Seared Into The Soul

First love never dies

Your first girlfriend or boyfriend, the band that wrote the soundtrack to your teenage years, the books and films that changed how you thought about the world, and, of course, the first car you lusted after: all these things, they stay with you forever.

Much of this is down to the power of neuroplasticity, apparently. Bear with me, and we’ll accelerate fast through – and skim very lightly over – the science. Our brains contain billions of neurons, the role of which is to process new information and experiences – and they do that much more effectively when we are younger.

It’s why things burn so deeply into our consciousness – some would even say our heart and soul – in our youth, and why those experiences stay with us pretty much forever. And it explains why hearing ‘that’ song again, or seeing ‘that’ car from way back in the day, makes your heart beat a little faster.

It also explains why almost nothing that happens to you in your later years has the same impact as those youthful events, experiences and cultural touchpoints. Almost nothing, yes, but not quite, as anyone who has attended the Supercar Diver (SCD) Secret Meet knows all too well.

It’s Silverstone 2025, and here we go again: again with the most incredible annual display of supercars and hypercars on the planet; again with a spectacle that will burn itself into your memory just as indelibly as the first time you saw a supercar on the road.

Not only is your mind blown, but your neck muscles also take a pummelling as you twist your head from side to side to identify each car as it surges past along Silverstone’s pit straight. Aston Martin Valhalla, McLaren P1, two McLaren Sennas, two Jaguar XJ220s, four Gordon Murray Automotive T.50s, a Posche 918 Spyder, a Lotus Evija, Rimac Nevera, LaFerrari Aperta, two Ferrari SF90 XXs, at least ten Ferrari F40s, just as many Bugatti Veryrons, Tuthill GT ONE, two Mercedes-AMG GT ONEs, Lexus LFA V10, Lanzante McLaren P1 GT, Koenigsegg Jesko Attack, Koenigsegg Agera RS, Pagani Zonda 760 Diamante Verde and Zonda R.

That A to Z is just a handful of the highlights of a parade that the SCD team in the commentary box valued at an estimated £250 million. Even the commentators, highly seasoned and expert though they are, seem at times almost lost for words as they struggle to describe the spectacle. Who could blame them?

Happily, we find ourselves in the company of a man who is never lost for words, a man who has provided the soundtrack to millions of people around the world. Global superstar DJ, car and bike motorsport sponsor and team owner, and, judging by the way he obliges a near-endless stream of requests for selfies and handshakes, all-round good bloke Carl Cox is absolutely in his element at the SCD Secret Meet.

“I’ve always been a lover of cars, performance cars, race cars,” he says. “You know, where we have come to now, where cars are at in terms of technology, performance, handling and style, is incredible.

“They almost don’t make sense, most of them, because they are pumping out 1,000 horsepower and more. They overrun any road. These cars really belong on the track, where an individual can get the best out of them when they drive them. But they’ve got a lot of road manners, too. You can actually tour with these cars and enjoy them on the open road. And obviously, once you get to Europe, it starts to make even more sense. I absolutely love it.”

For Carl, that passion was born – guess what? – at an early age. His first automotive love, back in the mid-’60s, was a Ford Lotus Cortina. “That was the halo car at the time,” he recalls, “but I didn’t have enough money to get one when I was growing up, so I had Anglias and Escorts. I’m still a Ford man through and through, but I really do love all cars.”

Naturally, there’s a Lotus Cortina in Carl’s extensive collection. And come this December, there’ll be another new arrival. “That!” says Carl with a grin, as he points at the TWR Supercat behind him.

The utterly reinvented and thoroughly reinvigorated Jaguar XJS looks and sounds like it has just driven off the cover of an AC/DC album, rather than anything from Carl’s extensive back catalogue, and it is having its first public track demonstration at Secret Meet.

Powered by a 660bhp 5.6-litre supercharged V12 and pumping its prodigious output through a six-speed manual gearbox, the Supercat makes the most outrageous noise as it hammers around the Silverstone circuit. At the wheel is John Kane, founder of TWR Performance, the company that builds the car, with Fergus Walkinshaw alongside. Fergus is the son of the late Tom Walkinshaw, who led – and drove in – the Tom Walkinshaw Racing Jaguar Sport team. Fittingly, a former works XJS race car that helped the TWR team win the 1984 European Touring Car Championship is also on track today.

As he fires up the Supercat ahead of another demo run, John assuages onlookers’ concern over the future direction the company might take: “This is definitely old-school, with a supercharged V12 and fire-breathing side exhausts. We won’t be doing an EV version any time soon!”

Another car making its public track demo at the event – and sharing the Supercat’s ‘Rude Boy’ approach to the driving experience – is the Naran Hyper Coupe. Limited to just 39 units and with a €2 million price tag, the two-plus-two carbonfibre-bodied coupe is powered by a front-mid-mounted 5.0-litre twin-turbo V8 that makes 1048bhp and 1036Nm.

Naram Automotive founder Ameerh Naran has dreamed of having his own high-performance car company since he was just four years old.

“The car is built to be like a GT hypercar for the road,” explains Naran Automotive marketing manager Harry Hugues. “Ameerh wants it to be a very analogue car; he wants it to fight you back and for it to feel like an achievement to drive it – and for you to be able to share that experience with three other people. The driving experience will be as raw as we can legally make it for the road.”

If you prefer your ultimate driving machine to deliver a much less brutal experience, then the beautifully designed, hauntingly evocative R33 by Pristine Panel Work (PPW) may be more up your ‘Strada’. According to David Hutchinson, the man whose brainchild it is, just 33 examples of this modern homage to the 1968 Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale will be built, each priced at £534,000.

“Alfa Romeo only built eleven Tipo 33 Stradales, along with seven rolling chassis that were sent to Italy’s best design houses – Bertone, Pininfarina, Carrozzeria Sargiotto, Franco Scaglione’s design agency and others,” explains David. “These chassis became the foundation for some of the era’s most striking concept cars. This car is a tribute to the Scaglione design, which many people considered then to be the most beautiful car in the world – and many still do.”

Hand-built in aluminium from the ground up, the R33 is powered by a Maserati V8 engine, which is beautifully displayed like a work of art under the rear glass area. Fed through a manual gearbox, the engine’s power has been dialled back to ‘just’ 386bhp: with the R33 tipping the scales at only 1,000kg, however, performance is more than ample.

“This car is totally analogue,” continues David. “It’s unashamedly old-fashioned; you have to really learn how to drive it, with no ABS and no traction control to help you. It’s engineered to deliver a completely joyful and pure driving experience, with just a few modern touches, such as air-con, to make it more comfortable.”

Yet another company is giving an incredible car its global public track debut: Ray Mallock Limited (RML) with the P39, which was unveiled just last year. “The car takes its name from our 39th vehicle programme and is based on a completely stripped-down Porsche 992.1 Turbo S,” reveals RML Group Agent, Simon Lane.

“We then upgrade the powertrain by fitting new intercoolers, new turbos, a new handfabricated exhaust system, new dump valves, and new ECU software. That takes power up from 641 to 920 horsepower, and increases torque from 800 to 1000 newton metres.”

The RML team also fit new in-house designed suspension and a hydraulic system to control the entire ride height of the car, front and rear. The vision is ‘to create a definitive interpretation of a Le Mans Hypercar-inspired GT—delivering an uncompromising fusion of all-round performance, refinement, and usability.’ And certainly, the RML P39 looked a highly effective weapon on the track in the hands of Tom Chilton and Ben Collins, with a few lucky customers enjoying passenger rides.

While the SCD Secret Meet continues to evolve each year, certain factors remain fixed, such as the enormously eclectic nature of the cars assembled. There is always something to suit all tastes, as the span from Aston Martin Valhalla to R33 demonstrates this year.

Darren Selig, JBR Capital Founder and chief executive, shares that sense of wonder: “Even though JBR Capital is a long-term partner of Supercar Driver, and even though I come to the Secret Meet every year, the event never ceases to amaze me. For what is essentially a club gathering, a community of like-minded enthusiasts coming together, the quality of the cars and the level of involvement it commands from the big manufacturers is amazing. You can see that with a global OEM such as Aston Martin choosing to give the Valhalla its public track debut here.

“At JBR Capital, we’ve got a packed calendar where we can meet our clients, but there’s no doubt this is the highlight of the year. We’ve 120 guests here today, and it’s great to catch-up with the ones I already know and put faces to the new names. We are also hosting the Market Place in association with SCD, where we’ve got a handpicked selection of supercars for sale from our selected dealer partners.

“And it’s not just about the big players, the brands with decades of history behind them. You have all the new, smaller manufacturers coming into the sector too, with innovative cars that show just how much passion and ingenuity is out there. I’m talking about limited models like the TWR Supercat, the Naran Hyper Coupe and the R33 Alfa Romeo Tip tribute, which is just gorgeous.

“There are so many new cars to see, but for me, one thing never changes: the Ferrari F40 still steals my heart and makes me feel young again – every single time.”

JBR Capital’s clients had a very good day too, with one guest, who preferred not to be named, telling us: “I’ve really enjoyed my visit and the time on track in my 911 Turbo. No other finance provider I have dealt with invites you to something like this and provides such great hospitality. And no event lets you get so close to the most incredible supercars and the people who make them and own them.

“I’m a Porsche man through and through, and I have always said I’ll stick with Stuttgart products for the rest of my driving days. But my goodness, the sight and sound of not just one but four GMA T.50s howling around Silverstone – that was just epic. Maybe one day I’ll be able to call Furkan at JBR Capital and ask him to arrange a finance package for a T.50. That would be my absolute dream.”

At the other end of the paddock, Hunter Allen had only minutes left to take delivery of his dream car. Having travelled all the way from Fort Worth, Texas, he was just about to slide behind the steering wheel of a beautiful, bespoke Porsche 911 (964) elevated to new heights of design, engineering and sheer driving pleasure by Oxfordshire-based specialists Theon Design.

Just before driving the car for the very first time, taking part in nothing less than the full-on, high-speed SCD hypercar parade around Silverstone, Hunter reveals how it all came about.

“A close friend of mine, whom I race with in the Porsche Club back home in the US, was already looking at all the different restomod options available,” he says. “He looked in depth at the fit and finish of every model and concluded that the cars built by Theon Design were by far and away the best option.

“As you can see with my car, they kept true to the original style of the 911 but dialled up the horsepower and the suspension, plus everything is utterly bespoke throughout. It seemed daunting at first to work my way through all the possible configurations, but Theon Design’s founders, Adam and Lucinda, guided me through. We broke it down step-by-step, and each piece added up to a pretty awesome whole. I wanted a 911 that looks beautiful and classic but which rocks under the hood, delivering a very pure driving experience. This fits the bill perfectly.”

With that, Hunter guns the 421bhp 4.0-litre air-cooled flat-six and heads off to join one of the greatest supercar and hypercar demonstrations on the planet.

As always at the Secret Meet, the spectacle is strong enough to take the breath away from even the most seasoned professional drivers. Four-time IndyCar Series Champion and triple Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti MBE proved no exception. The Scot had driven to Silverstone in the GMA T.50 that he helped to develop.

“I’ve only done a couple of laps in T.50, because to me it’s more about coming and looking at the cars and catching up with friends and GMA customers,” explained Dario. “Everywhere you look there’s something cool, something different, and you’re surrounded by people who love cars.”

Like everyone else, Dario enjoyed another of the Secret Meet’s annual highlights: the motorsport track sessions, which always feature a truly eclectic ensemble of competition machinery, both classic and contemporary.

“I love the cars that I raced with and some of the ones I raced against,” says Dario, “even though I saw them very much just as tools to do a job when I raced twenty years ago. And of course, there’s always something special about the cars that first made an impression on you when you were a kid. For me that was late-’70s Formula One cars, like the Brabham BT46, Williams FW07, Lotus 79 and the Ferrari 312 T4.

“I’m just going to see if I can find a friend of mine who has brought a Renault 5 Turbo rally car and has promised me a drive in it. I need to check out how well the handbrake is working on it, if you know what I mean,” concludes Dario with a grin.

It’s true what they say: your first love never dies. But it’s equally true that, at any moment, you might set eyes upon something new. Something which will set your heart a-flutter and sear an impression on your soul.