Have supercars become too powerful, with too much technology to be fun?

I’m sure it won’t have escaped your notice that the first press comparison tests of the new McLaren MP4-12C were released this month, and for McLaren, to quote a phrase often used by a short Top Gear presenter, “it’s not gone well”.

Whilst in raw numbers the McLaren looks to have the opposition licked, the magazine and television reviews have pointed to a lack of character and perhaps more worryingly, some surprising handling issues which have resulted in the McLaren being unable to match its arch-rival, the Ferrari 458 Italia, in both lap times and ultimate victory in the various comparison tests.

It’s the lack of character that has intrigued me the most, because it's actually something I find a lot of modern supercars suffer from when compared to the older classics.

The McLaren MP4-12C packs a whopping 592bhp and will get to 60mph in as near as makes no difference, 3.0 secs. It will then carry on all the way to a top speed of 205mph. Impressive figures, no doubt, and as my colleague Martin Spain recently tweeted it’s impossible for a sportscar with more than 500bhp to not generate any emotion.

Martin is right, but the trouble is those emotions are only really generated when said supercar is travelling at speeds far beyond what is legal on most roads. I’ve spent some time in a number of modern Ferraris (notably the 599) and at legal speeds they can feel, well, a bit dull. The engine is barely ticking over at 70mph, and you can never have you foot flat to the floor on the throttle for more than a second before you’re breaking the speed limit in virtually any gear.

Sure, the handling is superb and the steering feels great (or not in the case of the McLaren, if the reports are to be believed),  but that can be said about many far less powerful cars, so why the need for all that grunt? How many drivers of these cars intentionally try and get the back end out on a tight corner? Of those few that do, I suspect many end up in a tangled mess of expensive alloys and carbon fibre, as the driver’s talent is generally not equal to the abilities of the car. 600bhp is an awful lot of power to tame when you consider that it only requires a basic drivers license to get behind the wheel. Even those that do have the talent might baulk at the tyre bill they face after a couple of no doubt spectacular drifts.

To counter this, the supercar makers have turned to technology in a bid to make their cars easier (and safer) to drive. The McLaren boasts a sophisticated traction control (which I understand is extremely difficult to disable) and that most controversial of modern motoring devices, a paddle shift gearbox (a double clutch unit in this case).

I wrote recently (and incurred some flak for the comment) that the paddle shift offers the best all-round solution for modern motoring. I stand by that comment for the sort of car that is driven every day and the owner wants an occasional fun drive at the weekend. However, the McLaren, a car that realistically will set you back the thick end of £200,000, is unlikely to be driven every day, no matter what Ron Dennis says. In reality, the owners are likely to have a collection of cars and something along the lines of a Range Rover or Mecedes CLS as the weapon of choice for the daily grind to and from the boardroom (or football practice ground). When the McLaren is rolled out of the garage for that Sunday drive, the owner needs to feel something different to their executive express, and a decent manual gearbox is surely the way to go for this.

One of the most challenging and satisfying aspects of driving my Daytona is managing the gearbox. It’s a recalcitrant device which requires careful warming up before proper use. Even when it is warm it's very easy to misjudge a shift ever so slightly, which results in an unpleasant crunch as the gears go in. When you get the shift right, though, it's a hugely satisfying feeling as the gear slots home like a precision tool. Sure, the high-revving McLaren probably needs a paddle shift and associated electronics to ensure the driver doesn’t accidentally miss a shift and buzz the engine, but a paddle will never be as satisfying as a lever and a clutch pedal.

So, the McLaren might lack excitement when driven (legally) on the road, but what about trackdays? Now I will admit, I’m not quite the trackday enthusiast that some of my Drive Cult colleagues are, but I have done a couple and they are great fun. The trouble is, that pesky money issue crops up again. There are any number of trackday-optimised cars on the market that could be purchased for considerably less than the MP4-12C and would give the owner far more satisfaction blasting round Oulton Park or a certain large circuit in Germany. They would also cost rather less to repair should the driver run out of talent and have an 'off'. Also (and I’m not sure if this is an issue for the McLaren) many supercars can’t actually get out on track anyway, since those expensive and wonderful exhaust sounds are often loud enough to breach the noise regulations at many circuits.

I know I’m sounding rather negative on the McLaren and it’s rivals, and I don't mean to be overly harsh. I appreciate that the technical achievements and technology that makes these high-powered cars safe to drive for mere mortals will ultimately filter down to more mainstream cars. I’m also pretty sure that the big power and performance numbers allow the owners to impress their mates on the trading floor or practice ground, and are therefore needed to actually sell the cars, which at the end of the day is what the manufacturer is ultimately interested in.

For me, though, I’m just not sure that the proliferation of horsepower and technology in the supercar sector is leading to any gains in driver satisfaction. It's interesting that the legendary Sir Stirling Moss describes the Ferrari 250SWB as the best road car he has even driven. That is a car that at best has half the horsepower of the McLaren, leaf spring rear suspension and absolutely no driver aids, but as a road car it will surely give more smiles per mile than the McLaren MP4-12C and Ferrari 458 put together.

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