Star date: 19th July 2014

£3MILLION WORTH OF CARS COME TO SALFORD  

"I wouldn't drive one 'cos everyone would look at you and think `What an idiot'"...

Cuts? Poverty? Hard times? What the hell! When three million quid's worth of in yer face supercars come to town it's hard not to gawp. So we grabbed our junior reporter, cranked up the Salford Star banger and crossed through security into MediaCityUK to stroke the obscenely priced petrol guzzlers.

Here's 14 year old Mikey K's report on the rich man's joy toys…

It's definitely a wow moment, very exciting, as eight supercars, which have a value of around £3million, roll through Salford and into Media City…the Jaguar XJ200, the Lamborghini Aventador, the Ferrari F40, the BAC Mono and the Ford GT720.

The main attraction, though, is the McLaren P1, which on its own has a value of around £1million and is one of only 375 to ever be manufactured. With a top speed of 217mph it's my favourite too. It just looks good, very sharp, although I wouldn't drive one through Salford 'cos everyone would look at you and think `What an idiot'.

I do, however, talk to Oliver James Web, who has driven the BAC Mono from Liverpool's Albert Docks to Salford, as part of a supercar rally which is promoting the DVD release of the film Need For Speed. Oliver is a top racer who has participated in Le Mans and a feeder series to Formula 1…

"It's nice for people to be able to see the car and touch the car" he says "I wish I owned it but I just drive it for the company. It's good fun and makes you feel privileged."

The BAC Mono is the only road-legal, one seated, Formula 3 car and is valued at £110,000. It will do 0-60 in about 2.8 second and goes about 180mph. It's 2.3 litre, 280 horse power and weighs 500kg. But how is it on the petrol and Salford's speed bumps?

"It does 25 miles per gallon, which isn't bad" he says "And it even manages to clear all the speed bumps fine."

I ask him about the difference between driving in Le Mans and driving through the streets of Salford which he describes as "very, very different".

This is probably the first and last time Salford will see £3million worth of cars and there's a four man security team on segways protecting them. However whilst the cars are here they are attracting people like magnets…students, local kids on bikes, people just passing through. Everyone is very surprised and shocked to stumble across them, looking at the engines or having their photos taken with them.

Everyone is swarming around the McLaren P1, which was also the main car in the Need For Speed film. The movie is about someone who goes from one state to another so that he can get to his race in two days. He drives like a lunatic and a girl goes with him who's British. It's a car movie with loads of stunts in it. It's very unrealistic but a very good film.

The idea of this convoy is to kind of replicate the film, driving for two days from Liverpool to London, for a supercar race in a secret location, stopping off at Media City en route and giving us the chance to experience them. 

Maybe if they bring a Need For Speed 2 out they will return but until then Salford won't experience cars like this for a long time to come. No-one in Salford has got cars like these – maybe the odd Audi R8 in Worsley or maybe Gary Lineker's got one at Media City. So yeah, definitely a wow moment…

The Need For Speed is out on DVD, 3D Blu-ray and Blu-ray on July 21st.

See more of the supercars on Twitter @NeedForSpeed_UK or use the hashtag #NeedForSpeedConvoy

Word and photos (apart from the ones he's in) by Mikey K