My life in 12 cars: McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown

“This is the most recent addition to my collection. The Speedtail is one of the fastest road cars in the world. It’s not really a take-off of our 1990s McLaren F1 but it is the second three-seater we’ve done with a [driver’s] seat in the middle. But what I like about it is it’s extremely rare: just 106 will be made. The ergonomics are unbelievable. I’m not a small guy, but it’s extremely comfortable because you’re sitting in front of the passengers and you’ve got all this glass around you. It’s very easy to drive. But when you put your foot down, it’s the fastest road car I’ve ever been in. The Speedtail is very exciting.”

McLaren P1

“You’re going to see a trend here, but that’s only because I’m going by date. Next is my 2013 McLaren P1. I had a 675LT, which is a great car, and then I drove a P1 and the first thing that struck me was the sound of the turbo wastegates. It looks unbelievably gorgeous and mine’s in Volcano Orange. The performance is outstanding. It feels much more like a high-performance car than the Speedtail, which feels like a cruiser in comparison. The P1’s quite aggressive, very aggressive looking and an awesome car.”

Ferrari F50

“No, they’re not all McLarens. The Ferrari F50 is an iconic car and mine is one of 30 in yellow. It has a 4.7-litre V12 developed from the 3.5-litre Formula 1 engine that powered Ferrari’s great 1990 grand prix car, the 641. It was the last with a manual shift gearbox and it’s an awesome-sounding car. I love it. Who doesn’t love gorgeous Ferraris?”

Porsche 959

“Mine has been restored by Californian ex-racing driver Bruce Canepa. Bruce was the importer who made the cars road legal when they first came to the US. And Porsche is the only manufacturer I’ve come across that would actually suggest you take one of their iconic cars to somewhere other than their own place. Bruce has done three generations of the 959. I’ve got the most recent generation and it’s a gorgeous-looking car. It’s understated. If you know about cars, you definitely know what a 959 is, but if you’re not a big car enthusiast and you don’t know what you’re looking at, it kind of looks like a Porsche 911, and kind of like the Speedtail but from a different generation. It’s very easy to drive – just like a 911 until you put your foot down. A four-wheel-drive, circa-800-horsepower monster that is very much an easy daily driver.”

AC Cobra 289

“I’ve skipped the 1970s for the last road car on my list: my 1965 289 Cobra, probably as good a sounding car as there is when you fire it up. The Ford V8 is awesome. It’s a very elegant car and I like it more than the 427. You see a decent amount of 427 replicas, and I wanted a car where people didn’t ask me if it was a replica – so I consider the 289 as a kind of proper Cobra.”

McLaren M8D

“So now on to race cars, where I’ll start with the oldest. Again, you’re going to see a trend here with McLarens, but that’s why I love working at the team: I’ve always been a massive McLaren fan. I would start with my McLaren M8D that Dan Gurney won two races in during the 1970 Can-Am series (Canadian-American Challenge Cup). I’ve always loved Can-Am cars. You talk about horsepower: nothing’s really had as much. And then to me it was significant as it was the end of the Bruce era because it was unfortunately in an M8D he had his fatal accident at Goodwood in June 1970. His friend Dan replaced him – and Dan Gurney was a legend. This car’s very special to me because it kind of feels like the passing of the torch from Bruce, and it’s an awesome car to drive.”

Lotus 79

“Mario Andretti took the first of six wins in my car, chassis two, in the 1978 season when he won his world championship. Andretti is one of my most favourite drivers, a hero of mine and now a great friend. It’s a real privilege to know Mario. There are so many cool things about the Lotus 79: one, it won the championship; two, it won the championship in the hands of Mario Andretti. I don’t think there was a more iconic livery than the JPS Lotus. And then there’s Colin Chapman, who with this and the preceding Lotus 78 became the first to properly harness ground effects in F1. It’s one of the most famous cars in grand prix racing.”

Porsche 935

“Sticking with date sequence, I then come to the Porsche 935. I’ve got the JLP3 in which Rolf Stommelen, John Paul Jr and Sr won the 1982 Daytona 24 Hours. Father and son also won the Sebring 12 Hours in the same year, and the ’82 US IMSA championship, scoring five wins in a row. At the time, it was the only car to have won Daytona and Sebring in the same year. I love driving it and I race it often. Big flared-out fenders, lots of horsepower… the 935s are awesome race cars.”

Porsche 962

“Then I come on to another Porsche. The Blaupunkt car I own I watched race when I was growing up. It won five races in period with Price Cobb, James Weaver and Rob Dyson and it raced between 1986 and ’88. I loved IMSA, America’s national sports car racing series, and I still love IMSA. The 962 is a gorgeous-looking race car, especially in that Blaupunkt livery.”

Lola T87/00

“I’m a big fan of Indycars, and again it all comes back to Mario Andretti. I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix in 1987, a street circuit that means a lot to me because my first ever race was the 1981 Long Beach F1 Grand Prix. By ’87, I had aspirations of trying to get into the business as a race car driver. And Mario put this car on pole position and won, lapping everybody up to second place, although Emerson Fittipaldi gave him a good run until he had a mechanical failure. In this same Lola, Mario then put it on pole at the Indianapolis 500 and led 171 of the first 177 laps. Again, he’d lapped the field, until a broken valve spring ended his day – the old ‘Andretti Curse’ at Indy, a race he won only once back in 1969. This Lola holds very special memories for me because I saw it race, and again because of my hero Mario. His T87 was also engineered that year by Adrian Newey, who has become a good friend. We restored Mario’s car and shook it down last year in Chicago, and Mario came out and drove it, with Adrian watching on. A special day.”

Penske PC18