McLaren just finished what looks to be one of its most incredible MSO (McLaren Special Operations) projects ever with a P1 GTR. As is obvious in the photos, this P1 GTR is meant to celebrate the McLaren MP4/4 F1 car Ayrton Senna raced to complete dominance in the 1988 championship season.
There is no shortage of Senna projects going on over at McLaren, clearly. This car has been in the works for three years running, along with McLaren’s actual car, the Senna. Don’t be confused, however, this is a one-off P1 GTR that a McLaren collector/Ayrton fan commissioned to be built. The livery isn’t the only thing that sets it apart from other P1 GTRs either. McLaren says this car has a unique engine specification. Its heat shield is made out of 24 carat gold; the rear cover is made out of Lexan (type of plastic) and it has modified engine bay shrouds. We’re not told how much more power it makes, but apparently it’s more than the 986 horses in your standard P1 GTR.
This Senna fan managed to wrangle the McLaren engineers into designing him a bespoke aero package for the car too. It has new front dive planes, a wider front splitter, Gurney flap, new barge boards and bigger endplates on the rear wing. Even more downforce is generated by inboard secondary wing elements. A “normal” P1 GTR produces 1,433 pounds of downforce, but this car brings that up to a whopping 1,763 pounds. Yeah, it’s going to stick just fine.
The design and customization on this car is pretty next-level. McLaren Rocket red and Anniversary white are the same color codes used on the F1 car. Both doors have the Marlboro barcode that was used in lieu of Marlboro script when regulations changed to bar that sort of advertising. Senna branding is all over the thing, everywhere you look. The seats are actually the same ones McLaren used in the Senna (actual car) itself. Yeah, there’s a whole lot of Senna going on here.
With the unbelievable attention to detail and expense that went into this car, we wonder what the owner’s plans are for it. Will it live at the track (we hope) as the extra power and aero suggests? Or is this something to be put away in a collection because it’s just too freaking special? Call it a good problem to have. This thing is awesome.
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