This is What it's like to Drive A Supercar

Very few people get to drive supercars, even fewer get to own them. Yet, I've just driven three of them. It's all part of Silverstone's Supercar Experience. Three cars, three laps each with a talented instructor by your side.

Once the briefings are over your down into the pits, and needless to say my Jordan 7up shirt attracted plenty of compliments from the instructors. Toru Nakano was my instructor, a veteran of lower Formula and sportscar racing.

The three supercars in question are the 2019 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, 2016 Ferrari 488 GTB and the 2018 McLaren 620R. 

The McLaren was first. so me and Toru head out for a sighting lap round Silverstone's International Circuit since the other half is being used for a karting race. He takes it fairly sedately showing corner entry and braking points. So, lap over, we swap seats, climb over the big sills and sink into the bucket seats, it's time to experience 612 BHP in a car weighing around 1300 KG. To put this into context, that's the kind of performance cars like the Porsche Carrera GT and Zonda F had 20 years ago, and they were top banana hypercars. The McLaren is more a roadgoing GT4 car. Whilst I have felt supercar acceleration in both the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera and the TVR Cerbera, it's another thing entirely to actually be behind the wheel, McLaren say the 620R can do 0-60 in 2.9 Seconds, not far of the old P1.  

As I head out onto the circuit, I take it gently at the start, a supercar deserves a lot of respect, you don't take liberties with them, even the very driver friendly McLaren. Round Village, The Link and Beckets, the McLaren goes round nice easy, but then again, i'm hardly pushing it. Onto the Hangar straight and I open the taps, shifting gears around 5500 rpm, barely into peak power from the 3.8 twin turbo V8. Brakes are nice strong, pedal feels firm and solid and thanks to no anti-roll bars and computerised suspension it copes with the kerbs well too.  

Going into lap 2 with more speed this time, the downforce from the 620R's rear wing and splitter give it plenty of grip in the faster corners and you can carry more speed, though I'll admit I went a bit wide on lap 3. For the final run, I'm shifting up at about 7000 rpm, McLaren's twin turbo V8 sounds excellent at full throttle, we're approaching around 145 MPH before braking hard for the corner that lies ahead that wraps up my first session.

3 Laps over, we head into the pits for a post-session discussion on my on-track performance whilst another pair heads out. Toru seemed very impressed, we were certainly one of the faster cars on track and were catching up to one of the Astons in front, he said he felt he could push me harder than some of the other participants because of my confidence and latent skill (he remarks some of that comes from playing games a lot). His advice for next session, is to take a wider entry into the final chicanes and last corner along with more turn in to the slower corners.

Over to the Aston Martin, which is left-hand drive, supposedly because most race tracks go clock-wise and being on the left gives you a better view of right-hand corners. Being on the left side doesn't really matter when you've got paddle shifters rather than a conventional manual. 

Going from the fastest car to the slowest car is not going to be easy. Almost immediately I notice the brake and accelerator are very close which for someone with rather wide feet makes pin pointing where the pedals are difficult. On the exit to the Hangar straight I'm looking down to make sure I've got the right pedal, accelerator found I promptly charge away, the Vantage pulls well and doesn't hang about, even so I let off the gas early for Stowe so I can find the brake and it does briefly feel a bit squirrely before braking, under any hard braking the Vantage's brakes squeal hard under the braking forces. Thankfully on the next 2 laps things go much smoother once I've adapted to the Vantage's quirks.  

If I had to summarise the Aston, it definitely felt more like a normal road car, but the issue with the pedals ultimately meant I couldn't gel with the car the way I did with the McLaren. The engine sounded better on video but I'd still say Merc's old 5.4 V8 and Aston's V12 had more of a sense of theatre about them than the 4 litre twin turbo Merc unit in the Vantage.

Back in the pits, me Toru and my dad (who Toru humorously calls my 'team manager' ) discuss Formula 1, we talk about our favourite period and season, Toru himself talks a bit about his past in single seaters, he vividly remembers seeing Heintz-Harald Frentzen at Suzuka blitz the local drivers in 1993 in a Formula 3000 race in the rain. He and my dad discuss a bit about driving single seaters since my dad drove a Jaguar JP1 track car back in 2010.

Finally, to the Ferrari. The first thing that surprises me about the 488 is the analogue rev counter, quite surprising for a 'modern' supercar. The next thing I notice is actually how loud it is the cabin. Above 4000rpm it's actually quite hard to hold a conversation, the engine itself hides the turbo sound quite well and could fool a lot of people into thinking it was naturally aspirated, the 488 has a much better brake feel, not as strong as the McLaren but way more confidence inspiring than the Aston. 

Coming out on to the pit straight at the end of lap 1 in 4th gear, the surge of power from the twin turbos is immense, no sooner has it blasted down the straight I'm braking very hard with a couple of good downshifts on the 7 speed twin clutch gearbox. On the second lap on the Hangar straight I'm sure we hit the redline approaching speeds of around 140 MPH, There's no doubt in my mind this could keep up with the old Ferrari Enzo, it is that fast. Through the bends, the 488 corners flat and handles the kerbs at Club well too. Whilst I might have preferred driving the F430 they used to have, purely on sound. But I was pleasantly surprised by the 488, it still packs the drama and the theatre of the old V8 Ferraris, even if the interior is still the same as the '08 California and the styling is fussy.

So, to answer the question then, what is it like to drive a supercar?

Well, you get a tight feeling in your stomach but the cars aren't scary or intimidating, they do require a lot of concentration, not only because your listening to the instructor but also because you've got other drivers, some who potter about and others like me who want to get the most out of these machines. I'm confident that with a few more laps in all three I'd probably be one of the fastest normal drivers on the track. Ultimately, a supercar brings out the best and most of your talent, pushes you to the limit and is a great sensory experience of touch and sound. Here's to some more supercar track experiences in the future. 

Special thanks to Toru for coaching me, he's a really interesting and great instructor. Further thanks to all the folks at Silverstone who run and manage it all, and of course to my dad for bringing me there and back.