A Supercar Gathering Full of Mad Dogs and Englishmen

April 22, 2015
Story By
Paul Woodman

drivingline mclaren p1 in the rain lovecars

Holding a supercar gathering in the UK has its pros and cons. A major pro is the abundance of incredible cars and the willingness of their owners to get out and show them off to humble folk like you and I. One of the biggest cons is the distinct lack of any chance on our almighty planet of ever planning for a day without rain. It really doesn’t matter if you plan a day in the middle of winter or the height of summer for an outdoor event… irrespective of any statistics and long-term forecasts, it’s as likely to rain on any given day of the year.

drivingline runway white porsche 918 spyder lovecars

This was the scene at Bruntingthorpe, England — where the great British weather again tried it’s utmost to rain on a major parade. However, in true British stiff-upper-lip-style, a ‘flotilla’ of around 200 supercars turned up to give the “V” sign in some fashion to the nasty weather gods. The annual Supercar Driver gathering was epic ("epic" is a description I wouldn’t normally use, but please read on and then tell me in the comments how else you could describe such an assembly of cars) and all with the modus operandi of raising plenty of money for charity.

drivingline inside the hangers xj220 lamborghini lovecars

Think of any car and it was probably there - which, under the circumstance of the rain that was coming in sideways, is some accomplishment to the organizers at Supercar Driver. The drivers met in a huge aircraft hanger before the main photo shoot on the runway. It was exciting hearing the tales of different drives to the location from various corners of the UK, with the main topic of conversation being ‘aquaplaning’.

drivingline panoroma of the scd bruntingthorpe day lovecars Panorama

The rain didn't let off much when the cars headed out to the runway. The front row of the grid was like a who’s who at Villa d’Este or Pebble. Definitely not what you may normally associate with an old runway in central England.

drivingline koenigsegg bugatti ferrari lovecars

In the middle of the first row line up was one of my personal favorite cars, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport WRE. This car, a pinnacle of engineering excellence, is in my top five cars of all time and, for me, it fittingly took pride of place. Also on the front row was a trio of cars that the UK press has dubbed “The Holy Trinity”. These cars are a Porsche 918, McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari, all of which are owned by one couple. Take a closer look at these going head-to-head at Silverstone in my previous article.

drivingline french blue pagani zonda s roadster in the rain lovecars

On the flanks was a Zonda C12S Roadster in beautiful French Blue, a pair of Jaguar XJ220’s, Ferrari F40, a Mercedes 300SL AMG, Lamborghini Miura, a duo of Koeinsegg’s. Oh, and a couple of jets thrown in for good measure. Did I mention this was just the front row?!?

drivingline koenigseggs lamborghini mclaren the rain lovecars

Looking towards these cars through heavy rain and misted up windows from row two and behind were some more absolute crackers, including a SLR Mercedes, McLaren 650S, more Koenigsegg’s and a plethora of 458s and Aventadors. The big-balls-award-of-the-day medal went to the idiots extremely brave guys who turned up in BAC Mono's. For those of you that don’t know what this car is, it’s basically a motorbike with 4 wheels, though I’m sure a motorbike would keep you drier than being in this thing.

drivingline red 458 speciale in the rain lovecars

In total, there was around $35 million worth of supercars on one very wet and windy runway — give or take a few million dollars, which it seemed many of the event’s attendees certainly had. So, I refer back to my earlier description — and I hope you agree that getting this amount of incredible cars in one place is nothing short of impressive — though doing it in the worst the British weather can throw at you is truly “epic” indeed. Big thanks to Adam Thorby, the brains behind the event and founder of Supercar Driver for the fantastic support. Follow along with me on further adventures at @pww.

A Supercar Gathering Full of Mad Dogs and Englishmen

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