MOTORING
Philip Hankinson
From: Guisborough
Job: CEO of Acquiro Digital
PICTURES: DOUG MOODY
My current car: I currently own a McLaren 12c, Range
Rover Vogue, Range Rover Autobiography and a BMW
3 Series. I bought the 2012-registered McLaren early in
2018 from my good friend Chris Andrews of Acklam Car
Centre. White and black carbon fibre, I bought the car
due to it being McLaren’s first road car since the legendary
F1. Its performance is simply outstanding, with the early
models still competing against or beating newer generation
Lamborghinis and Ferraris. The 12C pioneered the use
of carbon fibre in road cars, with the entire chassis made
from a solid carbon fibre composite tub. The dihedral doors
also give the car a certain wow factor - at least once you’ve
mastered the tricky touch-heat sensor opening mechanism!
Best feature: That has got to be the mid-mounted carbon
fibre covered 3.8 litre twin turbocharged V8 engine. 0-60
times for this model have been recorded as low as 2.9
seconds on track.
Best drive-time music: Mood dependent, it can be anything
from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, the Eagles and Bob Marley
or even a bit of early 2000s trance!
Best place to drive: Any empty winding country roads, with
the Lakes and North York Moors being favourites.
My favourite car when I was young: Jaguar XJ220. When I
was ten, that was my fantasy car. Well, that and the McLaren
F1, which came out when I was six or seven, which remains
one of the fastest production cars ever to grace the planet.
My parents’ cars: We didn't have much money when
growing up on a Guisborough council estate, so they’d spend
a few hundred quid on a rust bucket - typically Mondeos
or a Mazda 323F. Sometimes we didn’t have a car at all.
Nowadays, I’m lucky enough to be able to buy my mam a car
every couple of years.
My first car: A battered Vauxhall Astra. It was black with
wheels painted black because they had been curbed so many
times. It also had blacked-out windows, so I thought I was
an absolute boss! I think it eventually gave up on me.
My worst car: A used
Lexus 220d, which suffered
catastrophic engine failure. I
paid about 11 grand for it and
I couldn’t believe it was mine.
I was on the way to a meeting
when the engine blew up on
me. But Lexus’ service is just
the best, so they not only
fixed it but bought it off me.
My other car: A Range Rover
Autobiography and BMW
3 Series. My cars are colour
co-ordinated, all white. I had
the white McLaren first, then
came the Range Rover, which I think was a Boro player’s
before me, then when I went for a run-around BMW it had
to be white too.
My last car: A Bentley Continental GT Supersport. That was
an absolute weapon. A W12 six-litre 700bhp monster that
did 0-60 in about 3.7 seconds. It was absolutely mental! I
swapped it for the McLaren – MMcG and I partially regret
it as I could fit my kids in the Bentley, while it also looked
respectable.
My dream car: That’s got to be either a Bugatti Veyron but
probably a McLaren P1. They are about £2.1m so I’ll always
have better things to spend my money on.
Maddest place ever driven: Milan in Italy. The drivers there
do literally whatever they like – they drive the wrong way
around or even reverse around roundabouts, or stop in
the middle of dual carriageways, while I remember a horse
coming towards me on a road leading to Lake Como.
The car journey I will always remember: Driving from
Guisborough to the south of France over the Alps in a
Ferrari F430 on a route to Monaco. The roads on the Col de
Galibier are just beautiful – mountainous alpine roads on
the cliff edge, so a driver’s dream.
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