Steve Cropley
In awe of Britain’s specialist makes
TUESDAY
Fascinating afternoon with the car makers’ club, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), in central London, hearing from specialist manufacturers on their future prospects. ‘Specialist’ in this context means everyone making 10,000 cars a year or fewer, or everyone from Bentley down. You’ll find this vibrant business group’s stats elsewhere: 11,000 jobs, business worth £3.6 billion (up 50% since 2012), 32,000 car sales (expected to be up 60% by 2020).
Lots of car industry luminaries were on hand but the event was unique in featuring two Andy Palmers: one the vehicle line director of Mclaren’s forthcoming three-seat Ultimate Series hypercar, and one the president and CEO of Aston Martin. Each modestly described himself as “the other Andy Palmer”. What I most enjoyed was the calm and optimistic nature of the event – adroitly chaired by SMMT CEO Mike Hawes – and the unmistakable fellow feeling that exists among smaller car makers as they face future uncertainties. I departed feeling all was going to be okay, the perfect way to end a day.
WEDNESDAY
On the bus, of all things. I usually go by car, motorbike or walk. Anyway, I spent the minutes scanning the identities and times of the 20 fastest cars around our handling circuit (revealed at autocar.co.uk) to decide which would best suit my long commute and notoriously soft backside. There were two finalists: Ferrari F12 for its long nose and wonderful V12 and Mclaren 720S for everything else. When viewed against rivals, the ‘staple’ Mclaren seems such an obvious choice it’s no wonder the Woking factory is operating flat out.
THURSDAY
Chatted for ages today with a lifelong mate, whose conversations have been characterised for the past 15 years by a burning desire to own an Audi Quattro. This was a car his execu-dad used to bring home from work, and ended up driving into a tree because in those days the keen Quattro drivers were still learning that its capable fourwheel drive system couldn’t quite beat the laws of physics. My pal was driven into a frenzy in recent years by the TV series Ashes to Ashes, which featured the car of his dreams in glorious red.
Anyway, the favourable winds of business have shaken the money-tree for my friend, and he can now afford to buy a Quattro – and run it, which isn’t a trivial matter. Yet he’s hesitating. He’s got so used to the joy of the dream, he says, that he can hardly bear to wake up. Meanwhile, I see several prime examples in the Pistonheads classifieds at £20k or so. Get on with it, say I. It’s only money. But my friend’s delicious hesitation does make you wonder how many millions of us prefer the car dream to reality.
Strange how long you can take to understand who your true heroes are
SATURDAY
Strange how long you can take to understand who your true heroes are. This evening, I watched the film Mclaren, which I’d somehow missed when it was all the rage. What a fine production it is. I was riveted for an hour. Above all, it alerted me, as books on the man’s life have never quite done, to the exceptional qualities of Bruce Mclaren, with whom I grew up, as it were, and had always seen (call it Aussie xenophobia) as Jack Brabham’s wingman, winner of ‘only’ four grands prix. What came through was his unique balance of qualities – the ability to lead and inspire loyalty but also be one of the boys, to drive brilliantly but also plan for the future, to seek glory but also share it. And yet he died at just 32. It was an awesome reminder of how little some people need age to guide them.