A trip to London in a McLaren F1 GTR
An epic adventure from member GFWilliams
All text and photos credit GFWilliams
Posted on behalf of GFwilliams

"This was certainly not your average day in the office. A few weeks Andy, the owner of the McLaren F1 GTR, mentioned on my facebook that he was going up to London in his F1 for the launch of the new Forza Motorsport 4 game. I immediately text him to try my luck and see if he had a spare seat so I could come up to take photos. He came back to me saying I could come and we organised that I would meet him then we'd drive up with the Enzo to the start point.

So here we go, this is what a McLaren F1 GTR looks like from the passenger seat. You'll see Andy to my right in the drivers seat and you'll probably also notice he's wearing a headset, that's ecause the car is so loud that you can't talk to each other otherwise!



What was it like on a fairly open road then? Well, it was loud. Remember that the car has a straight cut gearbox which means that the car sounds like it's reversing the whole time. When it goes though, it is incredibly direct and even as a passenger you can feel everything. The throttle is clearly instantaneous. The car is so sharp and darts about a bit over the bumps, surprisingly though for a racing car it's not grounding out too much.

We got into the traffic pretty quickly and as the car doesn't have air conditioning that meant that the car got rather hot. So whenever I could I was opening the door to try to cool the car down.



The car is a racing car, and used to race in Japanso has full race equipment still. The Tom Tom was just to stop us getting lost as it's not quite as easy to navigate around London as it was to navigate a racing track.



The two cars were quite a sight in the built up area, I couldn't help but hop out and get a few photos.





This was the view I had out of the right side window. A window full of Enzo!



Andy quickly tweeted a photo. Well it is pretty cool...





Just to be safe we topped up the F1, while the Enzo was brimmed. I won't repeat the cost, but it certainly wasn't a cheap fill up. Then again, I can only fit £50 worth in my Mini.





Poor dog seemed a bit scared. To be fair to it, the Enzo has had a decat so is 129db. In other words, it's bloody loud!



Back on our way. London traffic is pretty slow.



And the McLaren is getting hotter inside..



What a reflection to see in the window!



So this is our first stop, outside the hotel, to meet the other cars we'll be convoying with and recieve details on the route we were to take. They also branded the cars with Forza Motorsport 4 stickers so we all matched each other.



Everyone who walked past took a photo









Hi Harsh!





Not a bad little lineup of cars then. The green car in the foreground is a Tesla Roadster, the electric sports car based on an Elise. Very rare!













The crowds were starting to appear, camera phones snapping away.





The G-Wiz was driven by a bloke. No, I'm not lying, it actually was. Yes, really!

 

MrShmee150 working his magic..





Just don't ask. Wheels were pretty big!









Ready to set off now, get out of the way Spyker, we need to be in front



So having driven down Oxford Street, making some noise and exciting the crowds, here's the enzo at Picadilly.



It's hot in the McLaren.



Next stop the National Gallery. Quite amazing how many people swamped the cars! I hopeed out to take photos (and cool down!)

 

I can only imagine what the people on the bus were thinking. Fron the McLaren I was simply thinking "It's bloody hot in here". McLaren was performing faultlessly though and I can admit that I was very impressed with it and more so the driver for even attempting to drive it round London. It was very congested the day we were there and if I were driving I would have been very very stressed. He just took it in his stride though, so hats off!



Door up in the McLaren and looking back we see the Tesla. The electic car which has air conditioning... Hmm, air conditioning..





More people take photos of the cars













please note: Big Ben doesn't lean this much in real life.









Quite a lineup.

 

He's not taking this seriously..









She's taking a picture of me...







How do you annoy protesters? You wake them up with some very loud cars...

















I then realised that the Enzo and McLaren had actually driven off without me. Not ideal...
Luckily I got offered a ride in the tesla to catch them up. And what an amazing car.



It just goes. I've never been in anything and I love it. It's just one gear so a huge surge of power which just keeps on going. In the below photo we're overtaking the Lamborghini and Aston and it took me by surprise as I could feel the acceleration, but couldn't hear the engine. Totally knocks your senses.





The Cyclist wasn't as quick as the McLaren.

 

Back in the McLaren and we've got some tasty stuff following us again.









Over tower bridge.



Then head down Tooley Street and try to turn round. Not easy in a racing car which doesn't have much steering lock







A little more driving and we arrive at the finishing point where the new Forza is to be released to the press the next day. A few nice cars have already arrived...



What can we see here then? I can see a McLaren F1 GTR and MP4-12C, a Bugatti Veyron, a K'egg CC8, Pagani Zonda F and a Ferrari Enzo to name a few. Quite a way to launch the game!





So that was my day in a McLaren F1 GTR. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask on my facebook. If you enjoyed the blog entries, please share them with your friends. I've got some videos coming soon, but will keep you waiting!"

 

Great post.

 

I <3 london!!!!!

 

WOW- it's rare we hear from anyone with first hand F1 experience!

Thanks for sharing. What are the odds if getting a F1 to come to manhasset?

 

Wow, there is so much power and WIN in those last 2 pictures!! What a group of cars!! Thanks for sharing. Great write up. I am completely jealous!

 

Awesome. Must have been an unforgettable day! But eh, Andy just ditched you at Parliament Square? Thatsnotverynice.