James reflects on a rare chance to join SCD members on a visit to Lanzante, specialists in the most exclusive McLaren road and racing cars in the world.
Since joining the team at Supercar Driver, I have developed a small list of venues to visit one day. Lanzante has always had a firm spot on that list, and thanks to Dean, Charlotte and their welcoming team, we were recently able to organise an open morning exclusively for 50 SCD members.
Naturally, myself and Aimee put ourselves forward for this one to save our Sheffield-based colleagues the trek down to Petersfield and it’s safe to say we were in for a treat. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we were greeted by two McLaren F1 GTRs in reception and were given a quick tour of the facility by Charlotte. The selection of cars and artefacts tucked away was truly mind-blowing — I counted six McLaren F1s in total along with a couple of very special P1 projects including the newly unveiled P1 Spider.
Joe from Road Race Rally was in attendance as he handed over a bespoke P1 HDK piece for Lanzante, and we had a great turnout from members too. The open day was in aid of FitzRoy, who help those with learning disabilities, autism and mental health problems, and four lucky winners received entry tickets to this year’s SCD Secret Meet! Huge thanks to the team for an incredible morning, hopefully we’ll be back again in 2024.
Photos courtesy of Wayne Goodman @lifeinthefastwayne