Driver Sends His $256K McLaren 600LT Straight Into South Carolina Floodwaters

It floats surprisingly well, but that’s a pretty small consolation.

byChris Teague|
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If you've ever played The Oregon Trail, there's a good chance that you understand the risks associated with fording a river. At least the players of that game have a somewhat buoyant wagon to make the trek. You know what's not great with deep water? The McLaren 600LT. One driver in Charleston, South Carolina found that out the hard way this week when they tried to plow through a flooded intersection in their British supercar and ended up floating way off course.

Downtown Charleston frequently floods during storms, so the biblical scene that unfolded on Thursday isn’t all that uncommon. What is uncommon is that someone felt that the $250,000+ McLaren 600LT could ford the water covering a busy road just as well as the large pickup truck that went in front of it.

Unsurprisingly, the decision didn’t turn out in the driver’s favor as he spears off to the right through deeper water, eventually nosing up to an embankment and getting stuck. It's not clear if they were trying to make a right turn and the front wheels floated off the ground, or if the sheet of water kicked up by the car's nose obscured the driver's vision. It's stranded either way. The hazard lights coming on at the end is a great touch.

Twitter user mikesj73 caught the series of unfortunate events on camera and told News 2 that the driver was fine, but the car is not, adding that it “didn’t sound great.”

A 600LT in happier times., McLaren

We don’t know how much damage was done to the car, but the driver’s ego almost certainly took a beating. The car’s twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 produces 592 horsepower and 457 lb-ft of torque for a 0-62 mph time of just 2.9 seconds and a top speed of 204 mph, assuming it didn't take on too much water through the 600 LT's dramatic side intakes. If totaled, the quarter-million dollar car is a huge loss for the driver, but we might at least get to see a determined YouTuber bring it back to life.

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