The McLaren Senna Will Smash 0-124mph In 6.8 Seconds

McLaren has released more of the Senna’s incredible figures, and you may need to sit down for this.

The track-based hypercar uses a development of the 720S’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 to propel itself to a very healthy 211mph. On the way it can pass 62mph from rest in 2.8 seconds, and 124mph in a genuinely frightening 6.8 seconds. That’s a whole second faster than the borderline insane 720S… although Top Gear has timed the latter at over three tenths faster than that.

We already know the car’s ‘lightest dry weight’ is 1198kg, but now we have extra details. The Senna’s engine uses special lightweight camshafts and pistons, with ‘ultra-low-inertia’ turbochargers.

Peak power of 789bhp arrives at 7250rpm, and you do need to rev this beast to get the best from it; peak torque measuring 590lb ft is set between 5500rpm and 6700rpm. The revs bring with them a specially-tuned noise with just two exhaust valves instead of the usual four. McLaren says it “sings like a motorcycle race engine in its ferocity,” and you might need to give us five minutes while we clean the drool off our keyboards.

It gets 10dB louder for every 2000rpm on the rev counter, willing a driver to wind-on the power as hard and as fully as possible. Seven gears are shuffled by a dual-clutch automated manual transmission. Fully manual control via paddles is possible, and we understand it won’t shift automatically to save your blushes if you get it wrong.

Clever adjustable damping called RaceActive Chassis Control II (RCC II) is the most advanced ever to see service in a road-going McLaren. You get double-wishbone suspension all round, but the adaptive dampers are connected both left to right and front to back. A pantheon of sensors across the system can analyse and respond to changing conditions in just two milliseconds, apparently, which means you should never be able to feel it working.

The rear wing and bodywork ‘aero blades’ automatically trim above 155mph in Race driving mode to avoid pressing too hard on the suspension and tyres. Peak downforce at 155mph is a handy 800kg, so the Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R dry track tyres could use a break when they’re already generating high-speed heat. They measure 245/35 ZR19 up front and 315/30 ZR20 at the back.

Get this, though: the new and most advanced carbon ceramic brake discs ever fitted to a McLaren take seven months to create, with cooling vanes machined into the disc rather than moulded. The F1-inspired single-block calipers gripping them at the front have six ventilated pistons.

Naturally, the Senna is ultra-customisable, with 23 standard colour options and 16 more MSO Defined special colours for an extra cost. McLaren has set out five ‘By McLaren’ spec combinations that have one of five main paint shades with contrasting bodywork aero blades and wing inners, plus either a Gloss Black, Satin Raw Metal or Dark Stealth exhaust heat shield, and plenty more complementary goodies. It doesn’t really matter, anyway, because they all sold out months ago…