A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing

Mclaren’s 570s Gt4: a Purpose-built Race Car That’s Actually Friendlier Than Its Ferocious Roadgoing Twin.
 

- Jack Baruth

It was a Saturday afternoon at Sebring International Raceway. I was the guest of Eric Kerub and his Montreal-based Motorsports in Action team, its abbreviation, MIA, pronounced like the name of Frank Sinatra’s willowy third wife.

I’d met Kerub and the rest of the crew at oh-dark-thirty that morning, watched them roll a pair of McLaren 570S GT4 race cars one at a time from a slick black transporter onto loading arms suspended 10 feet off the ground. I’ve witnessed this procedure countless times, with other teams at various tracks, but there was a bit of extra drama here, a slight additional concern at the way the McLarens wobbled on the insubstantial fingers of the ramps. After all, one of those cars was here for me to experience, to flatfoot through Sebring’s infamous Sunset Bend. I did not turn away until they were both safely on the ground.

Our itinerary was straightforward: We would be participating in the advanced run group of a private track day, sharing the course with everything from a first-generation Miata on mismatched wheels to IMSA-spec prototype racers. I was to refamiliarize myself with Sebring, using an orange 570S street car with just 320 miles on the odometer.

Meanwhile, the fellows at MIA would be doing some learning of their own, shaking down the two McLarens in preparation for an upcoming race at Sebring.

“Everybody here is very experienced,” Kerub had told me earlier, “but we are putting all these parts together for the first time.” This was putting it mildly, on both counts. Prior to our meeting, the team had completed just one event: the season opener for IMSA’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge at Daytona.