The 789bhp McLaren Senna Doesn't Give A Damn About Anything Other Than Lap Times

The function-led McLaren Ultimate Series newcomer may not be the most aesthetically-pleasing thing to come out of the MTC, but it's set to be brutally fast
The 789bhp McLaren Senna Doesn't Give A Damn About Anything Other Than Lap Times

The latest car in McLaren’s Ultimate Series is here, and yes, it is a rather challenging thing in the aesthetics department. It’s called the Senna - named after you know who - and we haven’t seen function surpass form quite so dramatically in a supercar since the Gumpert Apollo. The result is a road-legal, track-focused car that looks downright weird from some angles.

It’s all - as you’d expect - down to aerodynamics and cooling. As McLaren puts it, “you cannot follow a single line from the front to the rear without it passing through a functional air intake or vent.”

The McLaren Senna is named after a certain driver who did rather a lot of winning for Woking's F1 team in the 80s and 90s...
The McLaren Senna is named after a certain driver who did rather a lot of…

The front end is dominated by a gigantic splitter and ‘aero blades’, while at the back you’ll find a double diffuser - the thing that was banned from F1 a few years back - and an active rear wing. But this is a littler cleverer than your usual active wing that changes position for a certain mode and/or speed: it adjusts constantly, and also acts as an air brake. It’s huge too, with the dual-element, hydraulically-actuated unit having 6500cm2 of surface area.

Then there’s the rear clamshell. See those “stepped louvres” on the rear deck? These work together with a set of gurney flaps just ahead, with a low pressure area sucking hot air out of the radiators, and the louvres making sure the resulting airflow doesn’t muck up the efficiency of the rear wing.

The 789bhp McLaren Senna Doesn't Give A Damn About Anything Other Than Lap Times

Mounted in the middle you’ll find the most powerful McLaren road car engine ever. It displaces 4.0 litres, kicks out 789bhp and 590lb ft, and has just 1198kg of car to punt around. That last figure - by the way - makes this the lightest McLaren road car since the legendary F1.

The car is built around McLaren’s carbonfibre ‘MonoCage III’ tub, and the bodywork is predominantly made from carbonfibre. The doors are particularly interesting, as they each have optional glass sections above and below the ‘regular’ window. The top bit of glass - which forms part of the roof when the door is closed - is available as it “enhances the sense of space inside the cockpit” while the lower part “dramatically reinforces the visual connection between driver and track environment.”

The 789bhp McLaren Senna Doesn't Give A Damn About Anything Other Than Lap Times

The Senna has “race-derived” double-wishbone suspension, plus McLaren’s RaceActive Chassis Control II hydraulically-linked dampers. This system negates the need for a regular, mechanical anti-roll bar, and also features two valves for each damper to allow independent adjustment of compression and rebound.

In the cabin there’s an absence of, well…pretty much anything. Partly to reduce weight, and partly to reduce distractions for the driver: you’ll notice there aren’t any buttons on the steering wheel, for instance. The sills meanwhile have been kept deliberately low to make ingress and egress easy, even if you’re wearing a full race suit and helmet.

Tempted? Tough, you can’t have one. Not just because each costs £750,000: McLaren is only building 500, and each and every one is spoken for.

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Comments

GTRTURTLE 🔰 🐢(Oo \ S K Y L I N E / oO) (Koen

Honda needs to partner up with mclaren to make REAL vents

12/10/2017 - 14:43 |
4 | 4

Honda has supplied f1 engines to mclaren in the 80s one of the mclaren-hondas even took ayrton senna who this car is named after to his world championship. Honda came back to f1 as a engine supplier to mclaren in 2015 and continued till 2017 . Unfortunately hondas inability to make a competitive or reliable engine for 3 years meant than mclaren have ditched them for renault engines in 2018 . https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_MCL32

12/10/2017 - 15:40 |
0 | 0

as if everybody else uses real vents.If I had a dollar for every fake vent I saw in a day…

12/10/2017 - 21:23 |
0 | 0
Cam Kennedy

I have to say, i rather like it. And i rather liked the Gumpert Apollo as well. Function over style can still yield beautiful results!

12/10/2017 - 14:49 |
2 | 2
TheDriver 1

Door windows: So it makes it easier to park your race car.
Good job Mclaren!

12/10/2017 - 15:01 |
2 | 2
Robert Gracie

I feel for car 012 it should be painted in the exact same way his helmet was painted, because that helmet when you saw it in the mirrors….you got out of the way very quickly, it wasnt a man at the wheel of the car it was a monster and he wouldnt take prisoners on his banzai laps!

12/10/2017 - 15:14 |
10 | 0
Anonymous

It actually looks like a 720S that pastor maldonado stole and crashed.

12/10/2017 - 15:19 |
10 | 0
Anonymous

i actually like how this thing looks. I love the fact that everything is functional, with no fake vents for show

12/10/2017 - 15:24 |
4 | 2
Anonymous

The start button is in the roof… How bloody cool is that!

12/10/2017 - 15:56 |
6 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

It would be like powering up an airliner

12/10/2017 - 20:21 |
0 | 0
ThatMercFan🅱️oi (EDM ftw) (Likes Aventadors) (O

For me it’s a SenNO.

12/10/2017 - 17:47 |
2 | 2
Anonymous
12/10/2017 - 18:05 |
4 | 2
Monty4248

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

What?

12/10/2017 - 20:46 |
0 | 0
JDM_Dawg

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Top car and bottom car are entirely different. The BP23 (car on the bottom) is gonna come in like 2021

12/10/2017 - 21:31 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

CENTRAL DRIVING POSITION??!

12/10/2017 - 18:11 |
0 | 0