ISSUE27
SPRING2018
T H E S U P E R C A R O W N E R S’ M A G A Z I N E
Elite Supercar Tour - Monaco Combining luxurious 5 hotels, exquisite Michelin Star dining and beautiful scenic routes with a weekend of first-class hospitality at the Formula 1® Grand Prix de Monaco, the official Formula 1® Supercar Tour is the experience of a lifetime, led by previous F1® driver Nelson Piquet Jr. Supercar Tour to Monaco F1® • Celebrity Lead Driver, Nelson Piquet Jr • Leading Hotels Ultimate Luxury • Michelin Star Restaurants • Official Formula 1® Hospitality
22nd - 28th May 2018 Taking in some of Europe’s best roads and landscape, our tour will stop off at spectacular hotels and luncheon venues throughout. The tour will culminate in a weekend at this year’s most glamorous and highlyanticipated race of the F1® season, the Monaco Grand Prix, where you will have a choice of four exceptional VIP hospitality venues in prime locations.
Drive from Switzerland to the Formula 1® Grand Prix de Monaco 5 Hotels & Michelin Star Restaurants throughout The Official Supercar Tour supported by Formula 1® Celebrity Lead Driver, Nelson Piquet Jr Take own vehicle or hire vehicles available F1® Experiences VIP Hospitality included along with driver appearances
Contact info@supercar-driver.com or call 0800 634 0002 Claim your complimentary SuperYacht Party Place by quoting SCDF1
For more information visit supercartours.exclusivegp.com quote SCDF1 when booking
THE TEAM Paul Owen Editor
paul@supercar-driver.com
Matt Parker
Membership Manager Copy Editor & Writer matt@supercar-driver.com
Jonty Wydell
Tour Manager & Writer jonty@supercar-driver.com
Riad Ariane Photographer
riad@supercar-driver.com
Tim Crawford Videographer
tim@tc-media.co.uk
Spring is finally here but yet to make a proper appearance with snow falling over the Easter weekend. Hopefully we’ve now seen the last of the salt on the roads and you can finally dust the cars off after an extended winter break. In this edition, we celebrate the start of the supercar season with our Secret Supercar Meet powered by Michelin. We saw over 300 members come together for a unique gathering along with key SCD sponsors resulting in a huge sum for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice and that excitement for the year ahead. Tour season is now well underway with a few days in North Wales during March followed by Scotland at the end of April, then Cotswolds, Le Mans, Isle of Man, the list goes on. We also celebrate our first press car; we had the pleasure of the stunning Ferrari 488 Spider for a long weekend. Read all about Tim’s adventure on Page 31. Speaking of Ferraris, Jonty, our resident prancing horse fanatic is happy too, he has tested two iconic models from the brand in this edition thanks to our dealer partners DD Classics and Tom Hartley. We have a variety of members rides features, including a stable with two prancing horses, collection day of a limited run Aston Martin and a new Huracan Performante with a distinctive livery. We hope this issue gets you fired up for the supercar season ahead of us, there’s a lot to look forward to!
Debbie Winstanley Accounts Manager
debbie@supercar-driver.com
Luke Earnshaw
Adam Thorby
Director & Co-Founder adam@supercar-driver.com
Creative Manager
luke@supercar-driver.com
Tim Hanlon Writer
tim@supercar-driver.com
David Baker Writer
david@supercar-driver.com
Josh White Writer
josh@supercar-driver.com
Oli Webb
Resident Racing Driver oliwebbracing@me.com Supercar Driver Ltd, Suite 4-5 Meadowhall Riverside, Meadowhall Road, Sheffield, S9 1BW
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INSIDE ISSUE 27 ON THE COVER 45
FEATURES & ARTICLES
DRIVEN
Focus on: First Point Insurance
14
AMG GT C Roadster
10
The Future of Luxury Car Care - Reep
16
Bentley Bentayga vs Range Rover
19
Selling Ur Values
24
Ferrari 488 Spider
31
Fast Five - JBR Capital
26
Aston Martin V8 Vantage GMR
40
Inside AkrapoviÄ?
28
Porsche 997 GT2 vs GT3RS
45
Saving Mr Speeder - Cartwright King
52
One Big Family - Aston Martin Leeds
55
In the Spotlight: Mr JWW
86
Enjoying the Twisties - Total Car Control
104
By the Book - XL Leasing
106
Gentleman Style, Driver Impulse - The Outlierman 108 Lordes in the Fast Lane
118
Final Thought
146
If you would like to submit an article or photo for consideration in a future publication, please email the editor. By submitting an article to us, you are granting permission for its use in future Supercar Driver publications, promotional materials, or online.
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See more at supercar-driver.com
Copyright ÂŽ 2018 Supercar Driver Limited. All photographs, advertisements and editorial content has been used with permission of the owners and may not be copied, duplicated or reused without written permission. Magazine created and edited for and on behalf of Supercar Driver Limited. Content including words and photographs remains copyright of the original author/photographer and used with permission.
TheSupercarDriver
Supercar Driver
@ASupercarDriver
Supercar_Driver
EVENTS
86
North New Year Meet
6
South New Year Meet
8
Secret Supercar Meet
77
A Big Bluebell Wood Thank You
84
Geneva Motorshow
111
DEALER DRIVES Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale
120
Focus on: Pescara International
124
Lamborghini Aventador
128
Ferrari 575 Superamerica
132
67
120
MEMBERS’ RIDES Lamborghini Huracán Performante
36
McLaren 650S Le Mans
60
Porsche 991.2 GT3 and TVR Sagaris
67
Aston Martin V12 AMR
72
Members Garage - Five Star Stable
90
Aston Martin Vantage V600 and GT12
95
36
77
31
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North New Year Meet
A crisp winters morning in South Yorkshire saw record numbers to welcome the New Year. Written by: Matt Parker
Ninety-nine – that’s the number of cars we counted outside the grand Wentworth Woodhouse near Sheffield at our 2018 North New Year Meet. Frustratingly close to a nice round hundred for my OCD but mostly an incredible sight which looked like a mass protest against winter hibernation. Both edges of the icy driveway were littered with the sort of machinery you’d be excited to see in summer, nevermind on a winter’s day when you can barely feel your toes – a couple of Aventador SVs, a few GT3 RS, 458 Speciale, F12, 675LT, 720S, AMG GT R, V12 AMR, the list goes on, and on, and on! A special mention also has to go to SCD member Jonathan who brought his Morgan Aero Coupe and his famous moustache all the way from Worcester. Our friends at John Holland sponsored the event, adding yet more cars to the lineup and somehow tackling the task of feeding 200 hungry car nuts – their last free bacon sandwich was back in November after all! If the New Year Meet is any indication of what’s to come in 2018, we have an awful lot to look forward to.
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South New Year Meet
Meanwhile more SCD members graced Denbies Wine Estate for the first southern event of 2018. Written by: Josh White Images by: Khalid Bari
With Christmas being over, we anticipated that members would be itching to get back out in their cars, and we weren’t disappointed. Our South New Year meet saw as many as 80 people attend in around 40 cars ranging from a Porsche 918 Spyder to an AC Cobra. The event was sponsored by our friends at Romans International, with complimentary food and drink – no complimentary wine though?! The variety of vehicles present shows just how inclusive SCD is. From members just starting their supercar journey to those more established at the top of the supercar tree, everyone engages with one another, swapping stories and building new friendships. I recently saw one member refer to SCD online as ‘the greatest car club’ and I would have to agree! Bring on the rest of 2018 and all the SCD adventures that are fast approaching.
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After recently catching the AMG bug with the bonkers SLS, Matt sees if AMG’s latest offering, the AMG GT C Roadster, retains that magic. Written by: Matt Parker
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Is the 577bhp AMG GT R a little full on for you but the 522bhp GT S not quite enough? If so, Mercedes have you covered with the new, 549bhp AMG GT C. Contrary to popular belief, the C doesn’t stand for convertible, apparently it doesn’t really stand for anything, but what it does do is nestle itself nicely in the GT model lineup somewhere in between the cooking GT S and the fire-breathing GT R. The changes go deeper than giving the car a bit of extra power, though, and the GT C promises to deliver performance knocking on the door of the more track-focused GT R while retaining most of the comfort and usability of the S – the best of both worlds then! It’s available as a Coupe or the newly released Roadster and, given AMG’s reputation for almighty soundtracks, it was a no-brainer to test the drop-top, even if it was just about freezing! A bit like the Porsche 911 2.7 RS in issue 26, we were offered the chance to drive this car through an out-of-the-blue email from Mercedes-Benz Sheffield telling us that they had a couple of great spec AMG GT models in and asking us if we’d like to drive one of them. After a good second or two’s consideration, we said yes and the next week we were in their showroom looking at two GTs while our Brilliant Blue Roadster was being pulled around outside. The car really does look beautiful in Brilliant Blue and, to my eyes, the Roadster treatment has worked seriously well with the GT’s curves, only enhanced by the GT C’s 57mm wider hips at the rear which give a properly aggressive stance. Those hips aren’t just for show either, they allow the car to use the rear axle from the AMG GT R, which brings with it a wider track and a rear-wheel steering system. The rear wheels turn in the opposite direction to the fronts below 62mph to aid agility, above 62mph they turn in the same direction as the fronts to give extra stability.
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I climb inside the snug cabin, ready to hit the road and see how those changes have benefited the GT C and it immediately feels like a special place to be. The upright, letterbox windscreen frames a view forward which is dominated by that enormous bonnet – it’s unique and makes the car feel like an event before you even fire the V8 into life. Ah, that V8; as you’ll probably know, all AMGs are now turbocharged but it’s common opinion that, in these times of downsizing and turbocharging, Mercedes have been the most successful in keeping the brutish character of the old atmospheric engines. As soon as we burble away in comfort mode, it’s apparent that they’ve done just that. It’s not quite as thunderous as the 6.2-litre masterpiece used by the SLS, but you’d never know the AMG GT C was turbocharged from its exhaust note which only builds into a real angry growl at the top end. You wouldn’t know it was turbocharged from the powerband either; there’s no perceptible lag meaning that the big punch of torque down low – 502lb ft of the stuff all the way from 1,900 to 5,750rpm – lends to the feeling of a big capacity engine, much like the old SLS, and means you can access the engine’s performance all the time. It doesn’t die at
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the top end either, it’s really worth revving out for both the power and the noise! It will hit 62mph in 3.7 seconds and ride that ever-present wave of torque and noise all the way to 196mph. One area I feel really dates the SLS is the gearbox. Despite being a seven-speed dual clutch system, the delay between pulling the paddle and the gear engaging was a little frustrating and could even lead to hitting the limiter when in fact you pulled the paddle 500rpm earlier. The GT C completely rectifies this; it retains a sevenspeed dual clutch, but it’s every bit as sharp and responsive as you could want. The power and noise won’t come as a surprise – AMGs are known for their brutal engines after all – but what really surprised me was the traction and usability of that power. Obviously, it will play the hooligan all day long if you provoke it but, unlike the SLS, you really do have to purposely make it angry. Even on this freezing cold, greasy day, I felt comfortable winding on to full power in race mode out of corners as the car just dug in and shot forward when I expected it might torch the rears to pieces. Those cold, damp and greasy roads meant that opportunities to put the AMG through
its paces on the twisties were few and far between, but it’s not hard to tell that it feels so much lighter than the SLS. Like most modern cars, the steering is very light and doesn’t feel like much is going on, but it does its job; the nose turns in sharply and the body remains much more under control than the SLS, with less roll and excellent change of direction, even if it can’t quite match the older car’s brutality and crazy sense of occasion. In a similar way to the Porsche GTS models, the GT C may well become the pick of the range in how well it builds on the performance of the base models (if you can call them that!) without sacrificing comfort or usability for those who don’t want the all-out nature of the GT R. The best of both worlds nature translates to the driving experience too; I love how it has retained the playful AMG DNA but it doesn’t suggest that it wants to kill you at every opportunity if you’re just trying to nip for some milk – it’s the fearsome boxer who can suit up for dinner and behave when it needs to. Thank you to Mercedes-Benz Sheffield for the opportunity to drive this stunning example.
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