McLaren Automotive just unveiled the McLaren Senna, their latest limited edition ‘road legal track car’. Named after the famous Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna who drove for McLaren in the 1988 season. Senna was tragically taken from the world when he crashed at Imola, 23 years ago on the 1st of May, 1994. There’s perhaps no bigger honor than having a car named after you and boy is this McLaren a absolute stunner.
Oozing McLaren’s most extreme strand of DNA, the goal here was to create the purest connection between car and driver. With just 500 units ever being made, you can forget about having one in your garage as,
Every McLaren Senna has already been assigned to a customer.
McLaren says this is their most track-focused road car ever built, which pretty means its designed for the insane performance required on the track, but somehow has been allowed to cruise on public roads. Unashamedly without compromise, the McLaren Senna is a car like no other. The latest member of the McLaren Ultimate Series, its built from the same family that brought the world the McLaren P1 hypercar. The McLaren Senna will be hand-assembled in England at the McLaren Production Centre.
Design
Fast cars need an aggressive design, not only to achieve the airflow necessary for performance, but to have that ‘fast while sitting still look’. If you spend millions on a car like this (no official price tag, if you have to ask, you definitely can’t afford it), then you want to be a nice blend of excited and scared when the garage door opens.
The 4-wheel machine, features organic lines and a design language that is purposely fragmented in pursuit of absolute performance. From the front splitter to the double diffuser at the rear, you cannot follow a single line from the front to the rear without it passing through a functional air intake or vent. Even the thickness of the rear lights and the angle of the unique ‘slash-cut’ exhausts make an airflow contribution to the performance of the McLaren Senna.
One of the more unique elements of the design is a transparent cut out in the side of the doors. This allows people to see into the vehicle in a new and different way than the typical side windows do. I guess people just need to see the lux interior for maximum jealousy factor.
Finding the right balance between downforce and aerodynamics was an important focus for the car. From the look of that massive rear wing (straight from GT3) this looks like the Aerodynamics team won that arm wrestle. To experience it all working in unison is said to be truly incredible, which I believe 110% with the active aerodynamics ensuring the driver has the confidence to explore the limits such downforce unlocks.
Performance
The McLaren Senna has a single-minded purpose: to be the ultimate McLaren track-concentrated car for the road. It deliberately compromises McLaren’s trademark breadth of supercar daily usability; instead it provides the purest connection between driver and car. The pioneering front and rear active aerodynamics generate unprecedented levels of downforce and work in harmony with the RaceActive Chassis Control II (RCC II) hydraulic suspension and the ultra-rigid MonoCage III monocoque to deliver an incredibly intensive experience on a circuit.
Ultra-lightweight construction, with a carbon fibre chassis and carbon fibre body panels, ensure this is the lightest vehicle we have built since the iconic McLaren F1. The 4.0-litre twin- turbocharged V8 is our most powerful road car engine to date, producing 800PS (789bhp) and 800Nm (590lb ft). This combination creates a staggering power-to-weight ratio of 688PS-per-tonne.
Innovation
We think of the McLaren Senna as a race car – we have designed and built it to perform on the track first and foremost. The new generation of groundbreaking front and rear active aerodynamics raise downforce and aero control to an unprecedented level to ensure the performance potential can be fully exploited. Exhaustive, fearless engineering has led us to re-evaluate and reassess every component, no matter how small or insignificant, to maximise performance.
The carbon fibre MonoCage III chassis is the strongest monocoque ever built by McLaren for a road-legal vehicle. The track-focused Race mode introduces a lower ride height, a lower centre of gravity and significantly stiffer suspension. The carbon ceramic braking system is the most advanced ever fitted to a McLaren road car. Tyre choice is equally focused, with bespoke Pirelli P ZeroTM Trofeo R tyres developed in conjunction with McLaren technical partner Pirelli. Only one style of wheel is available: an ultra-lightweight alloy wheel with a race-inspired centre lock system.
The McLaren Senna is a new track benchmark for McLaren. To get you excited (and sad you’ll probably never drive one) McLaren have released a video of teaser to reveal the car.
RIP Ayrton, it may have taken 23 years, but now there’s a car worthy of your legacy that’ll let your story live on forever.
