MCLAREN’S HALO HYPERCAR, THE SENNA, IS A BEAST OF A MACHINE - CHRIS HARRIS EXAMINES.
The McLaren Senna is one of the best, if not the best, creation to come out of the UK firm’s Woking factory. It’s not a new car, it was first released back in 2019, but it was ahead of its time and is still regarded by many as the best of all modern McLarens, and being named after a beloved Formula One driver added to its appeal. There’s an unofficial trio of McLarens referred to as the Ultimate Series, the first one being the iconic McLaren F1 from the mid to late 90s with all of 106 units produced, the second is the McLaren P1 from 2012 which was the company’s first foray into hybrid powertrains before it was a thing with a total of 375 units, and the third is the Senna. As you’d expect from a car of this calibre, it was also produced in limited numbers, but more than most expected, especially looking at the numbers of the previous special cars. Something with this kind of engine and technology, as well as the amazing looks, is usually limited to between 50 and 150 units, but McLaren pumped out 500 of these things. That’s a fair amount but spotting one is still quite rare. When they were first introduced, they were listed at £750,000 (roughly R18,000,000) and the last one off the production line was sold on auction and that one fetched a whopping £1,916,793 (just over R 45,200,000). On the 2nd-hand market they’re changing hands between the wealthy for around R22,000,000. Then there’s the McLaren Senna GTR - an even more special version that was limited to just 75 units and is worth a little more at roughly R35,000,000. That’s a huge chunk of change in anyone’s books. If you had that kind of money, would it be better to go for a barely used McLaren Senna GTR over another brand-new hypercar possibly made in larger numbers? What would sell you on the car? For us here at SXdrv, we like to check out reviews from the world’s elite motoring media, and so when we saw that world-famous motoring journo and race driver Chris Harris got hold of one to test for his popular Collecting Cars YouTube channel, we made sure to watch it and take in all his comments.
There’s a lot that makes the McLaren Senna GTR more special than the regular Senna - mainly the fact that it was created to go fast on track and isn’t allowed on the road. The regular Senna is rated at an even 800 hp matched with an even 800 Nm, and there’s not much more in the GTR with 825 horses in play and the torque is unchanged. While that’s not amazing power if we look at the latest model hypercars, it’s the full package that makes the car special. The power on tap comes from a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 that’s mated to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission and the power is sent to the rear wheels only, but thanks to the amazing aero that was added to the bodywork, it’s quicker than the power implies. The Senna weighs just 1,200 kg and with some special attention to components like the suspension that was swapped to the lightweight race setup from the 720S GT3 racecar, the GTR comes in at 1,188 kg. It also sits 34 mm lower, and the added aero saw changes to the front splitter, the diffuser, the front canards and the rear wing means the downforce is phenomenal and it adds in an additional 200 kg of downforce at 200 km/h. The GTR’s rear wing is a work of art. It’s very rare to see one of these cars in action thanks to both their limited numbers and the fact that most were likely bought as an investment so they don’t see the sun unless they’re being moved from collection to collection. The only time we’ve seen them driven properly was when the car was new and the motoring media were given a test unit, so seeing a new video on one of these race cars is awesome. Well, that depends on how much you like Harris and the way he reviews cars. We’re fans, as you can tell.
Take a look at the YouTube video where Harris does a deep dive into the astounding McLaren Senna, and also shows off what all the special tech is capable of when you make it all work together when driving the car at a proper 10/10ths: Chris Harris - Quick Steer | McLaren Senna GTR | Collecting Cars
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