A night with the McLaren SLR Roadster

Sexy, luscious, brutal, provoking, adrenalinerush are all words that jump at me when only thinking about this car. But also words like aggressive, vicious, fierce, rapid, breathtaking come to my mind. Tough, once in the driver’s seat all those thoughts became a blur and the only thing still in my mind is “ready, set, pin it.” But one after the other: First I had to get into the driver’s seat, which if you know how isn’t too difficult. I just had to figure out how the doors open without getting blue thumbs and ripping my new jeans. That, was almost like a welcome message from her, letting you know you can’t just jump in and throw her around like you want to.

After working as an eye catcher at the yearly Gold Cup Polo Game in Sotogrande I got the opportunity of bringing the McLaren SLR Roadster back to the Fischer 2 Selected Cars Showroom in San Pedro. I’ve been waiting for this chance and I knew, once it comes along, I will have to grab it tight, enjoy every bit of it and hope it lasts forever. Of course, I didn’t really grab this black bullet of speed tight, it was more like holding the reins of a black stallion with the right amount of control and freedom. The SLR is the kind of super-sportscar that will win a drag racing while looking and sounding perfect: glued to the asphalt and every note of the V8 perfectly pitched. Yes, I enjoyed myself and the car, but unfortunately the drive up the coast of the Spanish Costa del Sol didn’t last forever.

Sure the car weights with its 1750kg much more than a Roadster should, the interieur doesn’t mirror a half a million worth car, it’s steering is heavy and hard, but driving onto the highway only two things whisper through the cockpit: 3,6 seconds from zero to 60mph and from zero to 124mph in 10.9 seconds. And it got even better as we reached the tunnels. While listening to the thundering soundtrack of its 5.5 litre supercharged V8, a sound double so beautiful when driving through a tunnel with the top down, it was time to test the top speed of 206mph. Which could probably cost me more than a full gas tank, if caught on the Spanish roads. In other words: it would blow my racer-budget by a few pennies. Reason enough to wait for my chance to take this car to the track.

I’ll admit, I took a small detour to fully enjoy the 626 HP and take the car through a short city cruise. It’s true that every city looks two times better through the windows of a SLR and although I never left SportMode, you can also cruise with this car – just keep the two meter wide body in mind when trying to find a parking spot in the middle of the city. I got to the Showroom late and the other super sportscars there were already sound asleep. However it wasn’t really the late hour but the comfortable cockpit that made me want to fall asleep right there and then in the car, my favorite car.

Impressions of my next morning with the McLaren SLR Roadster and the brand new Power Pirate music-CD:

Tags: Fischer2 Selected Cars, McLaren SLR Roadster