The Track-Only McLaren Senna GTR Takes McLaren's Most Extreme Car to New Heights
The Senna GTR is a new track-only version of the insane McLaren Senna.
With extra power, less weight, even more downforce, and an upgraded chassis, it promises quicker lap times and elevated performance.
All 75 units are already sold out, for a starting price around $1.2 million.
While the almighty McLaren Senna is one of the most extreme cars we have ever experienced, it is still designed to be driven on road, at least some of the time, with the various compromises that brings. Not so the McLaren GTR, the track-only version of the car which promises to deliver even greater thrills, completely undiluted.
McLaren produced a similarly circuit-focussed P1 GTR, and there have also been track-only models like the Ferrari FXX and Aston Martin Vulcan, but we’re promised that the Senna GTR will make all look like tame pussycats thanks to the combination of more power and aerodynamic downforce levels that come close to matching the weight of the car. Only 75 will be produced and all have already been sold, despite prices that start at around $1.2 million.
Power has only increased by a modest 25 horsepower over the street legal Senna, with 814 hp from McLaren’s familiar 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8, this having lost its secondary catalyst system. While the concept version of the GTR had a side-exit exhaust system, the production car switches to a more conventional out-the-back system, which is apparently more efficient.
McLaren claims a lightest possible dry weight of 2619 pounds, giving the GTR the brawniest power-to-weight ratio of any McLaren Automotive road or track car. Bodywork has grown to cover a front track that sits 3-in wider and a rear one that has grown by 2.7-in and the car has gained pneumatic air jacks, a plumbed-in fire extinguisher and an onboard camera system. But it has lost the road car’s airbags and infotainment system and only a driver’s seat will come as standard; adding the passenger’s seat is a no-cost option that we anticipate pretty much every owner will take. Why own a car like this if you can’t frighten your buddies in it? It still has air conditioning plus a full suite of driver aids, a pit lane speed control system and even an anti collision radar.
With revised wingwork including new “dive planes” on the car’s front corners and vortex generators designed to create stable airflow below its flat underside, the GTR produces substantially more aero grip than even the regular Senna. The vast active rear wing has been pushed further backwards – the road use requirement for it to sit inside the car’s footprint has been removed – siting it in cleaner airflow and increasing its leverage on the back of the car. McLaren claims peak downforce is 2205lbs, up from the 1763lbs made by the streetable car in its most aggressive Race mode. The GTR can call on an equivalent level of downforce to the regular Senna at 15 percent lower speed, while still having less drag.
The biggest change in terms of on-track performance has come from the switch to standard slick tires, with gumball treadless Pirellis mounted on 19-inch ultra light forged alloys. Those at the front are 285/650, those at the rear are 325/705 – wider than those currently allowed under GT3 racing regulations. While the regular Senna’s braking performance was one of the things that impressed us most about it, McLaren says the GTR is able to deliver 20 percent greater maximum deceleration; anticipate owners climbing out after prolonged track sessions with their grins lost in bull mastiff wrinkles.
While the Senna GTR might rule the millionaires’ track day, its reign at the top is likely to be a short one; Aston Martin is working on a track-only AMR Pro version of the even more extreme Valkyrie, one that we’re told will be faster around most circuits than a full-on LMP1 race car. The only rational solution for those in the one percent of the one percent of the one percent is, of course, to buy one of each.
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