Senna

Make
McLaren
Segment
Coupe

At last year's Geneva Motor Show, McLaren revealed the Senna GTR Concept previewing a hardcore, track-only version of the sensational Senna. One year later, the covers have come off the production version, and it's easily the most extreme track car McLaren has ever made.

While the standard Senna was already the lightest, most powerful and track-focused road-legal car that McLaren builds, the new GTR version takes it to the next level and continues the legacy of the 1995 F1 GTR and P1 GTR launched in 2015. Without the constraints of road or racing regulations, the new Ultimate Series track car is more powerful, lighter, and boasts an insane amount of aerodynamic downforce to keep it glued to the track.

Powering this track monster is McLaren's 4.0-liter, twin turbocharged V8 engine, tuned to produce 814 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque – that's 25 more horses than the standard Senna, thanks to an engine control recalibration and removal of the secondary catalyst to reduce back pressure. Like the regular Senna, power is sent through a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

While the concept featured side exhaust pipes, the production car has a more conventional rear exit system, with the pipes now emerging from the rear deck under the rear wing in the same location as the Senna. The side exhausts may have looked more menacing, but McLaren says the rear exit pipes provide the shortest, quickest route for exhaust gases to exit, saving weight and reducing complexity.

With 814 hp and a dry weight of just 2,619 pounds, the Senna GTR has a power-to-weight ratio of 684 hp-per tonne - the highest of any McLaren road or track car currently in production. Despite the car's wider track, extended body and other track equipment, the GTR is 22 pounds lighter than the standard Senna.

Thanks to the car's optimized aerodynamics, the Senna GTR generates more than 2,200 pounds of peak downforce, a significant increase over the 1,760 pounds developed by the road-legal McLaren Senna at 155 mph.

Compared to the concept, visual changes include a reprofiled front splitter and a smaller diffuser to optimize performance, new dive planes on the front corners and vortex generators on either side to ensure a stable airflow underneath. The new front splitter also features a raised center section to feed air under the car back to the newly reprofiled diffuser, and the rear wing has been reprofiled and relocated further back, allowing it to be coupled to the diffuser.

The McLaren Senna's variable ride control suspension has been replaced with aluminium double wishbones, springs, uprights and anti-roll bars developed from the suspension of McLaren's GT3 cars. Four-way adjustable dampers are also fitted along with solid bushes and adjustable camber. Since it doesn't have to adhere to GT3 regulations, the Senna GTR rides on 19-inch rims with a center-lock design, wrapped in Pirelli slick tires. As for stopping power, the track car has forged aluminium monobloc six-piston brake calipers at the front and four-piston at the rear, working on 15-inch layered carbon-ceramic discs.

Inside, most of the road car's creature comforts have been removed such as the touchscreen and audio system, but it still has air conditioning. The driver sits in a carbon-fiber racing seat, with a passenger seat available as a no-cost extra, while safety features include a six-point FIA harness. Interior carbon-fiber elements have a satin finish, the sills are covered in black carpet (the only carpet you'll find), and the headlining is covered in Alcantara. The road car's folding instrument cluster and steering wheel have been replaced with a driver screen, a row of gearshift LEDs along the top edge, and the GT3 car's steering wheel. It's also equipped with a pit-to-car radio and two on-board cameras.

"The McLaren Senna GTR is a perfect example of our determination to bring our customers the Ultimate expression of track driving performance and excitement," said CEO Mike Flewitt. "The McLaren Senna was designed from the outset to be an extreme track car, but the 2018 McLaren Senna GTR Concept suggested how much more further we could go and now, free from the constraints of road car legislation and motorsport competition rules, we have pushed the limits of what is technically possible to advance circuit driving capability to another level entirely."

McLaren is only building 75 Senna GTRs, with customer deliveries commencing this September. Each car starts at £1.1 million (around $1.4 million) plus taxes. If you were hoping to buy one, you're out of luck because the Senna GTR sold out just a few weeks after the concept debuted at Geneva last year.