Pure McLaren occasions take a track-day to the following degree
We have been handed the keys to a 690bhp Artura and given one-to-one tuition at one of many world’s finest race tracks
You dream in regards to the probability to dwell out your racing driver fantasies, and mine is about to be realised. The venue for my debut observe expertise: Silverstone. That is like kicking a soccer for the primary time at Wembley.
McLaren is internet hosting certainly one of its unique Pure house owners’ expertise days, and I have been invited. To arrange, I spent the day earlier than finding out movies of races on the circuit and driving it nearly. However any veneer of confidence this will have given me evaporates as I arrive on the observe.
The automobile park is filled with McLarens and the attendees are buzzing – though that could possibly be nerves given they’re all driving their very own vehicles on observe. I am having to borrow one, for the file.
The Silverstone Wing is our base for the day. Homeowners are numerous and vary in age, gender and seriousness – I can see a couple of race fits among the many majority denims/T-shirt wearers. There are McLaren merch stalls, racing simulators, free meals and drinks and even personalisation cubicles, the place you’ll be able to spec your subsequent McLaren buy.
McLaren workers inform me the purpose is to make this really feel like greater than a observe day and promote the model as a life-style. A household, even. That is felt by many homeowners I communicate to, however it’s summed up finest by one driver who had flown in from Hong Kong that morning to take supply of his Solus GT – the one-of-25, 829bhp V10 single-seater that was the quickest up Goodwood’s hill in 2023. He is flying again tomorrow afternoon.
After a fast speech from McLaren lead driver coach Jamie Wall – “all we ask is you come again smiling” – it is time to get kitted up and I am given the inexperienced mild to get in ‘my’ 690bhp McLaren Artura. I swing up the butterfly doorways and climb in.
First lesson of the day: by no means underestimate how a lot greater your head is with a helmet on. I did simply that – cue hilarious head-bash. Sitting subsequent to me is ex-BTCC racer Jade Edwards, my teacher for the day. “My job is to see how a lot sooner we are able to make you,” she tells me.
The important thing, she says, is to chill out, look forward, do not overthink and do not be rash – that is how errors occur. Edwards additionally provides me the go-ahead to left-foot brake – one thing the Artura’s set-up has been designed to advertise, an engineer tells me later. I hold the gearbox in Auto.
After a thumbs-up from the pit crew we’re off down Silverstone’s pit lane. One thing you do not realise watching it on tv is how steep the entry ramp is and the way little you’ll be able to see over your left shoulder as you storm into Village. Our first lap is simply to get acclimatised.
Edwards tells me the place to brake, the place to not, the place to show in, the place the apexes are and when to provide it full chat. We push tougher for the second lap. What I’ve discovered right away is that whereas I appear to be fairly good at positioning the Artura, I am not braking laborious sufficient into corners.
“Laborious on at first then path off whereas handing over,” explains Edwards, with admirable endurance. Doing so means minimal velocity loss on strategy and most turn-in grip, because of the massive ahead weight switch. However regardless of this, I nonetheless discover Copse tough: I am not handing over early sufficient, which suggests I am dropping tempo on the exit.
We pull again into the pit lane for a fast debrief – “generally you’ll want to go slower to be sooner”, Edwards tells me – after which we’re again out once more. Into Village my confidence is oozing and Edwards encourages me to push. “Flip early now,” she jogs my memory into Copse.
Down Hangar Straight seconds later I look all the way down to see 190mph flashing up. It does not really feel prefer it. “Actually good,” says Edwards, a couple of laps later as we pull in for the final time and I come down from what feels the largest adrenaline rush of my life.
I am already planning my subsequent observe tour.
