Sunday, November 7, 2021

“go Baby Go!”
McLaren 720S GT3X – One Without a Rival

The 720S GT3X is the hottest racing car McLaren has ever produced in this part of Formula 1. Anyone who has a chance to take it to the racetrack will have a smile written on their face. But in the end there is more than one catch.

It’s a Sunday afternoon in the Basque Country and it’s time for a high mass. Only this time it will be celebrated on the Circuito di Navarra, not in the church. Instead of heavenly bells, a demonic roar is heard. And instead of being a supernatural being, it’s a diabolical high-flyer like you’ve never seen him before. Several speeding cars raced through the field of sight of the Spanish marshals. But here and now, McLaren invites you to take a first on the small but fine circuit with the fastest racing car ever on this side of Formula 1: the garage door open and the track clear for the McLaren 720S GT3X.

There are two reasons Black Flounder is alone in the pit alley. On the one hand, the racing car is one of only 15 examples that have been hand-built in the racing department in Woking for prices in excess of 700,000 euros, and on the other, it is intended to reduce the risk of serious foreign contact. At least circuit.

he has no opponents

Beyond that, the 720S GT3X has literally no opponents. Because built in benevolent ignorance of registration rules and racing rules, not only is the road barred for him. It also has no place in the GT3 series. “We wanted to get everything out of this car and not have to worry about any rules in the end,” says chief designer Sam Purvis, whose team has taken the last shackles off the GT3 racing car, which Already barely restrained. Instead of limiting the power to around 500 hp for a tedious balance of power, it’s already “over 700 hp,” reveals Purvis. And as if that weren’t enough, the steering wheel also has a push-to-pass button that gives the saddle another 30 hp for up to 30 seconds and says “Go baby, go!” Flickers in devices. As if such a car still needs cheer.

There are also sharp splinters and large spoilers and diffusers at the back that make the throat look like a secret passage to heaven from hell. It pays off: no other McLaren is so quick and fast, engineers grumble about and still can hardly believe their GT3X won the famous Hill Climb at Goodwood this year or that a normal GT3 on Circuito here Forever would be less than five seconds.

bound to set her free

The car may be fully open, but the opposite is true for the driver. Because as the Helm and Hans weren’t uncomfortable enough and the roll cage was a tight climbing frame, the mechanics tied the driver so tightly to his cramped seat that his last breath of air passed out of his lungs. On the other hand, a foreign package is loosely tied. Head a few degrees left and right, a few inches up and down, just enough to steer. What about feet? Still nimble enough that even feet can find pedals in front somewhere – but you don’t need much leeway with this frenzy.

Then simply put the racing steering wheel on the hub and let the door slam into the lock without the nut, then the racing car, jacked up by the pit crew with hydraulic tappets, drops onto the asphalt. Now the start button brings the 4.0-liter eight-cylinder to life in the driver’s neck until the driver immediately strangles it again. Because shifted from second gear sequentially, you still need to start the clutch—and more speed than you might think. Below 4000 revs nothing goes and only over 5000 revs of the crankshaft the GT3X gets out of the pit lane without jerking.

When coordinates disappear

But then the co-pilot deactivates the pit cruise control, which limits the low-flying aircraft to 50 km/h, drops the right leg and moments into the coordinate system of longitudinal and lateral acceleration that is now Till it is learned, it collapses. . So the dance can begin with open fury.

Even on the modest remainder of start-finish, the world out there moves fast and the little grandstand in the corner of your eye blurs. 150, 200, 250 km / h. Instead of braking, you stay on the gas, quickly shift a gear and enter the iron just before the turn-in point. After all, the carbon-ceramic discs act like an anchor and counter the centrifugal force with an incredible amount of force. Incidentally, like the shiny Piralis, which the professional specially warmed up in advance.

like strobos at a techno disco

With grips as if they were from Pattex, the GT3X shoots through curves, doesn’t push out a millimeter and follows a line you wouldn’t dare dream of in a road car. Even if it’s a 765 LT. You can hardly move the course closer, and not faster either. Especially when both the tires and the driver are warm and familiar with the difficult road. Clack, clack, clack shifts the gearbox in the Staccato, while the LED blocks on the rev counter in the digital cockpit flash like the strbo in a technical disco. Bam, bam, bam, with a foot hammer and minimal steering movements between the accelerator and brake, the GT3X can be steered around the course and is as precise and at least as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel.

But when things are going really smoothly, the co-pilot eventually stops stalling and two turns in a row are half successful, after ten laps and what feels like an eternity, the checkered flag. Suddenly the long straight hoists onto the box and the co-driver points unmistakably into it.

Three liters of sweat low, but high in adrenaline, the driver reluctantly follows instructions and can barely let go of the handlebar: yes, your arms burn, your back hurts, your ears are booming and upstairs is in the room. It sounds like you have to put the head in the washing machine for the entire cycle. But the command “Go baby, go!” I got burnt and a grin broke out on my face which seems to have remained. Of course, it’s disappointing that the journey has come to an end again. And such an opportunity will probably never come again. And even if it’s denied any victories as the 720S GT3X confirms.