Meet the McLaren Senna. There’s a certain Ferrari
Enzo quality to this news, both in the decision to dig into the brand’s
illustrious motorsports history for its most extreme project—Ayrton Senna
having won all three of his Formula 1 drivers’ championships with the team—and
also for the confidence that it projects.
McLaren Senna is the latest model in the Ultimate
Series family of models. McLaren says that it has turned up its twin-turbo
4.0-liter V-8 to produce a claimed peak of 789 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of
torque. The hybrid P1 had a total system output of 903 horses, but the Senna
does without the electrical components, motor, and battery pack and their
attendant weight.
McLaren says that, in its lightest possible
configuration, the Senna weighs just 2641 pounds dry; we’ll see when we get one
on our scales. More relevant is that this is over 400 pounds lighter than the
company’s estimation of the P1’s mass and just under 400 pounds heavier than
the dry weight it cites for the original McLaren F1.
Official performance
estimates haven’t been issued, but we can safely presume they will be equally
astonishing. Given that the 720S is already quicker around most racetracks than
was the P1, we can bet that the Senna will raise the bar by several additional notches.
Underpinning the Senna will be McLaren’s Monocage II
carbon fiber tub, ensuring that the hypercar weighs less than 1,300 kg. This
should result in a power-to-weight ratio that easily eclipses that of the
hybrid P1.
Up front, it takes obvious design inspiration from
the 720S, with similar headlights but a more pronounced splitter. Elsewhere, we
can see that the P15 has transparent panels in the doors, a glass canopy and a
small roof scoop. Additionally, there is a towering rear wing with swan neck
uprights and a set of center-locking wheels. Odd is an understatement.
Just 500 units of the McLaren Senna are apparently
scheduled for production. According to McLaren, its deal with the Senna
Foundation to use the iconic driver’s name is limited to this car. If so,
that’s a shame, as the perfect title for the production-spec BP23 three-seater
would surely be the Ayrton.
Deliveries will start next year, and although U.S.
pricing hasn’t been confirmed, any putative American buyers will already know
if they have made the cut. In the United Kingdom the car costs £ 750,000
(including Britain’s 20 percent VAT sales tax). That’s equivalent to US$ 837,000
before tax at current exchange rates, barely more than the McLaren F1 cost 23
years ago.
