McLaren Automotive, the British creator of luxury sports cars and supercars, is to offer a track-only version of the new Ultimate Series McLaren Senna, to be called the McLaren Senna GTR. Up to 75 examples of the most extreme McLaren car ever will be hand-assembled in Woking, England, during 2019. Expressions of interest will be taken at the 2018 Geneva Show and thereafter, with exact technical details of the McLaren Senna GTR confirmed later this year.
Based around the same carbon fibre Monocage III structure as the McLaren Senna to ensure the core strength and rigidity needed for a top-flight track car, the Senna GTR will be similar in weight to the 1198kg (lightest dry total) of the street-legal McLaren Senna. With more power and greater torque from the 4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine than the 800hp and 800Nm developed in the road car (horsepower will increase to at least 825hp), the car will be even faster than the “standard” model in a straight line.
The additional benefit of a race-style transmission, revised double-wishbone suspension and Pirelli slick tyres, together with up to 1000kg of downforce, will ensure that the Senna GTR will also post the quickest McLaren circuit lap times outside Formula 1.
The “form follows function” McLaren design philosophy that is at its strongest in the Senna provides, quite literally, the ideal platform for the Senna GTR. The circuit-ready car will have a wider track and new fenders front and rear, with the changes to the carbon fibre body simplified by the fact that the fenders and other aerodynamic components have been designed as “clipped on” to the cockpit structure, allowing relatively easy modification. The Senna GTR will also feature a new wheel design, developed specifically for circuit use.
The design of the doors benefits aerodynamic efficiency, the outer skin being “pushed in” as far as possible towards the centre of the car to better channel airflow. Unlike the road-legal McLaren Senna, the McLaren Senna GTR will feature a polycarbonate “ticket” window.
