[Copywriter]
In November of 2018, McLaren Automotive invited me to attend their Pure McLaren program at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas. After spending the day driving the McLaren 720S, I filed the following story.
Before Bruce McLaren’s untimely death in 1970, he was working on what should have been the beginning of McLaren Automotive. The McLaren M6GT, registration plate number OBH 500H, that Bruce himself drove to and from work on public roads was to be the first of 250 built in order to satisfy the World Championship for Makes homologation requirements. Intended to be a Group 4 GT derivative of the M6A, the M6GT was powered by a Bartz-tuned Chevrolet V8 engine, and featured a low, sleek design with performance that would have enshrined it among supercar legends.
The project was shelved after Bruce’s passing, and the world would wait almost 25 years for the first McLaren-badged road car to go on sale in the form of the Gordon Murray-designed McLaren F1. Sixty-four cars emerged from the factory in Woking, England ready for road use while another 28 left in various race-ready trims, plus seven more manufactured as prototypes for a total production of 106. Strictly speaking, those car were produced under the “McLaren Cars” nameplate.
McLaren Automotive, as we know it now, began in 2010 with the release of the McLaren 12C a year later. Today, the company produces some 5000 cars per year divided into three categories of Sport Series, Super Series and Ultimate Series. Approximately one-third of all McLarens made are sold in the United States.
“I hope there’s never such a thing as a McLaren barn-find,” said McLaren Automotive CEO, Mike Flewitt at a recent Pure McLaren program held at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA). “If there were, that would mean someone owned a car never to be driven, and that would break my heart. We don’t develop all of this technology, and put all this effort into building these cars so that they can sit in a garage.”
And that’s exactly why I came to COTA: To drive the Super Series flagship McLaren 720S flat-out on America’s only active grand-prix circuit. The Pure McLaren program is targeted at current and prospective owners, but is also open to aspiring McLaren owners and day-dreamers with a bit of cash to blow on an experience not soon forgotten.