McLaren Senna GTR

McLaren Automotive’s most track-focused Ultimate Series car has evolved in key areas to deliver on its promise of hypercar power and accessible handling with the aerodynamics and chassis of a thoroughbred racer. A result is a machine able to lap circuits faster than any McLaren outside Formula 1, providing its owners, of all abilities, with an unparalleled track driving experience.

The McLaren Senna GTR takes the road-legal McLaren Senna - already the lightest, most powerful and track-focused but road-legal car that McLaren builds - several steps further into the realm of ultimate performance. Without the constraints of road or racing regulations, the new Ultimate Series car is more powerful, weighs less, boasts an incredible 1,000kg plus of aerodynamic downforce and uses suspension derived from McLaren’s GT3 race programme.

The McLaren Senna GTR is a perfect example of our determination to bring our customers the Ultimate expression of track driving performance and excitement. 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.
Mike Flewitt, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Automotive

The McLaren Senna GTR, which joins the McLaren Senna and McLaren Speedtail in the brand’s Ultimate Series, succeeds legendary predecessors the Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR of 1995 and the McLaren P1™ GTR of 2015 and keeps the name that honours the memory of three-times McLaren Formula 1 World Champion, Ayrton Senna.

Each new McLaren Senna GTR offers its owner virtually unlimited opportunities for personalisation by McLaren Special Operations Options, from paint colours in the MSO Defined portfolio to unique, multi-hued liveries as an MSO Bespoke commission that imagines a wholly individual expression of track car artistry.

Just 75 McLaren Senna GTRs will be built to customer order at the McLaren Production Centre in Woking, UK, with first deliveries commencing September 2019.

Powertrain
The McLaren Senna GTR is powered by the most extreme version yet of McLaren’s 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine. The M840TR unit, with electronically controlled twin-scroll turbochargers, produces 825PS (814bhp) with 800Nm (590lb ft) of torque. The extra 25PS over the engine in the McLaren Senna has been achieved by engine control recalibration and removing the secondary catalyst to reduce backpressure.  Removing the catalyst also heightens the aural experience of driving the McLaren Senna GTR.

The exhaust system of the concept, which exited through side pipes just ahead of the rear wheels, has been replaced with a more conventional rear exit system on the production car, with the pipes now emerging from the rear deck under the rear wing in the same location as the Senna. The change was made for the purest of engineering reasons: the side exit pipes may have looked the part, but the rear exit pipes provided the shortest, quickest route for exhaust gases to exit, saving weight and reducing complexity.

With 825PS and a lightest dry weight of 1,188kg, the 694PS-per tonne power-to-weight ratio of the McLaren Senna GTR comfortably exceeds not only that of "regular" McLaren Senna, but every other McLaren Automotive car for road or track currently in production.

Three powertrain modes are available to the McLaren Senna GTR driver:  Wet, Track and Race. The new Wet setting, which provides greater support from the ESP and ABS electronic systems, is particularly intended for use with wet tyres. The transmission, which includes a Launch Control function, is the same, acclaimed 7-speed plus reverse Seamless Shift Gearbox (SSG) that features in the road-legal McLaren Senna.

Aerodynamics
Optimising aerodynamic efficiency and giving even more extreme track focus than that possessed by the McLaren Senna - a car already designed to excel on the track - called for a holistic approach that subjected all aerodynamic aspects to intense scrutiny. The McLaren Senna GTR Concept showed the direction and the production-ready car now stands ready to deliver the most effective aero performance for track driving of any McLaren Automotive product.

The McLaren Senna GTR generates astonishing levels of downforce, peaking at more than 1,000kg, a significant increase over the 800kg developed by the road-legal McLaren Senna at 250km/h (155mph). Crucially, a completely different downforce ‘curve’ means the McLaren Senna GTR can call on an equivalent amount of downforce to the McLaren Senna at 15% lower vehicle speed, while still benefitting from reduced drag. The aero package of the McLaren Senna GTR delivers positive effects in high-speed corners but also in low-speed curves and under braking, making the car even less pitch- sensitive and enhancing stability in all situations.

The front splitter has been reprofiled and the rear diffuser reduced in size compared to the components on the 2018 GTR Concept, to optimise performance and meet the required track performance standards. Other changes in comparison to the Concept include new dive planes on the front corners and vortex generators either side of the car to ensure a stable airflow underneath; overall, the aero elements of the McLaren Senna GTR work together to deliver balanced downforce front-to-rear over the entire speed range.

The new front splitter features a raised centre section to feed air under the car back to the newly reprofiled diffuser. The efficiency of the diffuser has, in turn, been optimised by the new rear wing - a design featuring LMP1-style endplates that connect the wing to the body in dramatic fashion and are a highly effective way to guide air around the back of the car.

Compared to the standard McLaren Senna wing fitted to the 2018 GTR Concept, the wing of the McLaren Senna GTR has been reprofiled and relocated, having been pushed backwards so its trailing edge is now outside the car’s footprint. This new, ‘free of road car restrictions’ position allows the wing to be coupled to the diffuser, making the best use of the air flowing over the rear of the car.

Like the road-legal McLaren Senna, the McLaren Senna GTR features active aerodynamics in the shape of the active aero blades flanking the Low-Temperature Radiator and an articulated rear wing - elements that are not currently permitted in GT3 racing but bring significant aero advantages.  The wing can be stalled for maximum speed thanks to an automatic drag reduction system (DRS).