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