br />
do, but basically I wanted to see how<br />
fast it would go. We hit a drag wall at<br />
391kph (242.9mph), and that was it.<br />
That’s what I was there for. Looking<br />
back, I probably should have lifted.<br />
There would have been a lot of<br />
paperwork if it had gone wrong…<br />
“Now I’m doing the handovers<br />
on the Bugatti Chiron. It has way<br />
more power, the aerodynamics<br />
have improved immensely, and it’s<br />
still accelerating like crazy at<br />
380kph.Ifthere’ssuchathingasa<br />
usable 1102kW car that can do<br />
420kph,thisisit.TheChironblows<br />
everything I’ve driven – and even<br />
raced – out of the water.”<br />
IMAGES: MANUFACTURER<br />
38 JUNE <strong>2017</strong><br />
MIRROR, SIGNAL, SHUNT<br />
“I THOUGHT SPORT MODE TURNED<br />
THE TRACTION CONTROL UP A BIT”<br />
Meet my Porsche Cayman S Black Edition, bought in 2012. The Black Edition<br />
was a Cayman S with lightweight wheels and a bit more power, and it was<br />
rare, limited to 500 units. Rarer still after this… I’d only had the car five<br />
months, and was eagerly showing it to someone. “What is it like in the wet?”<br />
they asked from the passenger seat. “Not so good” I replied. “What do you<br />
mean? It’s a Porsche!” Cue the most literal demonstration imaginable,<br />
preceded by those fateful words: “Watch this!”. I engaged Sport Plus mode,<br />
which I thought turned the traction control up a bit. Turns out Sport Plus gives<br />
you 70 per cent more slip, a point this picture evidences all too well. Good<br />
news for those 499 of you with stronger values on your Black Edition, though.<br />
Heath London
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