Part 2
Following each session, we returned to the debriefing area to review the good, the bad and the ugly. Clearly, none of the participants are vying for a seat with the F1 team, least of all me. Yet, every participant is treated as if they are, in the sense that the debrief is fully focused on helping you to go faster. Thanks to VBOX data, we were able to analyze data exactly as the pros do. Segment times, throttle traces, brake pressures, driving lines, theoretical best lap times and overlays with the baseline lap set by one of the chief coaches are all laid bare to pick apart what’s going well and where time can be gained. Amateur racers familiar with this system know just how invaluable all this data is, and for participants in a program such as this it is doubly so, because it’s the key to maximizing your day. Being able to objectively quantify how much harder the car can be pushed is the single most confidence-inspiring aspect of the program.“Everything a Formula 1 driver gets evaluated on, we can do here,” said Danny Buxton, Drive Team Leader for McLaren Automotive. “All the answers you need to go faster are on the screen for you to use as much or as little as you want to.”By the final session, I had dropped my lap time by 12 seconds from the start of the day, and had narrowed my theoretical best lap time to within 0.6 seconds. I set a goal to be faster in each session, just as Anthony encouraged, and we did exactly that. My best lap time of 2m34.2s was exactly 1m02s adrift of the new outright track record set by Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the 2018 USGP. Closer to reality, the benchmark lap time set by the chief instructor was a 2m24s. Clearly, I have a lot of room for improvement, but when you are handed a 700-horsepower car valued at $285,000 on a track you’ve never driven before, the sense of self-preservation is overwhelming.The McLaren 720S was a phenomenal car to drive. I could string together a set of superlatives, but the best way I can think to put into perspective is that I was reaching speeds of 170mph on the back straight then braking for a second-gear corner at the 225-meter board in a car that can just as easily be driven to dinner. For comparison sake, F1 cars this year reached the same point at 205mph before stomping on the brakes at the 100-meter board.Beyond the Pure McLaren Performance Academy Track Level are the Race Level programs that utilize the 570S GT4. Here, the game really steps up, with each driver having their own pit garage over the course of a two-and-half day program. Like the Track Level programs, Race Level consists of three sub-levels ranging from novice to advanced. Successful completion of the advanced level leads to a competition license and the opportunity to enter the Pure McLaren GT Series. According to Buxton, five individuals began with entry-level programs in their own cars, and will graduate to the racing series during this visit to COTA. Currently, races are only held in Europe.
For now, drivers like Neil Langberg, a soon-to-be-retired financial services professional who races in a different single-make series, is getting extra track time and coaching in the 570S GT4 with an eye toward participating in the GT Series next season.“I grew up in Southern California, so I’m a car kid,” said Langberg, who also has a mission to raise awareness of the autoimmune disease Relapsing Polychondritis “I never thought I’d have the chance to own an expensive, limited production road car, but I’ve had a lucky life. I got into motorsports late, and never thought I myself would get on track.“The advantage now is that companies like McLaren back up owning one of their cars with a driver experience program like this one. Now I get to go to these racing events with only three goals: to finish, to not be last and to have no incidents. Despite the low bar I’ve set for myself, everyone from my driver coach to the mechanics and techs to the corporate officers that are here take my experience just as seriously as they might a young up and coming driver.”Competition is in McLaren’s veins. Back in the days of Can-Am, the World Championship for Makes, Formula 5000 and IndyCar, fields were replete with privateer and factory-backed McLaren entries. The racing landscape has changed since then, but in many ways McLaren appears to be returning to its roots of producing a diverse range of race cars, road cars and driving programs spanning from the pinnacle of the sport to the amateur racer.“Our objective isn’t to build lifestyle accessories or status objects, but to build absolutely the best driver’s cars. If they weren’t great cars to drive, then the there would be no point to Pure McLaren,” said Flewitt. “GT Racing is what gives our road cars more credibility. There’s a new GT3 coming next year based on the 720S, so the breadth of our GT Racing programs are expanding greatly. We have the ambition to bring the GT4 Pure McLaren GT Series to North America in the future because want to offer people the chance not just to spectate, but to participate in motorsport.” Pure McLaren programs start at $1,550. To learn more, visit:
https://cars.mclaren.com/experiences.