Despite the might of the Ford Motor Co and the breathtaking expertise of Multimatic, our time back in Canada felt a bit like being embedded in a skunkworks team. The track was amazing but tucked away, out of sight; the team quietly went about their business, logging data in silence, measuring tyre and track temperatures. No fuss. No showbiz.
Just a badass car doing badass things away from the gaze of the world.
This is different. We're at COTA - a state of the art F1 facility - and there are people and cars everywhere, lavish hospitality and film crews and Bruno Senna and a McLaren MP4/4 and MP4/5 making ears bleed as they warm through in a pit garage. The MP4/4 won 15 of 16 F1 races back in 1988 driven by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost and, obviously, has irresistible star power. It draws those attending this 'Pure McLaren' event like bees to honey.
These are McLaren's best customers. Those racing in their onemake series, or buyers of the ultimate series cars or their track-only hypercars. There are 20 Sennas gathered in the paddock including some road registered Senna GTRs, plus Pls and the wild 720S GT3X - a car that follows a similar approach to the Ford GT Mk IV.
In other words, I am among my people. Ultra high net worth individuals.
Today I am top dog as I'm here to drive McLaren's newest track only project, the Solus GT. In fact, the real top dog is The Triple F Collection, which has kindly allowed us to drive its Solus GT, finished in Gulf colours. These guys have all the hypercars and are officially my new favourite people.
The GT Mk IV had history on its side. Wrapping up the original GT40 story with the GTE class win in 2016 and referencing the 'big banger' '67 car that also took victory at La Sarthe, it's an easy car to explain and understand. Not so the Solus GT.
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