Can I hand you this tiny violin? I feel like we should play a little number in sympathy for people who drive modern supercars on the road.
I know it’s an unusual minority group to garner support for, but they have it tougher than you think.
For one: there’s the lack of sympathy and understanding for them in the first place – the UK’s peculiar brand of envy politics sees to that. People’s first thoughts when they see a supercar are that it’s being driven by a footballer, banker, exploitative capitalist, someone with a rich dad, or a foreigner who doesn’t pay any taxes. Basically, then, drive a supercar and already not a lot of people are on your side.
And because they’ve been bold enough to drive a Lamborghini wrapped in silver, people are similarly unafraid to tell them what they think. Driving a supercar is like having YouTube comments piped direct into the cabin.
None of which matters, of course, because they’ve got the supercar, and those pointing and swearing haven’t, correct? Which means they’ve got the smugness of untold performance and motoring nirvana, anywhere, at any time.
Well, they haven’t. Driving a modern supercar on the road is a crushingly frustrating experience.
Take the acceleration. A supercar has got loads of it – just this week, we’ve timed a McLaren 720S to 60mph from rest in well under three seconds. But 60mph is, really, as fast as any of us can accelerate to on the road, even in the unlikely event that we find ourselves front-row centre at traffic lights in the right conditions.
I know the speed limit is 70mph on motorways and dual carriageways – which would allow another couple of tenths of accelerative wonder – but nobody can really go from 0-70mph anywhere, because we can’t stop on those kinds of road.
So, in truth, the most acceleration supercar owners will routinely feel is coming out of a roundabout. So about two seconds of it.
And they can’t really go faster than that. Sure, a supercar can reach 180mph in half a mile, and the temptation must be there, when the roads are quiet. But life with a supercar is never quiet. There is always, always, somebody watching, and usually holding a smartphone. It’s what it must be like to walk down a red carpet, or be an escaped red panda in a shopping centre: the centre of everyone’s focus.
Everybody in the world has a camera, everyone is a publisher. So supercar drivers can forget breaking the law, or even staying within it but trying to test the performance: pretty bold, given every indiscretion is just one upload and hashtag from being broadcast to the world.
So supercars have got to be driven slowly. And that’s even worse: they’re too wide, there’s naff-all ground clearance, their wheels are intensely kerbable, splitters are vulnerable and carbonfibre is brittle. Even on the relative safe space of a motorway, they’re circled by Nissans whose passengers – or, almost as likely, drivers – are pointing phones at them.
The above is, of course, fiction. Well, some of it is, anyway. Unfortunately, some of it isn’t. It’s no wonder most supercars cover hundreds, rather than thousands, of miles a year, and that there’s a market for discreet £250,000 4x4s.
Read more
McLaren 720S 2019 long-term review​
Confessions of a supercar hire manager
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It’s not inverted snobbery
It’s good old fashioned snobbery. Lots of supercars are bought by twats. Lots of people feel superior to twats. That’s snobbery. I don’t think it’s envy either. I’d far rather have people question why I drive a cheap car when I don’t need to than why I drive a car that cost as much as a house. I don’t look at someone driving a supercar and wish I was them. I look at them and feel grateful that I’ve got more taste and decency than they have. I think I am better than they are. Like I said, snobbery.
Supercar ownership
For the past three years I've worked in a supercar dealership (a specific brand that I cannot mention publicly).
In the course of my role I regularly drive these cars on public roads and on a daily basis I interact with our clients.
There's an interesting split. Some customers you can tell like the car because it's show-offish and they can one-up their other supercar-owning mates. And that's fine. Many however absolutely love driving, they love the thrill of the engine sound, the acceleration still gives me "the fizz" even if it's just booting it from 10-60mph. If you're on a twisting B-road and it's a quiet, sunny day - there's so much joy to be had enjoying the car, if you're driving it properly, even without exceeding the speed limit.
Personally when I drive the cars to events etc I enjoy people enjoying the car. I like the photographs and the joyous expressions on faces when I rev a V12 engine in traffic to delight the kids in the grey Honda next to me. It's not because I enjoy showing off, more I enjoy the happiness it brings to people simply being near these vehicles.
It's very much a multi-faceted experience, owning and driving a car like this. Plus, the joy of track days, grand tours around the UK and into Europe, and everything that comes with ownership (VIP access to Formula 1 races, Goodwood FoS, etc).
If you think hard, everybody owns something that's a bit ostentatious. Something they could do without. But if you can afford it - why not?
I hate people that judge others based on what they can or cannot afford to buy. For the most part it's pure envy and spite, which is a shame.
Simples
Simples
For egomaniacal cockroaches who like showing off their wealth to the merely adequate
End off.
In reverse.....
So, if you came into a few million quid you’d not consider buying the car you always wanted but couldn’t afford?, you may not, but don’t label someone in a Supercar as being not nice people.....
Just an arse...
Just an arse...
Supercar
buy a Peugeot rcz r a future classic and people will look at you and think wow a Peugeot ? 1.6 270bhp six years ago? Amazing still after ten years this style!