When you're told to meet at a former RAF base for something called the 'Secret Supercar Meet 2018' you know you're going to have an interesting morning. And last weekend we were lucky enough to experience just that, as we attended Supercar Driver's annual 'mega meet' hosted on the runway at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome.
We were promised that this would be the biggest event yet, and it did not disappoint. The premise being that members from across the country would congregate on the runway for probably one of the largest and most expensive automotive photoshoots ever, complete with an RAF TriStar as the backdrop. We attended merely as observers (our Peugeot 2008 hire car didn't make the cut for some reason), meaning when we arrived we were ushered past the cars queuing to get into position for the shot. What a sight that was, trying to keep our eyes on the road as we drove past one of the most remarkable traffic jams on the planet proving very difficult indeed.
Everywhere you looked there was something special. Ferrari Daytona, GT3 RS, McLaren 720S, 675LT, Lamborghini Aventadors, F40s... and that was just the queue to get in! To get to the photo location we had to drive along one of the airfield's taxiways, quite daunting whilst trying to keep pace with the supercars and hypercars that were making the same journey. Even more so when I looked in my rear-view mirror and glimpsed an Aston Martin Vulcan track car, one of only 24 ever made, charging after us down the tarmac. The sound of it alone enough to intimidate me out of the way.
Many many minutes later, the cars were all in position. Three hundred cars in the shot, 14 rows deep, and not a single row or column you could pick out as being where they dumped the 'boring stuff' that showed up. So, what were the highlights? It's hard to know where to begin really, so I'll just talk you through them as they are ordered in the enormous group shot in front of the plane (you can't miss it).
A Bugatti Veyron, one of two that attended, the other left before the shot was taken. A Koenigsegg Agera R in green, mirrored nicely by a white Agera R at the other end of the same row. A Ferrari F50 and Ferrari Enzo, looking positively pedestrian next to one of the only road legal Ferrari FXX race cars in the world! Next to the FXX was the aforementioned Vulcan, then an Aston Martin One-77, Pagani Zonda F, the Agera R and another F50 for good measure. That was just the front row!
Moving back there were three Eagle E Types, a Murcielago LP650, Porsche 918, and even a Bowler Defender, as well as countless 488s, Aventadors, 911s and so on. The most striking car of all though? That has to have been the Farboud GT, a car I'd never seen it in the flesh before. When all was said and done, the event raised £22,000 for the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice and set the benchmark for an amazing year of Supercar Driver organised events and gatherings to come!
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