Kevin Magnussen

Name: Kevin Magnussen
Uploaded: 2014-11-07
Description: Kevin Magnussen

7 Nov 2014

Kevin Magnussen gives it MAX throttle in Roskilde!

Every once in a while something truly special happens, where everything comes together perfectly. In this case it was 1 McLaren Formula 1 driver named Kevin Magnussen, 1 McLaren 650S and 1 high speed city track in Roskilde.

The man behind the big event is former racing driver Thorkild Thyrring. He's really good at attracting a bunch of exciting supercars to this fantastic event, held every other year. So hopefully it'll be held again in 2016.

The name of the charity event is Racing Festival, which describes pretty well what it's all about: a weekend full of gorgeous cars and loads of co-driver rides.
The 2 day charity event supports the Danish Red Cross.

As a fan of Formula 1 and of Danish driver Kevin Magnussen, I obviously couldn't ignore the chance to get a co-driver ride with him. Having watched him race around various international Formula 1 tracks on the TV screen, it was special to see him race around on Danish soil in a crisp orange McLaren 650S.

The car, a McLaren 650S (S = spider, meaning it's a convertible version), has a full 650 hp.
It can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in just 3 seconds and from 0-200 km/h in just 8.6 seconds!
It has a top speed of 329 km/h.

But what happens when you put one of Denmark's best racing drivers behind the wheel of such a wild supercar?
The answer is very simple. It goes fast, REALLY fast!

Since it's not every day you get the chance to have a fast ride with a Formula 1 driver, there was nothing to do but book a ride as quickly as possible! So I buy a co-driver ride for the Sunday.

I show my purchased ticket to a marshal and then walk into what I've chosen to call the "preparation area".

In the preparation area you have to sign a paper stating it's at your own risk and that you can't sue them afterwards and so on.
This is, by the way, completely normal at events like this. The drivers and helpers will luckily always do their best to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible.
Once the paper is signed, you then have to find the right helmet.

When I got to the preparation area, the very first thing I did was start up my Endomondo app. I was very curious whether it might happen to pick up the top speed. I started it and put it in my pocket.
After that I signed the paper and put on the right helmet.

Then I walked forward a bit to a waiting point.
Wearing a helmet, it can be hard to find your way around. To make sure there aren't a bunch of confused people wandering around the pit area, you're assigned a helper who leads you to and from the cars.

I'm "picked up" and led to my waiting spot by the car. Along the way I pass a bunch of exciting cars, including a Nissan GTR and a Corvette Z06.

There's an announcer keeping the atmosphere going, encouraging the crowd to buy co-driver rides so they can raise as much money as possible for the Danish Red Cross.

The announcer reports that Nicolas Kiesa has reached a top speed of 277 km/h in his Lamborghini Huracán.

So, now it's happening! A McLaren 650S with McLaren Formula 1 driver Kevin Magnussen comes rolling around the corner. The butterflies really start flying around in my stomach.

The door opens by rising sideways into the air. A gorgeous detail.

I get into the car. I'm tall and slim, and even so I feel like I can only just barely fit in the bucket seat. I get strapped in.
The combination of the tight seat and the harness makes me feel safe in a comfortable way.

I look around the alcantara-trimmed cabin. It's super gorgeous. This is the first time I've sat in a McLaren. It's also, of course, the first time I've sat in a car where the driver is a genuine Formula 1 driver.

The door closes and we roll slowly out of the pit. Kevin Magnussen tells me to hold on extra tight to the video camera (he obviously knows what's waiting for me in a few seconds...).

Kevin Magnussen stops at the exit. He wants the car in front of us to get a good head start, since we're in one of the fastest cars of the day.

Then it happens. The throttle is floored, the car spins its wheels and the rear end shifts slightly sideways as we move forward.
Slowly it starts to dawn on me that this is going to be a unique and wild ride.

All the wheels grip the tarmac properly again, and now the speed builds at a rate that would make planes look slow just before they lift off the ground.

Luckily we stay on the ground as the speed keeps constantly increasing. Among other things, we drive through a narrow section that would make most people close their eyes in fear. But there's no time for that, as the car just keeps accelerating and accelerating.

We approach a 90 degree right turn and brake hard. From high speed to low speed in just a few metres. An impressive machine!
After a 180 degree left turn at the fuel area shortly after, and then a 90 degree right turn, we continue with wild acceleration up towards the roundabout.

Instead of a normal 180 degree turn, they've turned a roundabout into part of the track in Roskilde. This gives the drivers who master it the chance to drift.

Kevin Magnussen proves he has 110% control over this McLaren 650S. He's not just fast, he also drifts through the corner, to my great surprise. This 22 year old kid is insane!

After the roundabout we head out onto a back straight with two gentle bends that lead all the way down to the pit area, where you can either pit or continue around the track.

If a speed record is going to happen, it's now!
I don't have time to look at the speedometer, but it's fast, really fast!

We approach the pit area. Since this is the first of two laps, we make a 180 degree left turn.

We quickly catch up to a Toyota GT86, which unfortunately ends up looking a bit slow when you're sitting in this speed rocket!
We overtake the Toyota and continue at high speed again.

Kevin Magnussen naturally drifts again in the roundabout, which is super fun, and then it's full speed down the long back straight again.

We're not just approaching the pit, we're also catching up to the car we gave a huge head start to before heading out onto the track.

We drive into the pit, where the car comes to a stop. I say thanks for the ride and get out, the next person gets in, and Kevin Magnussen heads back out onto the track.

Kevin Magnussen drove almost non-stop throughout the weekend and was clearly the big star of the event.

I'm left standing in the pit area, where I put down my helmet and then stop the Endomondo app.

Normally it takes a few minutes to calculate the data in the app. But Kevin Magnussen didn't just give me a wild ride, he also pushed the Endomondo app to its absolute limit. Even after several hours, it still hadn't finished calculating.
I'd started to lose hope of ever seeing the top speed. But then suddenly, late in the evening, it finally finished with the result!

The car I rode in, a McLaren 650S, has a top speed of 329 km/h. On this closed track, and with Kevin Magnussen behind the wheel, we reached a full 295.2 km/h!!

The ride in numbers

Detail	Information
Car	McLaren 650S, spider version
Output	650 hp
0-100 km/h	3 seconds
0-200 km/h	8.6 seconds
Top speed	329 km/h
Speed measured on track	295.2 km/h
Nicolas Kiesa, Lamborghini Huracán	277 km/h
Speed limit on a normal weekday	60 km/h

On a normal weekday, the speed limit is 60 km/h...

You can watch my ride here: