Lazy Steering and Lax Instruction Lead to a Mangled McLaren
Seat time in a McLaren 12C, a closed course, and an instructor who’s supposed to make sure you don’t get yourself in trouble or the British exotic into a pretzel shape. Sounds like a great time, right? Right. What could possibly go wrong?
A lot.
Especially if you’re driving the 616-horsepower supercar with one unskilled hand. It gets even worse when the instructor next to you lets that huge mistake slide and urges you to give as much throttle as you can at the last minute. You rush to try to turn burnt gasoline into unforgettable enjoyment and get your money’s worth out of the experience.
After you run the 12C into a curb and snap the Mac’s wheels and deal with your insurance company, you end up paying a lot more than the original $99 entry fee. The damage you cause to the car adds up to $125,000. That’s definitely unforgettable, but anyone would struggle to call any of that enjoyment (unless they own a repair shop).
You can watch the breakdown of this particular McLaren driving experience we’re talking about in the following superspeedersRob video…and the breakdown of the McLaren itself.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
