They say that the indomitable spirit of Ayrton Senna has always been alive at McLaren, even after F1’s most loved hero died in a tragic crash at the San Marino Circuit while leading the race in 1994. As a tribute to one of the most talented, fastest and much-loved racing personalities, the Woking-based car maker commissioned their finest to come up with something truly impressive and the result is this limited edition McLaren Senna.
For displaying astonishing car control during a time when the influence of electronics was only beginning to make its way into F1, Ayrton drove like he had some surreal connection with the car under him. For that very reason, the McLaren Senna is being touted as the personification of McLaren’s DNA at its most extreme, creating the purest connection between the car and the driver. They say that this is the most track-focused road car they have ever built, and it will set the fastest lap times of any McLaren to date. Built unashamedly without any compromise, the McLaren Senns is legalised for road use, but not sanitised to suit it.
The McLaren Senna is a new member of the McLaren Ultimate Series, a product family introduced with the McLaren P1 and reserved for the rarest and most extreme McLaren cars. Unsurprisingly, there are strong echoes in the new McLaren Senna of the incredibly focused philosophy behind the McLaren P1.
Where the P1 was designed to be the best driver’s car on road and track, the McLaren Senna is designed and developed with track prowess absolutely taking precedence. Hand-assembled in England at the very futuristic McLaren Production Centre, production will be limited to 500 vehicles, and each McLaren Senna has already been assigned to a customer.
The McLaren Senna makes use of active aerodynamics at both ends to generate unprecedented levels of downforce and works in harmony with the RaceActive Chassis Control II (RCC II) hydraulic suspension and the ultra-rigid MonoCage III monocoque to deliver an incredibly intense experience on a circuit.
Ultra-lightweight construction, with a carbon fibre chassis and carbon fibre body panels, ensure this is the lightest Mclaren built since the iconic road-going F1. It is powered by a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 which makes it the most powerful McLaren road car engine to date, producing 800PS and 800Nm. Equipped with carbon ceramic discs and bespoke Pirelli P ZeroTM Trofeo R tyres, the McLaren Senna can shed speed just as violently as it builds it.
McLaren gained the right to use the Senna name as a part of an official collaboration between McLaren Automotive and the Senna family, in which a significant contribution will be donated to the Instituto Ayrton Senna (IAS), a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing good-quality education for more than 1.6 million unprivileged children and youngsters in Brazil. On the racetrack, Ayrton Senna was one of the greatest drivers of all time, but thanks to the IAS, his off-track achievements are arguably even greater.