McLaren has engineered the Senna to deliver blistering performance on the track. But it's also developed it to be driven on the road, too. To that end, Woking's been testing its new Ultimate Series hypercar on the desert highways of the Northern Cape in South Africa. That's not only given it a chance to shake it down on perhaps less than perfectly smooth asphalt, but in the punishingly hot conditions to which many owners will surely subject theirs.

The successor to the P1, to recap, the McLaren Senna is about as raw a performance machine as the British automaker has ever crafted. It's done away with its predecessor's hybrid powertrain and gone with a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 – like the one in the 720S, but tuned to deliver 789 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque.

Tipping the scales at just 2,641 pounds, that gives it a power-to-weight ratio of 658 hp per ton. It'll rocket from 0-62 mph in 2.8 seconds, run the quarter-mile in under ten, and top out over 211 mph. And it could prove even faster around the track than the more powerful (but heavier) P1. Unfortunately McLaren will only make 500 examples, and they've all been sold already – each with a price tag in excess of $800,000. What's more is that an even more track-focused Senna GTR is on its way. But with more "expressions of interest" than units to be made (at just 75), that'll likely sell out before we ever get the chance to raise the funds. And unlike the "base" Senna, it won't be street-legal at all.