► Month five with our McLaren 650S Spider
► This month we partake in a McLaren Pure Event
► Racing around Silverstone – what’s not to love
Google Maps won’t back me up on this but Utopia is a place on Earth, just off the A43 at Towcester. Certainly it was for one day last year, at one of McLaren’s Pure track events at Silverstone.
Since this was a day in the 650S Spider, the good stuff started the moment I left home on one of those bright, crisp mornings that spikes the hours after dawn with just enough chill to speed the waking up process, particularly when you’ve an 80-mile roof-down journey with 641bhp at your back.
Not all that much later the good stuff continued with a trackday hospitality suite quite unlike any I’d previously enjoyed. Instead of instant coffee, a cold pit garage full of puddles and a shouty, Full Metal Jacket-style briefing, the gathered McLaren owners, present and future, enjoyed good espressos, even better bacon, PlayStations for a little pre-track sim work and a good-natured, funny welcome chat from Woking’s top in-house helmsman Chris Goodwin.
I assumed the day would run in sessions but after a handful of initial sighting laps Silverstone’s International circuit (tasty, but the layout that sadly hangs a right just before the mighty Maggots/Becketts complex to cut out half the full lap and re-join on the Wellington straight) was ours for the day, to drive as much or as little as we liked. More good stuff.
And then there was instructor Ray Grimes, on hand like a taller, less green Yoda to unleash my inner Alonso. Being male, I spent the morning disregarding the idea of taking any instruction and merrily understeering my way around the circuit on an unholy mess of lines no one else seemed to be taking. I was lost, adrift on a sea of ignorance and exuberance, and saved from drowning only by the McLaren’s assists. Where F1 drivers specialise in speed with consistency I had neither, that epic front-end scrub occasionally spiking into messy half-slides. Other 650Ss eased past. Bruno Senna, in a 675LT, howled past like I was stuck in first. Maybe there was room for improvement.
To be fair to Ray he stayed quiet for a whole lap, observing, biting his tongue and gently shaking his head. Then, with perhaps 25 spoken words, he changed everything. The Eureka moment was trail-braking, and much more of it. Previously I’d been timidly brushing the middle pedal (the McLaren only has two, but you know what I mean) on the way into corners, the legacy of too many years on motorcycles and their break-your-legs intolerance of too much combined turning and braking. Where I’d been braking hard in the McLaren but coming off the pedal before turn-in, and then wondering why, when I tried to turn, the nose-light 650S skated wide like a cat on greased tiles, Ray had me braking a little later and carrying much more brake pressure into each corner.
The understeer simply vanished. Tyres thumped encouragingly over rumble strips; entry, apex, exit. My confidence soared. Braking later meant more speed. Tidier lines meant more speed. Neater exits meant more speed. And the sensations were exquisite, particularly when I got the combination of steering angle, line and pedal pressure just right and the whole car, all 1600kg of carbon, Ben, Ray and twin-turbo V8, felt exquisitely agile, balanced like a spinning basketball on a finger.
As the day rolled on, the good stuff continued. The 650S’s fuel economy dropped into single figures. A mechanic checking my tyre pressures after a session found the valve caps too hot to remove, even wearing gloves, which I took to be a good thing. In the time between sessions I chatted with other Pure disciples, a passionate, gregarious bunch with wildly different objectives. Some were on their way to becoming fully-fledged GT race drivers. Others just wanted to get to know their McLaren better, and to explore its towering potential. A few didn’t own one yet, though their smiles suggested they soon would. One was running his privately owned ex-Mika Häkkinen MP4-16, the shrill majesty of its raging V10 a poignant reminder of an already forgotten pre-turbo era. All were having the time of their lives.
Pure events in 2016 include Spa-Francorchamps (4-5 April), Paul Ricard (10-11 May), Brands Hatch GP circuit (22-23 June), Hockenheimring (7 July) and the Silverstone GP circuit (7-8 September). For details visit puremclarenexperience.com
Woking Wanderers: welcome to the McLaren family
Ian Farmer, 12C
‘It’s a 2012 car. I’m the second owner, and I’ve had it 18 months. It’s got quite a few carbon parts, the lightweight P1-style wheels, the sports exhaust and the upgrades: the extra 25bhp and the gearshift and active aero mapping from the 650S. I’ve had Porsches and Ferraris but I like the engineering on these. I’m an engineer, and you can tell a lot of thought’s gone in. It’s been reliable, and I’ve done four Pure events. They’re the perfect day. Road cars shouldn’t be able to go round here like this thing does, and then you knock the Active Dynamics back to Normal and it cruises like a limo.’
Nailesh Kinji, P1
‘I’ve been here two days, running the basic Driver Academy instruction with my son. He’s 19, and the only way I could get him insured on the P1 was with an instructor next to him and a full day yesterday in a 650S. This is my first McLaren. I was hoping to get more comfortable with the car, to try to feel its limits, but they are way beyond mine. The grip, the braking and the handling are really exceptional. This is the only P1 in Oman. For that reason I couldn’t keep a low profile even if I wanted to, so I went for the purple. The leather is chocolate brown – like Dairy Milk!’
Stewart Procter, 650S Sprint
‘I’ve owned a 650S Spider road car for a couple of years, started coming to these Pure events and wanted to develop as a driver. I’ve been through the Performance Academy – classroom work and track instruction in 650S road cars – and then into the 650S Sprint car. Next weekend I’ll be racing for the first time, in the GT Cup. It’s taken five two-day events to get to this point. The cars are just brilliant. With its race rubber and firmer set-up you can lean on the Sprint harder, but it’s still an accessible, enjoyable drive. You’ve got to spend the kids’ inheritance somehow!’
Bruno Senna, 650S Sprint
‘These Pure days are really cool. There’s a lot going on: guys trying a McLaren on track for the first time; owners enjoying their cars; Chris Goodwin running his classic M1B racer; P1 GTR demo laps; the Häkkinen F1 car deafening everybody! Today I’ve been doing rides in the 675LT and demos in the P1 GTR. I’m helping out on the P1 GTR experience days. They’re not just thrown the keys – they get instruction and simulator time. The Sprint cars are fun. They’re almost underpowered, but the balance is good and if you over-drive them you’ll go slower – perfect for tuition.’
Read the previous long-term update here
Logbook: McLaren 650S Spider
Engine: 3799cc twin-turbo V8, 641bhp @ 7250rpm, 500lb ft @ 6000rpm
Gearbox: 7-speed auto with paddleshift, rear-wheel drive
Stats: 3.0sec 0-62mph, 204mph
Price: £215,520
As tested: £251,080
Miles this month: 446
Total miles: 2603
Our mpg: 8.6
Official mpg: 24.1
Fuel this month: £109.41
Extra costs: £0
Read more from the March 2016 issue of CAR magazine