McLaren Solus GT wins Festival of Speed shootout - PistonHeads

Impossible to deny that some of the anticipatory sheen had been removed from this year’s Timed Shootout by McMurtry’s decision not to have a crack at the spectacular 39.08 record Max Chilton set in the heat haze of 2022. Perhaps the firm (rightly) figured it had not much to gain from a second official showing, and time was better spent talking about the presence of the recently revealed customer version, the Spéirling Pure, in the paddock. 

Happily, there was another track-only, single-seat monster to take its place. The McLaren Solus GT might not have generated the same incredulous gasps from the crowd as the fan car - but then again, it brought along a far more impressive soundtrack of its own: the ‘90s F1 redolent noise of a 5.2-litre V10 being revved beyond 10,000rpm in the process of outputting 840hp. 

On the basis of it weighing less 1,000kg - alongside the capacity to produce over 1,200kg of downforce -  everyone knew beforehand the Solus was capable of a fairly spectacular time, and even without extended practice thanks to a weather-shortened event, so it proved. With Marvin Kirchhöfer driving, the car broke the tape at 45.34 seconds - well behind Chilton’s benchmark, of course, but inside the second place 45.50 time set by Porsche’s all-electric 1,073hp 718 Cayman GT4 ePerformance last year. 

Doubtless McLaren will be slightly miffed its one-of-25 track special didn’t pip the 45.01-second winning time Rob Bell and the 720S GT3X set in 2021 - although it’s fair to say that derestricted model was a monster in its own right. Certainly, no one here will begrudge a naturally aspirated, rear-drive car its five minutes of Goodwood-based fame - even if special mention again goes to Travis Pastrana and his Subaru GL Family Huckster. Second in 46.37 this year, but first place (again) for style. 

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2023-07-16 20:22:47Z
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