Ben Collins Stunt Driver Page #2

---

and I'll give it that.

But I don't think

I'll get many points for that

when I'm under attack from live rounds,

from whatever it is that

Barry's got in store for me.

And as much as I love this track

and these machines,

my search is going to

have to Cary on elsewhere,

because I think that when

it really comes down to it,

these old boys are going to let me down.

You have one new message.

Ben, don't think I'm not

monitoring your every move.

I told you, no old cars.

Stop disobeying orders

and carry out the mission.

Otherwise, I will be forced

to take extreme measures.

Now, as much as

I love old school American muscle cars,

those ones just threw up far

more questions than answers.

They are totally impractical,

fragile even by modern standards.

But, what I do still need is something

with the NASCAR top speed

that corners like it's on rails.

In short, what I think

I need is a supercar.

And there's none more capable

or more loaded with technology

than the one I'm driving next.

Welcome to the future.

This is the 650S,

the latest creation from McLaren

and a quantum leap

in terms of car design.

Every inch of this technical marvel

has been engineered

to make it go faster than its rivals.

From the integrated

front splitter that creates downforce,

to these unique door blades that help

generate incredible grip and balance.

And then, there's the engine,

a twin-turbo V8 warp drive

that propels the 650S to

a top speed of 207 miles per hour.

Now, that really is

flying machine speed.

Now, I'm fortunate enough to have driven

well, nearly every

supercar in the modern era,

from Bugatti to Ferrari, Aston Martin

to Lamborghini, all of them.

And they all have one thing

very much in common,

which is that they're

different to this McLaren,

because this car is truly unique,

in that it has liquid suspension,

and I'm not joking.

It's got hydraulic fluid that rushes

across the suspension very, very quickly,

and responds when you need to shore up

some support in a corner.

And it's absolutely incredible to drive,

because it's so responsive.

And if you're wondering where

this mythical technology comes from,

well, of course,

it comes from Formula 1.

McLaren have been involved

at the sharp end since the '60s,

and a lot of the active

technology on this car

was banned from Formula 1,

because it was an unfair advantage.

But all is fair in love, war,

supercars and stunt sequences.

So their loss is my gain.

And the other good thing about

Formula 1 technology is that it's tough.

This car is made from

a carbon fibre mono cell body

that sits around

the driver like a cocoon.

So it's fantastically

protective in a crash,

as well as giving you

the support in the corners.

Now, that should be good for taking

a bullet or five, if it comes to that.

With this kind of technology,

the 650S can accelerate to

60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds,

and come to a dead stop

in just under 29 meters.

Now, some of those figures

are a little bit hard to comprehend,

so what I need to do

is a practical experiment

to show you just

how mind-blowing the McLaren really is.

This is an Audi A4 S Line,

the kind of car that typically

flashes you to get out of the way

of the fast lane on a motorway.

It's a tidy little car.

What I'm gonna do

is accelerate from 0 to 60,

and back to 0 as fast as I can,

and I'll jump in the 650S

and we'll compare the difference.

So, into sport mode.

Off we go.

Here we go it's 40, 50...

And 60!

Ah, pretty good for German engineering.

Very impressive braking.

Now, it's time to hop in

the McLaren and see the difference.

Now, in the Audi, that launch

was similar to a sort of

fast getaway from the traffic lights.

But in the McLaren, when this launches,

its gonna be like a space shuttle.

Apollo 13. No, Interstellar

is a better example.

So, get it into D,

set the launch control on.

Okay, so it's ready.

All I have to do is floor it.

And the turbo spools up, it's ready,

and I just dump the brake and we're off!

Oh, the braking, blimey.

Literally, you're peeling

the back of your head off the chair,

and the next thing is you're trying to

keep your nose off the dashboard.

And the distance compared to the Audi,

this is half the space.

0 to 60, back to naught

in hardly any space at all.

The McLaren certainly

has the straight line speed

to escape an aerial threat.

But, does it have

the manoeuvrability I need as well?

A striking feature of this car

is the aerodynamics.

Of course, McLaren

calls it the Active Aero.

Get on the brakes,

it pops up like a barn door,

acting as an air brake and stabilising

the car with extra downforce

to push the rear into the deck

and give you maximum braking force.

It's like having an R2-D2 on your shoulder,

setting X Foils into attack position.

Really incredible.

And it gives you

the confidence to attack these corners.

At the heart of this ship

is an ultra lightweight V8 engine,

powered with two turbochargers.

You just hear those

spooling up behind you,

there's this beautiful whistling sound

when you lay down the power.

This car only takes 5.7 seconds

to reach 100 miles an hour.

It's ridiculously fast.

The supercars of yesteryear

took that long to get from 0 to 60.

That engine just keeps on pushing

this car all the way up to 207 miles an hour.

So I love it.

It seems to be almost unbreakable.

Of course the question is,

will it be good enough for Barry?

Well, stopping power is, well, unbelievable,

acceleration, yep, phenomenal.

Handling-wise,

it's totally out of this world.

I think the other thing to

think about is, uh, off road.

Hmm, that could be interesting.

Right, now, there's an off-road course

around here somewhere.

Here we go. Bit of a ski jump.

Let's give this a try.

Whoa, there's some nasty gravel.

Don't want to chip the paint

on this baby.

And I don't want

the dust going in the air intake either.

The ride height on the McLaren

is not exactly high.

There's a bit of a dip,

let's have a... Whoa!

Well, that's enough.

That's going to rip the splitter off.

Right, I can't get over that.

As painful as it is to admit,

the McLaren 650S may not be

the ideal tool for off-roading.

So, I think this is going to

have to come off the menu.

Sorry, baby,

let's get you back off here.

What an amazing car.

The McLaren is just

a feat of engineering and design.

It's as good as anything I've ever driven

in terms of balance and performance.

And if this chase sequence

was purely on the road,

with no evasive manoeuvres

or hand brake turns,

the 650S would be my choice.

But I think I need something

with just a bit more all-round capability.

In fact, I think if

I drove it up on to the set,

Barry would probably kill me,

and then he'd steal the keys.

The thing that is starting to nag me a bit,

though, is this aerial attack business.

I really haven't got a clue

what I'm up against or how to evade it.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes