Guilty Pleasures: Pink McLaren 570S Obliterated in London
There are swaths of London that are famous for drawing in the most ostentatious supercars in existence, often with one of them pin-balling itself down a row of parked cars in a high-end neighborhood. This is especially true in the summer months, when foreign business magnates seeking milder climates unleash their children onto the city. Someone even produced a documentary about it a few years back — Millionaire Boy Racers — that pitted stodgy Londoners with furrowed brows against young hooligans in six-figure cars.
The real gift arising from the situation is the large number of non-serious crashes involving those ultra-premium rides that the drivers did nothing to achieve. For example, just last week a pink McLaren 570S managed to demolish itself in a 20-mph zone near Montagu Mansions. While we cannot say it was another millionaire boy racer, the fuchsia paint scheme would certainly suggest so.
According to London Fire Brigade Borough Commander Simon Tuhill, the incident was just the latest in the typical summer rush of crashes. It wasn’t more than a few months ago when a Ferrari 488 Pista slammed into a city bus in Central London, allegedly piloted by a rapper named Swarmz (some reports suggest he was the passenger and had actually rented the vehicle). However, our favorite clip occurred a year earlier when a Lamborghini Huracan Performante decided it needed some face time with the nearest wall.
To be fair, most major cities have their own online supercar crash compilations, but the United Kingdom (and especially London) seems to have more than its fair share — often occurring in areas with extremely low speed limits. That makes this guilty pleasure a little more guilt-free as the accidents rarely leave anyone seriously hurt.
While Tuhill shared images of the most recent crash involving the pink 570S, he did note that it was fairly rare to see the model turned into scrap. “We go to many incidents involving crashed vehicles but not that many where one of those vehicles is a McLaren 520 [sic] he wrote in a social media post. “Crews from attended this RTC on Montagu Mansions last week to make the scene safe after a driver lost control.”
Details are rather limited, but it seems the car lost control while exceeding the 20 mph speed limit, smacking into a Volkswagen Golf that lost its hubcaps. Considering the car can reach over 60 mph in under 3 seconds, it’s not difficult to imagine how this happened. Cold tires, a little inexperience, and a heavy right foot would be about all it would take.
If you need a distraction from the drudgery of the political news cycle, pecking around online for supercar crash compilations is a fine option. There’s no shortage of content — and we’re probably no more than a couple weeks away from another addition.
[Image: Simon Tuhill/ Twitter]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Richard Rawlings should buy it, fix it, and make it better.
As expensive as it is, this thing will be rebuilt.