Thursday, October 26, 2006

Roadtripping in a McLaren F1



So, what do you do with your $1.2 million McLaren F1 supercar? Keep it clean in the garage? Take it to the track? How about a 1000-mile roadtrip riddled with real world obstacles such as potholes, adverse weather, and construction zones? That's exactly what Miles Collier and his wife did through Montana, after just spending $300,000 to bring the car back to its brand new luster. A roadtrip in an F1 is not for the faint of heart.

Collier, an avid car collector, tells a particular experience with what he calls the "mother of all construction zones" during his trip. The McLaren already has a five-inch ground clearance which can make any driveway, railroad track crossing, or any other minor change in pavement level a nerve-racking affair. Navigating two lanes of gravel, Collier followed a road grader and roller to make it through the construction, a pace that was so slow it couldn't even be done in first gear at idle. It takes a very special automotive enthusiast not to lose their mind when a small rock, throw up by a piece of road construction machinery chips a $70,000 paint job or $30,000 windshield. No matter what the price, cars were meant to be driven and Collier doesn't let the possibility of this being the world's most expensive roadtrip scare him, even if he's driving one of the world's most expensive cars.

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