This might be the most exciting blog post I have done on Zero 2 Turbo and that is simply because I have now finally driven a proper supercar!
So I heard via twitter that the guys from Daytona Group in Johannesburg were bringing a couple of McLaren MP4-12C’s down to Cape Town to take around the track. I didn’t think much of it apart from the fact that I would love to see them being pushed hard around a race track. I got the details from the relevant individuals and rocked up to the track to find a whole host of Aston Martin’s, Jaguar’s, Lamborghini Gallardo’s and of course McLaren MP4-12C’s. There was one privately owned McLaren there too. To cut a long story short, we were all invited to actually drive the McLaren’s around the track and you can all imagine how my eyes lit up. I could not actually believe that I was going to drive a R3.5million car as fast as I could around a race track…
The video above is myself in the McLaren giving it horns past the pits…
My turn was up and I got to drive the silver one chassis number 001 so this was the very first MP4-12C ever made. Jeremy Clarkson got to drive the exact car I was sitting in. A quick explanation from the instructor as to how the electronic works and away we went. This is not the first time I have driven around a track so I did have a fair amount of knowledge as to the best lines etc but nothing could prepare me for the brutal kick up the backside when I buried my foot into the floor of the car. The feeling was immense and if I had one of these cars, I would simply just accelerate and stop and do it again… It is that much fun! Carrying on around the track, I manged to pass another MP4-12C and I was ecstatic with this because I had a clear track in front of me and 592 bhp under my foot. On the first lap I managed to hit 220km/h down the back straight and then reached 235km/h on the 2nd lap. Braking from such massive speed was new to me and the tail of the McLaren was wagging like a dog going into the corner and made it that much more exciting.
Pulling into the pits to give someone else a turn and I was at a loss for words. When I got out to speak to a friend who was there with me I actually couldn’t string a sentence together. This could possibly have been one of the coolest things I have done and being the petrol head I am you can all only imagine how happy I was that I got to drive a PROPER supercar and one of the best cars out there at the moment.
Thanks to Daytona Group for giving me and all the other maniacs a spin in this absolutely epic car and for making a little dream of mine come true!
Some pictures below of other car’s that arrived at the track.
