An Eruption of Imprudence - Volcano Orange McLaren 570GT
Discussion
samoht said:
I've not yet been up close to a Spider, but I looked into it and I think the answer is 'yes and no'. The rear screen is hard behind the seats in the Spider so you don't have the shelf inside the cabin space. There is however a smaller space under the tonneau cover, available for use when the top is up only:
All variants (incl the 600LTs) have the same front boot.
If we said the 570GT's usable luggage space is 100%, a regular Coupe might be 90-95%, and a Spider maybe 50-60% ? So it's less, but at the same time still relatively practical for a convertible supercar.
Thank you for explaining! Have always loved McLarens and one would be a proper dream car. Plus with the carbon tub almost no stiffness or dynamic ability lost with a drop top which is a big plus!All variants (incl the 600LTs) have the same front boot.
If we said the 570GT's usable luggage space is 100%, a regular Coupe might be 90-95%, and a Spider maybe 50-60% ? So it's less, but at the same time still relatively practical for a convertible supercar.
I recently had to renew the insurance, reminding me I'm just approaching a year with this car.
A bit of a no-news update really, no real excitments or problems since June. I did take it to a family party in summer, and it was fun to give my uncles rides especially as they've always had more of an interest in cars than my own parents. Otherwise it's tended to be used for some "A to A" drives around local B-roads, I've found a couple of decent loops south-east of Cambridge.
Costs for the 12 months were insurance £873, road tax £570, servicing & repairs £1421 as discussed above, and £350 to remove an entirely self-inflicted dent in the front wing (big thanks to Body Poppers who came through when others wouldn't). I've not been counting the petrol, save that it uses less of it than my AMG like for like, making it my 'economy' car
A few weekends ago I got it out for the first time since before Christmas, and found to my alarm that the battery was low, despite it being on a NOCO charger. With the charger connected it did fire up, and after a run all seems to be back to normal. This is good because the battery is lithium, and could be something like three grand to replace(!), although V Engineering do have some alternatives. Anyway I've now ordered a CTEK to eliminate the charger as the issue, otherwise I'll have to ask when it goes to V for MoT in April, it could be the battery management getting confused.
Driving the car for the first time in a couple of months was great, the performance amazes and sometimes scares all over again, the roads were even just about clean enough to generate some grip.
Plans, or should I say vague aspirations, for 2024 are to make a Scandinavian road trip, and to get on track somewhere, ideally a circuit with very little to hit! I won't be pushing it too hard but it'd be lovely to get a bit of a feel for its capabilities.
The roads were pretty muddy when I took it out and grabbed these pics, so the car's not very clean - a job for tomorrow.
A bit of a no-news update really, no real excitments or problems since June. I did take it to a family party in summer, and it was fun to give my uncles rides especially as they've always had more of an interest in cars than my own parents. Otherwise it's tended to be used for some "A to A" drives around local B-roads, I've found a couple of decent loops south-east of Cambridge.
Costs for the 12 months were insurance £873, road tax £570, servicing & repairs £1421 as discussed above, and £350 to remove an entirely self-inflicted dent in the front wing (big thanks to Body Poppers who came through when others wouldn't). I've not been counting the petrol, save that it uses less of it than my AMG like for like, making it my 'economy' car
A few weekends ago I got it out for the first time since before Christmas, and found to my alarm that the battery was low, despite it being on a NOCO charger. With the charger connected it did fire up, and after a run all seems to be back to normal. This is good because the battery is lithium, and could be something like three grand to replace(!), although V Engineering do have some alternatives. Anyway I've now ordered a CTEK to eliminate the charger as the issue, otherwise I'll have to ask when it goes to V for MoT in April, it could be the battery management getting confused.
Driving the car for the first time in a couple of months was great, the performance amazes and sometimes scares all over again, the roads were even just about clean enough to generate some grip.
Plans, or should I say vague aspirations, for 2024 are to make a Scandinavian road trip, and to get on track somewhere, ideally a circuit with very little to hit! I won't be pushing it too hard but it'd be lovely to get a bit of a feel for its capabilities.
The roads were pretty muddy when I took it out and grabbed these pics, so the car's not very clean - a job for tomorrow.
Car went to V Engineering for annual service last week, £530.
The CTEK charger seems to have done the trick as the car's staying on '49 days' battery remaining as it wasn't on the NOCO.
Tomorrow I'm going for my first trackday in this car. I've picked Bedford as it seems to be the least risky track, it's also not too far away. Downloaded TOCA3 to get the track layout into my head.
I've been there once before with the RX-7, as well as about half a dozen other trackdays, but this'll be my first in a car like this.
Steve at V gave me a load of helpful advice for tracking my car, apparently Sport powertrain mode is the noisiest as it adds pops and bangs, so may be worth avoiding at Bedford. When the tyres get to 60-70 degrees then it's time to take a cooldown lap, for both tyres and the expensive brakes. ESC Dynamic is recommended to give a bit more freedom and avoid over-using the rear brakes. Also as I have new pads in (from when I bought the car), they'll need to off-gas so get them hot until they lose bite, then let them cool, then they should be good to work hard thereafter.
It's very helpful and reassuring to get detailed guidance from someone who's clearly been there, done that in these cars.
I'm really keen to see what this car's like on track, road driving feels fabulous but always has to be to some degree contained by an awareness of the inherent uncertainties of the public road. I'll report back how it goes!
The CTEK charger seems to have done the trick as the car's staying on '49 days' battery remaining as it wasn't on the NOCO.
Tomorrow I'm going for my first trackday in this car. I've picked Bedford as it seems to be the least risky track, it's also not too far away. Downloaded TOCA3 to get the track layout into my head.
I've been there once before with the RX-7, as well as about half a dozen other trackdays, but this'll be my first in a car like this.
Steve at V gave me a load of helpful advice for tracking my car, apparently Sport powertrain mode is the noisiest as it adds pops and bangs, so may be worth avoiding at Bedford. When the tyres get to 60-70 degrees then it's time to take a cooldown lap, for both tyres and the expensive brakes. ESC Dynamic is recommended to give a bit more freedom and avoid over-using the rear brakes. Also as I have new pads in (from when I bought the car), they'll need to off-gas so get them hot until they lose bite, then let them cool, then they should be good to work hard thereafter.
It's very helpful and reassuring to get detailed guidance from someone who's clearly been there, done that in these cars.
I'm really keen to see what this car's like on track, road driving feels fabulous but always has to be to some degree contained by an awareness of the inherent uncertainties of the public road. I'll report back how it goes!
Missed your thread previously, but a great read, love both the RX7 and the McLaren.
I’m also a JDM fan after having a few MK4 Supra’s previously, the last one being a built 750rwhp(I actually wanted an RX7 originally but was only around 20 at the time and the Supra was cheaper on insurance).
Can completely understand the nerves of taking the 570 on track, not only are the limits far higher than that of the RX7, but there’s also no ignoring its value in comparison. I had no problem taking my Supra on track, you had to learn it to control it but I had no issue pushing it and didn’t worry too much if it picked up gravel rash or a scuff, I’d be very nervous taking the F355 on track though, but I have my Caterham for my track now.
Kudos for taking the 570 on track and euro trips though, great to see people really using these cars!!
I’m also a JDM fan after having a few MK4 Supra’s previously, the last one being a built 750rwhp(I actually wanted an RX7 originally but was only around 20 at the time and the Supra was cheaper on insurance).
Can completely understand the nerves of taking the 570 on track, not only are the limits far higher than that of the RX7, but there’s also no ignoring its value in comparison. I had no problem taking my Supra on track, you had to learn it to control it but I had no issue pushing it and didn’t worry too much if it picked up gravel rash or a scuff, I’d be very nervous taking the F355 on track though, but I have my Caterham for my track now.
Kudos for taking the 570 on track and euro trips though, great to see people really using these cars!!
Yeah, I was fortunate to buy my RX-7 when values were at their lowest, and paying £4500 for it probably helped me enjoy it to the full on track Tracking the 570 is a little more daunting, and I wasn’t exactly encouraged by Moris (who I’d previously used for trackday insurance on the FD) informing me that they no longer cover McLarens as the resulting claims had become too expensive (!) But ultimately it’s such a great opportunity to drive something like this on track. A colleague mooted the idea of getting on track, so it ended up being four of us.
The first session was honestly tough. I knew neither the car nor the ‘full’ GT layout we were on, the track was busy and I was struggling to judge braking distances. I was also trying to let enough air out of the tyres as they heated up. I was honestly starting to think that it wasn’t worth tracking this car and I’d have enjoyed my old RX-7 more. Then just before lunch I had a 20 minute session with an instructor. Rich was really good, pushing me to brake harder and accelerate more progressively, and with his guidance on braking points and entry speeds it all started to come together. Actually I’d say it was transformative, in the afternoon I started getting to grips with the car and things were starting to flow.
I know this sounds like a statement of the obvious, but the performance envelope is just night and day bigger with this car than what I’m used to. The braking feels like the biggest difference, when you’re really hanging on the seatbelt and the speed is plummeting so rapidly, it’s hard to judge when to release the pedal and turn without either stopping dead or carrying too much speed in. And of course getting the braking right is vital to setting up the whole corner. But following the tuition I was starting to get the hang of it.
The other awesome thing is the ESC Dynamic mode, which lets the car move around and feel like a powerful rwd car, but diplomatically saves you from yourself when you get it wrong, both under power and on lift-off. I actually went out once forgetting to enable Dynamic mode and immediately returned to the pits (you can’t enable it on the move), as with full stability control the car just felt inert and boring under power because it keeps things safe. What’s interesting is that when I tried ESC DYN on the road I genuinely couldn’t feel any difference, but on track it was immediately obvious. The car is quite playful and throttle responsive both on and off throttle, which I love, but the ESC takes the sting out of the rearward weight balance.
My last session of the day was the best, the track was quieter and I was starting to put corners together and getting a flow going. It’s probably the ‘infield’ section, with more corners and shorter straights, which I like the most - a quick squirt of power, dab of brakes and through the next apex, with no 120mph braking zones to try and judge. When you get it right with this car, it feels magical.
In answer to Brett, the car’s on PS4S tyres which do limit its cornering speed, as Steve had advised; some of the other cars there were on more track-specific rubber and could clearly carry more speed. In some ways though I’m fine with this, a bit less grip lets it move around and feel fun and responsive, and if I start getting sucked into laptime I’ll soon need new brakes. As it was I could do ok length stints pushing hard. The tyres definitely have that trackday sheen now, with a thin layer of melted rubber on top of the tread and some gravel pick-up, but no deeper damage.
The car showed a couple of minor “quirks” - on the first run after lunch my A/C stuck on full hot (not merely not cooling, but actively heating the air), but I came in and turned the car off and on again and it sorted itself out. And when driving back I had the message ‘key not found in car’, however the car started and drove fine; that message has also now cleared. But in terms of lapping it was spot on, with no brake fade or any other signs of stress.
My friends from work also had a good day, for two of them it was their first time driving on track, and fun was also had with passenger rides - it’s always more amusing with someone alongside reacting to everything that’s happening! Fortunately all four of us also drove home with cars intact, which not everyone did.
Even I am not brave/foolish/rich enough to make a habit of frequently tracking this car, but having got a feel for it, I’m hoping to go again towards autumn, maybe to Donnington as that has some elevation but (correct me if I’m wrong) also seems to have a fair amount of run-off? It's definitely a higher difficulty level driving this car than the RX-7, but when you start to get to grips with its capabilities, the rewards are correspondingly special.
Tracking the 570 is a little more daunting, and I wasn’t exactly encouraged by Moris (who I’d previously used for trackday insurance on the FD) informing me that they no longer cover McLarens as the resulting claims had become too expensive (!) But ultimately it’s such a great opportunity to drive something like this on track. A colleague mooted the idea of getting on track, so it ended up being four of us.The first session was honestly tough. I knew neither the car nor the ‘full’ GT layout we were on, the track was busy and I was struggling to judge braking distances. I was also trying to let enough air out of the tyres as they heated up. I was honestly starting to think that it wasn’t worth tracking this car and I’d have enjoyed my old RX-7 more. Then just before lunch I had a 20 minute session with an instructor. Rich was really good, pushing me to brake harder and accelerate more progressively, and with his guidance on braking points and entry speeds it all started to come together. Actually I’d say it was transformative, in the afternoon I started getting to grips with the car and things were starting to flow.
I know this sounds like a statement of the obvious, but the performance envelope is just night and day bigger with this car than what I’m used to. The braking feels like the biggest difference, when you’re really hanging on the seatbelt and the speed is plummeting so rapidly, it’s hard to judge when to release the pedal and turn without either stopping dead or carrying too much speed in. And of course getting the braking right is vital to setting up the whole corner. But following the tuition I was starting to get the hang of it.
The other awesome thing is the ESC Dynamic mode, which lets the car move around and feel like a powerful rwd car, but diplomatically saves you from yourself when you get it wrong, both under power and on lift-off. I actually went out once forgetting to enable Dynamic mode and immediately returned to the pits (you can’t enable it on the move), as with full stability control the car just felt inert and boring under power because it keeps things safe. What’s interesting is that when I tried ESC DYN on the road I genuinely couldn’t feel any difference, but on track it was immediately obvious. The car is quite playful and throttle responsive both on and off throttle, which I love, but the ESC takes the sting out of the rearward weight balance.
My last session of the day was the best, the track was quieter and I was starting to put corners together and getting a flow going. It’s probably the ‘infield’ section, with more corners and shorter straights, which I like the most - a quick squirt of power, dab of brakes and through the next apex, with no 120mph braking zones to try and judge. When you get it right with this car, it feels magical.
In answer to Brett, the car’s on PS4S tyres which do limit its cornering speed, as Steve had advised; some of the other cars there were on more track-specific rubber and could clearly carry more speed. In some ways though I’m fine with this, a bit less grip lets it move around and feel fun and responsive, and if I start getting sucked into laptime I’ll soon need new brakes. As it was I could do ok length stints pushing hard. The tyres definitely have that trackday sheen now, with a thin layer of melted rubber on top of the tread and some gravel pick-up, but no deeper damage.
The car showed a couple of minor “quirks” - on the first run after lunch my A/C stuck on full hot (not merely not cooling, but actively heating the air), but I came in and turned the car off and on again and it sorted itself out. And when driving back I had the message ‘key not found in car’, however the car started and drove fine; that message has also now cleared. But in terms of lapping it was spot on, with no brake fade or any other signs of stress.
My friends from work also had a good day, for two of them it was their first time driving on track, and fun was also had with passenger rides - it’s always more amusing with someone alongside reacting to everything that’s happening! Fortunately all four of us also drove home with cars intact, which not everyone did.
Even I am not brave/foolish/rich enough to make a habit of frequently tracking this car, but having got a feel for it, I’m hoping to go again towards autumn, maybe to Donnington as that has some elevation but (correct me if I’m wrong) also seems to have a fair amount of run-off? It's definitely a higher difficulty level driving this car than the RX-7, but when you start to get to grips with its capabilities, the rewards are correspondingly special.
My wife decided we should go to Copenhagen and Stockholm this summer, and having never been there before I was curious enough to agree.
The trip started on a negative when on the day of departure I realised that no, the A/C definitely isn’t working
I think it gradually lost effect without me quite realising until now. You might think that air-con isn’t needed when visiting the northern climes, however the heat soak from the V8 turbo buried in the middle of the car is noticeable, and it’s desirable at anything over 20 degrees ambient. Still, it could have been worse, I was glad we hadn't picked the Med.
We had a smooth crossing from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. It was the Sunday evening a week before the Dutch GP, and the Head of Medical of the McLaren F1 team saw the car and said hi on the car deck.
We rolled off the ferry and foolishly failed to stop for anything to eat, so by the time we pulled up outside the hotel in Hamburg six hours later we'd added hunger to our lack of sleep, since there's a very early wake-up call on the boat. The subsequent burger and club sandwich were extremely well received.
I'd hoped we might be able to hire a sailing dinghy on the lagoon in front of the hotel, however it turns out that in Germany they expect you to actually show them a certificate of competence, not simply to promise that you did the course when you were at school but lost the certificate (honest!).
Instead we visited the old "Flak Tower", a huge concrete monstrosity built to hurl explosives up at Lancasters overhead, recently renovated with a hotel built on top and public walkway spiralling around
After three nights we continued to Copenhagen. There are two routes from Germany about equal in time; the shorter route involves a ferry crossing of about 45 minutes, which was a pleasant break from driving.
We stayed one night in Copenhagen initially, where I managed to kerb a wheel in the adjacent multi-storey (aargh, but on the other hand, perhaps a nudge to refurb them in something other than black).
We then continued across the Oresund bridge into Sweden, following the southern coast towards Kalmar. The roads on this route are formed of three lanes in total, such that you have a dual carriageway with alternating one and two-lane sections. It works decently well, although there is always the temptation to boot it when you see both a slow truck and a lanes merge sign appear at once, a temptation the Mac is ever-ready to indulge despite the risk that it's an obvious spot for police to lurk.
Driving towards Kalmar the traffic came to a halt, and we then had to squeeze up (on a single lane section) to let a couple of fire engines through. It appeared likely that someone had failed to fit two lanes of traffic into one at the end of the following section. Although the two lanes were divided, by good fortune we ended up stationary next to a gap, so I looked twice, pulled a U-turn, and headed for a diversionary route - no idea if this was legal but no-one objected.
GMaps then sent us on a longer normal-road diversion, which was quite fun and reminded me of playing rallying games. I noticed that while the landscape in most of Denmark appears to resemble an extension of East Anglia, Sweden conversely has a landscape character all of its own and one I find hard to 'read', with seemingly arbitrary rises and falls, reminding me mainly of said videogames.
We eventually reached Kalmar, a pretty fortified port town
The trip started on a negative when on the day of departure I realised that no, the A/C definitely isn’t working
I think it gradually lost effect without me quite realising until now. You might think that air-con isn’t needed when visiting the northern climes, however the heat soak from the V8 turbo buried in the middle of the car is noticeable, and it’s desirable at anything over 20 degrees ambient. Still, it could have been worse, I was glad we hadn't picked the Med.We had a smooth crossing from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. It was the Sunday evening a week before the Dutch GP, and the Head of Medical of the McLaren F1 team saw the car and said hi on the car deck.
We rolled off the ferry and foolishly failed to stop for anything to eat, so by the time we pulled up outside the hotel in Hamburg six hours later we'd added hunger to our lack of sleep, since there's a very early wake-up call on the boat. The subsequent burger and club sandwich were extremely well received.
I'd hoped we might be able to hire a sailing dinghy on the lagoon in front of the hotel, however it turns out that in Germany they expect you to actually show them a certificate of competence, not simply to promise that you did the course when you were at school but lost the certificate (honest!).
Instead we visited the old "Flak Tower", a huge concrete monstrosity built to hurl explosives up at Lancasters overhead, recently renovated with a hotel built on top and public walkway spiralling around
After three nights we continued to Copenhagen. There are two routes from Germany about equal in time; the shorter route involves a ferry crossing of about 45 minutes, which was a pleasant break from driving.
We stayed one night in Copenhagen initially, where I managed to kerb a wheel in the adjacent multi-storey (aargh, but on the other hand, perhaps a nudge to refurb them in something other than black).
We then continued across the Oresund bridge into Sweden, following the southern coast towards Kalmar. The roads on this route are formed of three lanes in total, such that you have a dual carriageway with alternating one and two-lane sections. It works decently well, although there is always the temptation to boot it when you see both a slow truck and a lanes merge sign appear at once, a temptation the Mac is ever-ready to indulge despite the risk that it's an obvious spot for police to lurk.
Driving towards Kalmar the traffic came to a halt, and we then had to squeeze up (on a single lane section) to let a couple of fire engines through. It appeared likely that someone had failed to fit two lanes of traffic into one at the end of the following section. Although the two lanes were divided, by good fortune we ended up stationary next to a gap, so I looked twice, pulled a U-turn, and headed for a diversionary route - no idea if this was legal but no-one objected.
GMaps then sent us on a longer normal-road diversion, which was quite fun and reminded me of playing rallying games. I noticed that while the landscape in most of Denmark appears to resemble an extension of East Anglia, Sweden conversely has a landscape character all of its own and one I find hard to 'read', with seemingly arbitrary rises and falls, reminding me mainly of said videogames.
We eventually reached Kalmar, a pretty fortified port town
(cont)
When I was at primary school we had a school trip to see the Mary Rose, a wooden Tudor warship which was built too top-heavy and capsized in calm weather on her maiden voyage, and 400 years later raised from the sea bed, preserved and displayed. I remember learning that there was a Swedish ship, the Vasa, which had repeated the exact same failure mode some years later. So on my first visit to Stockholm this was a must-see.
The Baltic water has fewer ship-munching microbes than the Channel, so it's really well preserved, and with the masts and rigging restored it's just like stepping into the pages of Pugwash (or One Piece).
The next day I had my first brush with the law, and it's all down to this photo
I was walking through a public park beside the water, and saw other tourists photographing something. I saw this carved treetrunk with the two birds, and grabbed a photo. Walking on, I was then stopped by a policeman who said that taking photos of the yellow building was forbidden. I struggled not to complain that, if you don't want people taking photos, perhaps it would be an idea not to put up sculptures in front of the top-secret building! On the other hand, I think the authorities are on high alert about Russian sabotage currently so I can forgive them being a bit jumpy.
After Stockholm we went on to Gothenburg. Lack of air-con aside the car is pretty comfortable for a long drive, and at the 120 or 130 km/h permitted in Denmark and Sweden it does low-30s mpg - the best economy is on a quiet motorway where you can just set the cruise control. Many yogurt drinks were consumed to compensate for the heat
Doors are up to cool the cabin off a bit, not to show off
At Gothenburg I wanted to see the new 'World of Volvo' museum. It's not huge but it's a pretty good exposition of Volvo's history, well worth a visit for the nostalgia of my middle-class south London childhood
They also have a big interactive section about road safety, including a game where you have to try and drive safely while they attempt to distract you with a loud passenger, exciting sights and the need to dig around in a touchscreen to find the lights and wiper functions. I found the latter hilarious, given the way their EX30 has been excoriated in the press for exactly this problem!
When I was at primary school we had a school trip to see the Mary Rose, a wooden Tudor warship which was built too top-heavy and capsized in calm weather on her maiden voyage, and 400 years later raised from the sea bed, preserved and displayed. I remember learning that there was a Swedish ship, the Vasa, which had repeated the exact same failure mode some years later. So on my first visit to Stockholm this was a must-see.
The Baltic water has fewer ship-munching microbes than the Channel, so it's really well preserved, and with the masts and rigging restored it's just like stepping into the pages of Pugwash (or One Piece).
The next day I had my first brush with the law, and it's all down to this photo
I was walking through a public park beside the water, and saw other tourists photographing something. I saw this carved treetrunk with the two birds, and grabbed a photo. Walking on, I was then stopped by a policeman who said that taking photos of the yellow building was forbidden. I struggled not to complain that, if you don't want people taking photos, perhaps it would be an idea not to put up sculptures in front of the top-secret building! On the other hand, I think the authorities are on high alert about Russian sabotage currently so I can forgive them being a bit jumpy.
After Stockholm we went on to Gothenburg. Lack of air-con aside the car is pretty comfortable for a long drive, and at the 120 or 130 km/h permitted in Denmark and Sweden it does low-30s mpg - the best economy is on a quiet motorway where you can just set the cruise control. Many yogurt drinks were consumed to compensate for the heat
Doors are up to cool the cabin off a bit, not to show off
At Gothenburg I wanted to see the new 'World of Volvo' museum. It's not huge but it's a pretty good exposition of Volvo's history, well worth a visit for the nostalgia of my middle-class south London childhood
They also have a big interactive section about road safety, including a game where you have to try and drive safely while they attempt to distract you with a loud passenger, exciting sights and the need to dig around in a touchscreen to find the lights and wiper functions. I found the latter hilarious, given the way their EX30 has been excoriated in the press for exactly this problem!
We spent a little longer in Copenhagen on the return trip. We took a trip out of the city to visit the Louisiana Art Museum
Yayoi Kusama taking the idea of a 'hall of mirrors' to the next level
You might assume that a bakery called "Andersen" would be local, but it's actually a chain founded by a Japanese baker who visited Copenhagen and fell in love with Danish pastries, then went home and applied characteristic Japanese diligence to making them as tasty as possible. The locals seemed to approve (as did we!)
For variety we returned to Hamburg via the longer land route. The derestriction signs were a warm welcome back to Deutschland, although it was mostly two-lane road and not very empty. I'm never quite sure how fast I'm comfortable with when there's traffic in the other lane, normally settling at 180-200 km/h based on what I see other quick drivers doing. With the traffic the peak speed this trip was about 250 km/h and only briefly, but we did get some decent running above 160.
After a night in Hamburg and a final cafe raid to collect provisions for the night's sailing back, we started the final leg back to Holland. I was surprised when a dark grey Passat lit up its blue lights and directed us to a parking area, as I was fairly sure we were on a derestricted section. However they were "Zoll" - Customs - apparently doing a random check. Apparently I should have had the car's V5, but they were kind enough to accept my excuse of fear of the car being stolen complete with all documents to export it and were satisfied with me showing them an image of the V5 on my phone. Something to remember for future trips.
Disembarking in the morning from the 'wide and low' deck of the ferry, we'd been joined by a number of other interesting cars presumably doing some kind of "tour" (not "rally", officer!) of the continent.
I've always enjoyed a road trip, and being lucky enough to have an interesting car really adds to the experience. The Mac attracts quite a bit of attention but it's all positive, it's always nice to put a smile on someone's face.
I guess it's the way of modern supercars, but I really appreciate how the 570GT has such a broad range of ability that it can be good on track, good on a B-road, and also comfortable enough and capacious enough that we'd choose to do a 2,500 mile road trip. It means it makes sense as half of our two-car garage, rather than only being one for collectors with double-digits of alternative cars at their disposal.
Yayoi Kusama taking the idea of a 'hall of mirrors' to the next level
You might assume that a bakery called "Andersen" would be local, but it's actually a chain founded by a Japanese baker who visited Copenhagen and fell in love with Danish pastries, then went home and applied characteristic Japanese diligence to making them as tasty as possible. The locals seemed to approve (as did we!)
For variety we returned to Hamburg via the longer land route. The derestriction signs were a warm welcome back to Deutschland, although it was mostly two-lane road and not very empty. I'm never quite sure how fast I'm comfortable with when there's traffic in the other lane, normally settling at 180-200 km/h based on what I see other quick drivers doing. With the traffic the peak speed this trip was about 250 km/h and only briefly, but we did get some decent running above 160.
After a night in Hamburg and a final cafe raid to collect provisions for the night's sailing back, we started the final leg back to Holland. I was surprised when a dark grey Passat lit up its blue lights and directed us to a parking area, as I was fairly sure we were on a derestricted section. However they were "Zoll" - Customs - apparently doing a random check. Apparently I should have had the car's V5, but they were kind enough to accept my excuse of fear of the car being stolen complete with all documents to export it and were satisfied with me showing them an image of the V5 on my phone. Something to remember for future trips.
Disembarking in the morning from the 'wide and low' deck of the ferry, we'd been joined by a number of other interesting cars presumably doing some kind of "tour" (not "rally", officer!) of the continent.
I've always enjoyed a road trip, and being lucky enough to have an interesting car really adds to the experience. The Mac attracts quite a bit of attention but it's all positive, it's always nice to put a smile on someone's face.
I guess it's the way of modern supercars, but I really appreciate how the 570GT has such a broad range of ability that it can be good on track, good on a B-road, and also comfortable enough and capacious enough that we'd choose to do a 2,500 mile road trip. It means it makes sense as half of our two-car garage, rather than only being one for collectors with double-digits of alternative cars at their disposal.
Just_read_the _instructions said:
How did you find the ferry crossing? im always a bit nervous of the on off ramps, so prefer the Tunnel for any jaunts to Europe.
Fortunately the ferry people (at least Stena on the North Sea crossing) direct cars like this to a separate deck of the ship which doesn't have any steep ramps to access, so it's pretty much a non-issue. (Also why I ended up parked with the FF and Huracan on the homeward voyage).In fact we generally encounter significantly worse ramps in the city centre multi-storey car parks we end up using, but fortunately with the nose lift up even these are manageable.
But I think even without the lift, the ferry would be fine.
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