McLaren MP4-12C vs Ferrari F40: Turbo vs. Sports Cars
It seems impossible, but Ferrari F40 with us for 25 years. This is a very long time for a car that can captivate you at first sight, today as it was then. When Andy Wallace parked it next to me, smiling from within the unmistakable red wedge, I gasp like when I first saw her at sixteen. It is still the fastest and most aggressive road in the world.
Moments later another arrives supercar with a middle engine. Super tech McLaren 12Calso moved V8 with a twin-turbo and Formula One pedigree, it looks like a cool antithesis to the brutal F1, but it's these differences - together with fundamental similarities - that make it the perfect contender in this showdown celebrating the 40th anniversary of the F25. And, ironically, they both share the same owner, the very generous Albert Vella.
You approach the F40 with a mixture of awe, apprehension and childish excitement. You think you know everything about her and her stratosphere, but every time you see her again, you discover new details and a spectacle that you never knew existed. As always with masterpieces, the more you look at it, the more amazing it looks.
Certain parts are real race car parts, such as aero discs with locking pins for the center nut. There Receptionist it opens with a sharp click and feels so light and fragile that it runs the risk of detaching from the hinges if you're not careful. The sill is wide and tall unlike any other road, with a step cut into the structure to allow you to board.
Il Seat Racing in red cloth is very comfortable, while the driver's position is a bit misaligned and odd. I'm not really a giant, but my head hits the roof and I'm too close to the windshield pillar. You should move the seat closer to steering wheel tends to make sure that you get to the controls after the seat belts are on, but above all that the left leg can reach Clutch.
She slides over small key At the ignition, you stop to look at the dashboard, strange but fantastic in that blue fabric, and listen to the gas pump singing behind you. You grab the chrome shift knob, shake it to make sure it's in neutral, and then press the rubberized ignition button. After a slight hum of the starter motor, the twin-turbo V8 wakes up with a bark before going to violent idle. The accelerator pedal is almost as stiff as the clutch pedal and requires some solution. At this point, all you have to do is wipe your sweaty hands on your jeans, press the clutch, insert the first one by moving the gear lever sideways and back, and then slowly release the clutch, trying to start smoothly.
The F40 requires a lot of concentration. IN steering, heavy at parking speed, in motion it's nimble and responsive, jerking and jerking over bumps and bumps that would go unnoticed in any car. It feels like you're sitting above the front end, this sensation reinforces the hyperactivity of the front end. When you take one hand off the wheel to change gear, the other instinctively clings to it with more force. This machine is a concentrate of nervous energy. It will obviously take some time to learn how to interpret the F40's messages and loosen your grip on the steering wheel without risking falling into the hedge, and even more time to gain the confidence to open the throttle and fire it up at a decent speed. .
At first nothing happens and engine becomes morose and panting when the 8 V2.9 heats up. Then two turbo IHI starts pushing and the F40 rushes forward. bus the rear, which can barely handle all that power without losing traction, while the front rises slightly. This is the moment when the F40 driving experience turns into a whirlwind of turbo madness, accentuated by the brutal and brutal sound of the engine as the speedometer needle makes the last 2.000 rpm in the blink of an eye. A moment later, you find yourself all sweaty and wide-eyed, while the senses slowly begin to pick up what's going on, with your right leg lifting slightly and a crazy and adrenaline smile imprinted on your face. At this point, you are probably laughing and almost certainly uttering a few dirty words as the F40 joins the chorus with bangs, mumbles, barks and flames from gutters... Great.
The biggest challenge, and also the biggest emotion, is trying to turn those hilariously fragmented and devilish shots into a more uniform experience, those punches that the F40 throws at your back as it takes you to the horizon.
When I tell Vella, he smiles: he knows very well what I'm talking about. “There's something special about feeling all this pull building up behind you, isn't there? And you like it better with Speed manual. I love that buzz you hear every time you upshift and the turbo kicks in, making it stronger and stronger. The problem is that there are not many roads on which you can hear this hum in the fourth, let alone the fifth! ".
He is right. Third, not only do you see a turn in front of you approaching at an unprecedented speed, but you also can't help but look in your rearview mirror, expecting to see a police car ready to take your license off. Turbo is like a drug: Once the cravings are over, you want to repeat the whole experience, and therefore, as soon as the opportunity arises, you succumb to the temptation to hit the accelerator. When it comes to pure acceleration, there is nothing better than the F40 at full throttle.
We never get tired of turbocharging, we know it. But the best part is discovering that if you don't hit the right pedal all the way, but stop a couple of inches early, the F40 also has a quiet side, which is a real surprise. Okay, we're talking about a relaxed race track ride without air conditioning and with controls that have real weight, mechanical and non-special electronics, but you can still move at a good pace without any unpleasant sensations. that at the first mistake you are pressed against the wall. It looks like a car that can be driven a long distance without any problems, as Vella confirms, showing that he has traveled to Monte Carlo, Rome and even Malaga and covered 17.000 km in six years.
I brakes they are not very powerful, but progressive. They don't look particularly cool if you hack them, at least compared to those found in today's cars, but they know exactly how to stop you. The five-speed manual transmission has a quality that only Ferraris of a certain era can afford: it is substantial, sensitive, decisive and a little difficult as soon as you take out the gear, but when you move the lever around the cage, it becomes more agile to tighten it again. when shifting to the next gear.
Despite the rage of the F40, when turbocharging comes into play, there is a trend towards a measured and focused driving style. When upshifting, the shifting must be precise and decisive to counteract the drop in engine speed - and the increase in turbo boost - when shifting to the next gear. However, when braking and downshifting, you have the opportunity to show off a bit of old-school driving style by adjusting the pressure on the center pedal and positioning your foot so that you can give a few throttle strokes. This is a challenge that forces you to fully focus on the car, its needs and reactions. From this point of view, driving the F40 at a good pace teaches that effort and determination pays off. With Ferrari, the more you give, the more you get.
From 12C, fewer delicacies are required and the pre-departure ritual is different. She, too, demands your full attention - and that phosphorescent orange coloration certainly helps - but she looks more sophisticated and less aggressive. Swipe your fingers across to process The sensor door rises forward in McLaren's signature dihedral style. Door sills included in monohull in carbon, it's taller than the Ferrari, but it's easier to get on board.
Compared to the F40's incredibly spartan interior, the 12C is much more conventional and logical. Ergonomically it is perfect. You can see that it is designed as a road car and not as a purely racing sports car. And while with the F40 it seems like Maranello forgot to equip the cockpit with human-essential elements, the 12C was designed with the driver in mind. You're sitting exactly behind the wheel, your feet perfectly aligned with the left and right pedals, which Wallace points out to me assumes McLaren wants you to brake with your left.
As is the case with most supercar modern, you spend the first few minutes trying to figure out where the starter is, how to find the gears, and how the different modes work. From this point of view, it seems that he is fiddling with a new smartphone instead of getting acquainted with a 600 hp supercar. and a speed of 330 km / h.
The engine starts smoothly and without a lot of fireworks, but if you give it a little gas, you can hear the turbo. Launching is child's play: simply pull your right paddle (or push your left paddle like Hamilton's) and gently step on the gas pedal. After a flurry of reviews from the F40, the 12C is pure serenity. IN steering it is clean and only conveys important information, it is not very lively, but not even inert, it isolates the bumps in the road without sacrificing the connection between you and the asphalt.
Featuring the most relaxed aerodynamics and drivetrain modes, the 12C is ultra-civilized, responsive and responsive like the BMW 5. But if you choose the more aggressive mode on ManettinoMcLaren pulls out his nails. There is a clear feeling that each command is being stretched to give a clearer execution. The steering becomes more responsive, suspensions they freeze, the engine runs harder and faster, and the transmission hits the switches like rifle shots.
At first, it's fun to stand behind the F40 and watch it devour the road as the tires desperately seek traction as the engine pumps all its power to the ground. Wallace then yells “enough!” and sighs. McLaren has to roll up its sleeves to keep Ferrari from firing it, but during a multi-kilometre layover, the 12C's comfort, speed and performance make even the great F40 look dated.
Is it exciting? Absolutely yes, when you find an empty stretch of road and manage to spin it the way it deserves. The difference is that where the F40 hugs you like a bear and kicks you in the back but lets you breathe between gears, the 12C has the persistence of a boa constrictor and is breathtaking. You can't believe the speed at which you can touch between two turns, and especially the speed inside the curves. It's like riding slicks and ailerons on a public road. The problem is that in order to achieve this result, you have to ask a lot. Not from the driving skills, because the 12C is very easy to handle at a decent speed, but from the desire to drive at crazy speeds, not just for a few tense moments. In my opinion, this is progress.
conclusion
Taken separately, both of these cars look like rock stars and have amazing performance. Together they are simply sensational. Of course, it would be fantastic to reveal them in the breathtaking scenery of the Alps or in another equally impressive place, but this is not necessary: they are so amazing that they make any stretch of asphalt magical, even any country lane.
What conclusion can we draw from spending a day with these two racing cars? First of all, there is no clearer demonstration of a huge breakthrough in technology - electronics, transmission, tires, brakes and chassis - than driving a McLaren on the same stretch of road that the F40 just passed. His competence and skills are amazing.
If this is the first lesson you'll learn from comparing the two, the second is that if you're driving an F40, you don't care about any of this. McLaren's pursuit of excellence has led to a car that drowns out even the worst bumps without being boring, but the emotion it evokes largely depends on your desire to drive it at prison speeds. It is not enough to open the throttle fully in gear: his manners remain too uniform, just as the driving conditions are too arbitrary to be an event in itself.
However, the technologically advanced MP4-12C has all the merits to be the absolute supercar of our time. It is therefore ironic that the F40 - raw, wild and uncompromising - is needed to remind us of what we sacrifice on the altar of skill and competence.
We leave the final word on what really sets these two racing cars apart to the person who owns them both. “I love them both,” says Albert, “but I know I will never part with the F40 and when I bought the MP4-12C I knew I would sell it when something better came along. Having said that, he doesn't seem so crazy about her, but I really like her. It just doesn't have the same meaning and meaning for me as the F40.
McLaren treated me very well and they do a great job of updating. I understand what they are trying to do like Home, and I know that something is brewing. 12C is incredible and this is just the beginning.
On the other hand, the F40 is completely different. The emotions I have while driving are the same as when I bought it in 2006 (and even just looking at it is exciting). I go for a walk on Sunday morning, and when I return, I am sweaty, agitated and in a state of fibrillation. It's an intense experience. Then I park it, watch the cars next to her and think that none of them can evoke in me the same emotions as hers. To be honest, I think nothing else in the world could do this! "
Well, there are two of us.
