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This is a public health warning. It’s also a financial health warning.
First, the tragic background. I was on my way to a video shoot in one of the most expensive cars in Mzansi. Our purpose was to see if it could do the impossible: keep up with a superbike on acceleration. The venue? Somewhere northeast of Joburg. The bike? The brutal Italian MV Agusta F4 RR. The car? the McLaren 650S Spider, the fastest you can buy in South Africa.
But it’s not just the fastest. Its suspension (the bits that connect the wheels to the car, and go up and down) is a work of genius and endows it with roadholding capabilities that overthrow Newton’s laws. Also, the driver and passenger seats are in a “tub” made of superlight yet strong carbon fibre that adds to the car’s supernatural handling.
My passenger and I were enjoying this with wraparound smiles when we encountered a slow-moving truck on the treacherous R512. Along with the choppy surface, there was a small section where the horizontal angle of the road changed too suddenly (down, then up). As I accelerated to pass the truck, the Mac’s suspension bottomed out and, in that moment, I aged five years as ecstasy turned to agony.
I was too shocked to stop and carried on driving. After a few quiet seconds, my co-pilot sternly suggested we stop to examine the car.
We found that the impact between car and road surface had damaged the rear diffuser, a part that aids the airflow under the car. On a super hi-tech car like the 650S Spider, this was very expensive damage indeed.
Why am I sharing this? It’s not like I was asked to confess like a guest on The Jerry Springer Show. No, this is a cautionary tale – a warning about the dangers of Gauteng’s R512, as well as its R511, for good measure. Also, be wary of the high performance of most modern cars, of which more and more are equipped with turbochargers. Now even VW Polos can sprint from 0 to 100km/h in 6.7 seconds, so it’s easy to exceed the speed that’s sensible for particular road conditions – really quickly. Even if the road signs say a speed of 100km/h is allowed, that might be excessive if there are roadworks or limited visibility, for example.
What happened in the drag race? The Mac fought bravely, but over a 400m sprint, a 1 000cc superbike still outruns a supercar.
You can watch the video at
bikeroutes.co.za
Visit McLaren at daytona.co.za
Price: The McLaren 650S Spider costs a whopping R6.2 million
