McLaren’s Senna Hypercar Is A 789 Horsepower Street Legal Track Demon

McLaren has built a new car and named it in honor of legendary F1 driver Ayrton Senna and it is definitely an interesting vehicle. The car was clearly not designed with an eye towards aesthetics; from the side the car is not very attractive. This happens at times when a car is built more for function than what looks good to the artist’s eye. This makes the car perform fantastically, but a bit off looking in some respects.

Look at the Senna from any angle but the side or front 3/4 view and it is shockingly beautiful; many would go so far as to call it a work of art. It has windows in the bottom of the doors, because why not. The car is street legal, but it's clearly meant mostly to show up and dominate all the other cars at your local track day. This newest McLaren Ultimate Series supercar is built on the same structure as the 720S with an Monocage II carbon fiber monocoque and 4.0L flat-plane crank twin-turbo V8 engine.

That twin-turbo heart makes 789 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. All the power goes to the tires via a 7-speed dual-clutch gear box. McLaren will make a scant 500 units of the car and each buyer will shell out 750,000 pounds sterling for the car. Considering the Senna is mean to sit at the top of the range we can expect it to perform better than the P1 it will replace at the top.

The suspension is an updated version of the P1 hydraulically-interconnected dampers. Senna buyers also get an improved version of the P1 variable stiffness and ride height technology. Senna has a "Race Mode" with lower ride height and stiffer suspension settings. McLaren had Pirelli make Senna-specific P Zero Trofeo R tires that are aimed at track work, but are DOT approved for the street.

The car looks rather large with all the wings, vents, and louvers, but it weighs in at a scant 2,641 pounds. The Porsche GT2 RS lap record at the Nürburgring should get crushed by the Senna, as McLaren crammed in 89 more horses than the Porsche with 600 pounds less weight to push around. Deliveries start in Q3 2018 and we hope there is at least one buyer with the stones to take the beast to the track and hammer on it.