MP4 12C ..... never felt so slow !!

[Danny B 0]

Evening all,

 

Thought I would share an interesting experience today......

 

I was driving down the A13 on my way back into London and came across a rather 'briskly' driven orange missile ...... yep I've had my first 'real' life exposure to a Mclaren MP4 12C today :dance:. I haven't got that excited about this car from all the press pictures I much prefer the 458 Italia, but trust me, in real life these things are incredible.

 

What made it even better was that he clearly had no problems with driving the thing the way it was intended :thumbleft:. We Cat and Moused for about 15 mins reaching 'interesting' speeds when eventually he pulled off with a big thumbs up. Obviously the only thing keeping me within reach was the traffic, but 80 to 120 and above these things absolutely fly ..... OBVIOUSLY

 

Glad I was in the S4 as at least she kept me within touching distance.

 

Thought I would tell you all this as the Mrs' reaction was disappointing at best :)

Edited January 25, 2012 by Danny B

[8vMatt 1]

Boost for the S4 it is then :thumbleft:

[fla 9]

cant remember who posted where their Turbo'd or supercharged VR wasnt left too far behind an MP4...

[OllieVR6 0]

I work in Woking just up the road from McLaren HQ and see these cars all the time. They must use them when they pop to town to buy lunch haha!

 

Occasionally I see cars that are obviously McLaren but all covered in stickers and stuff to 'hide' it, never have a camera handy tho :(

[Danny B 0]

Boost for the S4 it is then :thumbleft:

.....uuhhhmmm and perhaps weight watchers subscription !!

cant remember who posted where their Turbo'd or supercharged VR wasnt left too far behind an MP4...

.....bet that annoyed the MP4 driver a tad !!

I work in Woking just up the road from McLaren HQ and see these cars all the time. They must use them when they pop to town to buy lunch haha!

 

Occasionally I see cars that are obviously McLaren but all covered in stickers and stuff to 'hide' it, never have a camera handy tho :(

Yeah I only use the rado to pop to town

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Your missus let you drive at "80 to 120, and above"? You lucky bast@rd is all I can say to that! :lol:

 

As for a VR6 turbo keeping with an MP4, hmmmmm. No chance!

[8vMatt 1]

What about a tuned R32 turbo then Kev? Wouldn't be lacking too much surely?

 

Will you be resisting the turbo for long?

[Jim 2]

What about a tuned R32 turbo then Kev? Wouldn't be lacking too much surely?

 

Will you be resisting the turbo for long?

 

You'd have to be well into the 550BHP-600BHP territory to even stand a chance, surely.. they weigh pretty much the same as a Corrado so you wouldn't have them on power to weight ratio, plus the DSG type gearbox as well. And forget it as soon as it came to a few corners!

[8vMatt 1]

Haha was only thinking of something a little more competitive for the Macleran. Not trying to beat it as thats very expensive to do!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I'm happy with the R32 in naturally aspirated form at the moment mate :D

 

A turboed R32 would undoubtedly trouble an MP4 in the midrange, 50 - 100 kind of area, but as Jim says, with standing starts the MP4 would trounce it!

 

Interestingly, in Clarkson's "Powered up" DVD, they put a Nissan GTR up against an MP4 for a 0 - 60 yard race to test their respective launch control systems and traction. The GTR nosed ahead of the MP4! Given the Nissan is a lot heavier and less than a 3rd of the price, that's incredible! It was in the dry as well, so the 4x4 offered no advantage. In fact it's a disadvantage because of bogging.

[8vMatt 1]

I'd be over the moon if I had an R engines Rado. Very satisfying to do it yourself, something I would struggle with a lot.

 

That high powered factory Evo gave the Lambo a hard time round the Topgear track a while back.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

It's easy mate :D But not exactly cheap, which ever route you take. Standalone or factory management.

[Danny B 0]

Your missus let you drive at "80 to 120, and above"? You lucky bast@rd is all I can say to that! :lol:

 

As for a VR6 turbo keeping with an MP4, hmmmmm. No chance!

 

.....she wasn't in the car - christ my life wouldn't be worth living if she was :blackeye:

 

I kinda of thought the same on the VR6 turbo comment but I didnt want to start a whole heap of statistical analysis when we all know which one we would all choose if we had the chance - my rado love has limits !!

[jeth1979 0]

lol, i saw one of them fine looking cars in sainsburys car park in guildford a couple of weeks back...sounded sweet but talk about a car to pop down to sainsburys in!!!!!mind you, he did let his wifey out to do the shopping,lol..obviously he din"t want to get out of the warm seat!!. very good looking cars imo..

just quickly regarding weight, the corrado vr6 weighs 1240kg, but the mp4 is a hefty 1400kg.. mind you, i do feel the 600bhp twin turbo v8 would give it an edge against any 6 cyclinder lump!!! THATS WHY I SHOULD BE ALLOWED A FREE ENGINE TO MAN HANDLE INTO MY RADO!!! :)

[northG60 0]

An amazing british car to see on the road ...... I saw one on the M11 late last year in silver i was in the G60 cruising to work behind it at around 70 until the road cleared and he floored it obviosly! i gave chase (to no avail) to over a ton then I ran out of steam lol ... one thing i did notice was that drivers rear light was constantly flashing and cutting out which made me chuckle , good old british engineering

 

also saw one in Late june last year in the way back from a drag meet at Shakespear again in silver, i noticed that it was running no Reg plates atall so may have been a test run maybe ? as they were only released for sale around then .