Thursday 12th March 2015

Hypercar training programmes compared!

You can afford the P1 GTR/Aston Vulcan/Ferrari FXX K but are you fast or fit enough to drive it?

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The lack of competition in the market for track-only hypercars with attached driver programmes is surely troubling many PHers. But the happy news is now you can give your £2m to someone other than Ferrari.

At the Geneva motor show, McLaren and Aston Martin both revealed their own car packages to take on Ferrari's current FXX K programme. Where best to put your money though? Ever the consumer champions we thought we'd compare the offers...

Not sold out, but it's for P1 owners only

Ferrari has been doing this for 10 years now, starting with the Enzo-based FXX before moving onto the 599 XX and now the potty-mouthed LaFerrari based FXX K (K for KERS) unveiled at the end of last year.

This might be the time to let you down gently if you're new to the Ferrari game: you're not getting in. You might have £2.2m going spare but if there were any cars left of the 30-odd planned, which there aren't, Ferrari wouldn't sell you one. Unless you were a "loyal client, someone who is thoroughly engaged with the brand," as a spokesman told us.

McLaren is fairly similar in that it won't sell its £1.98m P1 GTR to you unless you already own a P1, an exclusive club of 375 folk. It's also pretty much sold out for its run of 35-40 cars, with only a couple of P1 clients left to decide whether they want to join in.

Aston Martin is more egalitarian on this (as egalitarian as you can be when you're charging £1.8m) with no restrictions on who buys the Vulcan, which is loosely based on the carbon platform of the One-77 hypercar. It's also not sold out yet, Aston told us, which puts it straight into the lead at this point. It's also the cheapest.

The only one still available. For £1.8m...

So what do you get for your cash? The car obviously is the big draw. These are some of the most high tech machines available outside of Formula 1 and the first two or three rows at Le Mans. The Vulcan is a bit more old-school racer in that it comes with a six-speed sequential gearshift and a naturally aspirated 7.0-litre V12, while both the P1 GTR and the FXX K are hybrid powered with seven-speed dual-clutch gearboxes. The V12-powered Ferrari just edges the turbocharged V8 of the McLaren to make 1,050hp against 1,000hp, with the Aston trailing at 800hp, although Aston has said the final figure will be more than that. All are coy on exact performance figures.

All about you
The driver programme is at least as big a draw as the car here, especially for ingrained aficionados of the brands given how close they get you to the heart of the company. Of the three Ferrari is the only one that maintains the illusion you are, in essence, a development driver giving valuable feedback on new tech. We do wonder what useful info the son of a billionaire oil magnate could give Ferrari, but the company rejoinders that these guys are their customers. "We don't sell cars to test drivers," the spokesman said.

There's a livery expert at McLaren for your own

Aston and McLaren are more fixed on giving you a good time, and both their cars are FIA-approved. Meaning you can actually race other owners at the respective track events if you want. Qualifying, lights-out start, podium ceremony - the lot. One McLaren executive said you'd have to pay to fix a big shunt, but they wouldn't penny-pinch over small dings.

Ferrari would say why bother when we've got race series for that sort of thing? Working on the tech for the next road-going Ferrari - that's way more cool.

The £2.2m to Ferrari gets you six track events over two years, after which you'll be able to extend it. With the FXX you paid 150,000 euros, or £110,000, for an additional two years. Or you can sell the car, but only if the technology isn't already in the public domain in a road car.

By the way, it's a misconception that Ferrari won't let you take the car away - all three let you do that, although their pricing includes free storage and transport to the track events.

Yes, you can take the Ferrari way if you wish

The Aston driver programme starts at the beginning of 2016 and lasts three years instead of two, with an as-yet undecided number of track events. You build up to the Vulcan by driving a number of other Astons on track, as well as a stint in a driver simulator run by star Aston racer Darren Turner. The Vulcan then has different power settings before building up to the full 800hp+.

McLaren also gives you a session in its own F1 driver simulator in Woking, programmed for the P1 GTR. You also get a session with its charismatic head of design Frank Stephenson to discuss personalised livery and additions to the car before moving into the six track sessions spread over 18 months, starting at Silverstone followed by the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain. McLaren is the only one to make the driver programme optional - for half a million less you can just take the car away. The thinking being if you're made cash enough to buy one your diary is probably pretty packed already.

A sum approaching £2m is a hell of a lot money but it could turn out to be a canny purchase, Aston Martin's CEO Andy Palmer told PistonHeads at the Geneva show. He predicts limited run cars like the One-77 and Vulcan will be become the DB5 of the future in terms of auction power. "It's a £1.8m car and we've got people queuing up on the [show] stand to see it," he said. "Imagine what the value of that car will be 25 years from now."

 

	Aston Martin Vulcan	McLaren P1 GTR	Ferrari FXX K
Based on...	One-77	P1	LaFerrari
Engine	7.0 V12	3.8 V8 hybrid	6.3 V12 hybrid
Power	'800hp+'	1000hp	1050hp
Price	£1.8m	£2m	£2.2m
Gearbox	6-speed sequential	7-speed dual-clutch	7-speed dual clutch
Production run	24	35-40	'around 30'
Star instructor	Darren Turner	Chris Goodwin	Raffaele de Simone
Can be taken home?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can be bought by...	Anyone with the money	P1 owners	Only the true believers
Number of track sessions	TBA	6	6
Time frame	Three years	18 months	Two years
Compete with other owners?	Yes	Yes	No
Simulator training?	Yes	Yes	No
FIA approved	Yes	TBC	No
Buy without track programme	No	Yes	No
Sold out?	Not yet...	As near as	Yes

[graeme4130]

I'd feel like they were pulling my pants down if they tried to tell me I was helping develop the car for the factory
Like the article says, would Ferrari really listen to their wealthy customers about toe in angles and carry them over to the 488 speciale or whatever it's going to be called
Sounds like a big ego massage to me
I can just see the guys in red sniggering away in another room as the customer tries to give constructive feedback after pottering around the track 15 seconds off their test drivers pace, but still filling his pants

[graeme4130]

theAmerican said:

5517 said:

Both links dead.

Easy buddy. Some of the participants in these things are very skilled (check out 2:40. http://youtu.be/DN-pZoHdE7o). Either way, these customer programs are why these companies don't really give a broncos backside about taking these cars racing (notwithstanding the racing series eligibility issues). They gather waaay more info this way, without the cameras and negative impact on their brands should they crash n burn. There is very real development happening under these programs (same driver having some fun in his LaF. http://youtu.be/SazDE2PnI3E).Wow for YouTube ! Maybe they weren't the original sources. See here instead:

http://youtu.be/nfF1Fzx8tmA
http://youtu.be/SazDE2PnI3E

I agree in part, and perhaps I applied a much broader brush to the customers than is perhaps entirely accurate in terms of driving ability (although the first video only showcases someone making good progress in a very fast car by being overly heavy footed out of the corners)
However, I would still suggest that Ferrari don't take any genuinely useful info from these sessions and apply it to future road cars as the marketing bumph of 'being part of the development team' would suggest

Although I'm aware this statement carries no weight on such a forum post, I had a good friend who worked at Ferrari during the fxx times and he used to call the fxx program a 'cash cow'
Again, as mentioned above, £2m plus a variety of other costs is, indeed, small change to most of the customers that enroll in the program, but I'd still feel as though I was being laughed at should I want to consider myself a legitimately useful cog in the road car developemt machine
At least Mclaren and AML have the decency to claim its a fun toy for rich guys, which indeed it is and I suspect it's incredible fun in incredible machinery

Edited by graeme4130 on Thursday 12th March 17:50

[graeme4130]

SteveSteveson said:

You might get an ex F1 car for less, but do you have any idea what the running costs are? A bit brakes on an FXX and Ferrari will make a new one, if it is not held in stock. Part brakes on an old GP car? That'll mean machining a whole new part. Never mind the fact that you can turn up, drive your FXX, go home. An Ex race car is not so simple. And anyway, the people in question arn't choosing, many of them race historic race cars, including ex F1 cars. The people buying these cars are not making a financial choice of "is that financially sensible" it is "am I willing to spend that for that" and to them it clearly is.

There's dozens of Motorsport companies that look after ex f1 cars and bring them to the track for the owner along with a full crew and then take them off again at the end of the day
I'm sure an FXXk is a wonderful car, but as said above, it's hugely compromised as a race car by the fact it's based on a road car. Any F1 car from mid 70's onwards would make it look silly on a race track

I maintain my statement from earlier - the fxxk customers are having their pants pulled down, and are enjoying every minute of it, so good on them as i'm sure they can afford it