All posts in “mclaren senna gtr”

FOR SALE: 2019 McLaren Senna Drenched in Bespoke Options

One of the latest supercars to hit BringATrailer is an absolutely glorious 2019, McLaren Senna, finished in Liquid Silver – which happens to be a $97,566 option. It comes with only 1,900 miles on the odometer along with all original owner’s manuals, accessories, clean Carfax, and a clean Pennsylvania title. The auction is set to end on Tuesday, April 27 at 2:00 pm.

This Senna is #196 of 500 cars produced to commemorate Ayrton Senna’s success with McLaren’s Formula 1 team. It’s finished in a bespoke Senna GTR-inspired livery along with Burton Blue accents from the McLaren Special Operations team and Satin Blue tinted carbon-fiber trim. 

2019 McLaren Senna Rear Angle

This car features over $265,000 of specified options – making it almost one of a kind. These options include bespoke blue Alcantara seats, Satin Blue tinted carbon-fiber interior trim, a Bowers & Wilkins audio system, Burton Blue brake calipers, Gorilla Glass side panels, and an MSO Push-to-Drink system.

2019 McLaren Senna Interior

Not only does this McLaren feature a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 paired with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transaxle, racing-inspired center-locking wheels, but it also comes with the creature comforts found standard in most luxury cars. Things like adjustable driving modes, front and rear parking sensors, dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth, navigation, and touchscreen infotainment.

McLaren Special Operations Signatures

One of the neatest features on this McLaren Senna is the underside of the front panel – it has been signed by members of the McLaren Special Operations division. You can hop in the driver’s seat of this incredible car knowing that the MSO team is with you on the ride. 

McLaren releases new Senna GTR footage and explains that giant wing

McLaren launched the McLaren Tech Club last week with a brief episode about the aerodynamic magic of the open-top McLaren Elva. In part two of the video series, McLaren continues to explain how air and wind affect a car’s design, but this time it’s in a very different way. McLaren Principal Designer Esteban Palazzo dives into how the massive wing on the McLaren Senna GTR came to be and what purpose it serves. Three extra videos also show new footage of the Senna GTR testing in Bahrain.

Like the McLaren F1 GTR and McLaren P1 GTR that preceded it, the Senna GTR’s most prominent feature is its multi-tiered, multi-layered, carbon fiber pedestal wing. Palazzo says it was not only inspired by high-performance cars of the past and aircraft design, but also by the likes and tastes of the intended customers. In the case of the Senna GTR, Palazzo mentions science fiction and architecture.

The wing, which creates about 2,204 pounds of downforce and aids vehicle stabilization, has a few features that might not be immediately noticeable from photos or video. The shape takes design cues such as the endplates from LMP1 cars. In addition to connecting to the posts, the wing is further integrated into the car’s shape with attachments to the rear diffuser. The last piece mentioned is the automatic drag reduction system (DRS), a new piece of moving technology that helps with, well, minimizing drag.

After releasing episode two of the McLaren Tech Club, the Brits followed up with three videos of the Senna GTR testing on the Bahrain International Circuit, on which the Senna GTR holds the fastest race lap in the circuit’s current configurations. The first video offers an interactive 360-degree interior view, the second video shows the driver’s point of view, and the third video is shot from the Senna’s front splitter. McLaren does not say who is in the driver’s seat.

Episode three of the McLaren Tech Club should arrive at a similar time next week.

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FIA introduces ‘Hypercar Concept’ for World Endurance Championship

One of the most common jabs at hypercars is the question, “Where can you drive them to their potential?” Imagine the answer being: to the checkered flag in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We’re not there yet, but the FIA World Motor Sport Council took a step closer to the possibility during its second annual meeting in Manila, the Philippines. One of three initiatives the WSMC announced for the 2020 World Endurance Championship was “Freedom of design for brands based on a ‘Hypercar’ concept.” This “Hypercar concept” would replace LMP1 as the premier class in the WEC.

The dream, of course, would be seeing racing versions of the AMG Project One, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, Bugatti Chiron, Koenigsegg Regera, McLaren Senna GTR, Pagani Huara BC, and the rest of the gang trading paint and carbon fiber through Dunlop in a heinously expensive version of “Buy on Sunday, sell on Monday.” The reality is that we don’t have all the details yet on the set of regulations called “GTP,” but the FIA wants race cars more closely tied to road cars, albeit with the performance level of today’s LMP1 cars.

Exterior design freedom would shelter internals designed to reduce costs, the FIA planning to mandate less complex hybrid systems and allow the purchase of spec systems. One of the FIA’s primary goals is lowering LMP1 budgets to a quarter of their present levels. Audi and Porsche budgets exceeded $200 million, while Toyota – the only factory LMP1 entry this year and next – is assumed to have a budget hovering around $100 million. Reports indicated that Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ford, McLaren, and Toyota sat in on the development of the proposed class. If the FIA can get costs down to around $25 million, that would compare running a top IndyCar team and have to be hugely appealing to the assembled carmakers.

The initiative represents another cycle of the roughly once-a-decade reboot of sports car racing to counter power or cost concerns. The FIA shut down Group 5 Special Production Sports Car class in 1982 to halt worrying power hikes, and introduced Group C. In 1993, Group C came to an ignoble end over costs; manufacturers were spending $15 million on a season, back when that was real money and not one-fifth of a Ferrari 250 GTO. Then came the BPR Global GT Series that morphed into the FIA GT Championship, which would see the last not-really-a-road car take overall Le Mans victory in 1998, the Porsche 911 GT1. That era would be most aligned with a future hypercar class. After that, the FIA created the LMP classes that would take those previous stellar budgets supernova.

We’ll get more details on the proposal next week when the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the Le Mans organizer that worked with the FIA on the ideas, hold’s its pre-Le Mans press conference.

Elsewhere on the WMSC docket, the FIA approved aero changes to 2019 Formula 1 cars to improve overtaking. An even bigger shock: the FIA World Rallycross Championship will go electric-only from 2020. The WRX will use silhouette cars provided by Oreca, powered by two 500-kW electric motors sourced from Williams Engineering, and a common battery. Ex-World Rally Championship maestro Sebastien Loeb, now a World Rallycross team owner and driver, said of that move, “We don’t dream about electric cars, but if the future for all cars is to be electric then it’s normal that we’d make the swap. And in this case I think Rallycross is the best series to do it because it’s very short, you have a lot of power, very fast cars and an intense fight…”

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McLaren Senna GTR Concept gets racy in Geneva

The McLaren Senna GTR Concept storms its way into the Geneva Motor Show with one very bold claim attached to it: Outside of the British company’s Formula One cars, this $1.4-million-dollar supercar is the fastest way around a racetrack in a car with the McLaren badge on it. This is especially big news from a manufacturer that targets the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti; not to mention that McLaren already has legendary exotic cars like the F1 and P1 on its automotive resume.

Based on the recently introduced Senna road car, the Senna GTR delivers more horsepower, more aerodynamic grip, and even more exclusivity. McLaren has promised that the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 will produce a minimum of 813 horsepower in the Senna GTR, versus the 789 hp found in the road-going variant.

The enormous rear diffuser, towering spoiler, and snow-plow-like front splitter aren’t just there for show, either. The highly sculpted carbon fiber bodywork delivers upward of 2,200 pounds of downforce at speed. Much of the body is fitted with quick-release catches, making it easier to replace fenders and other exterior pieces during the heat of competition. The Senna GTR also rides on a special set of lightweight, 11-spoke alloy wheels.

Combined with a revised double wishbone suspension, Pirelli racing slick tires, and a race-style transmission, the Senna GTR will “post the quickest McLaren circuit lap times outside Formula 1,” according to McLaren’s press release. That headline-grabbing claim probably won’t stand for much longer, however.

It’s an open secret that McLaren is hard at work on road and race versions of the cryptically-named BP23, the firm’s “hyper-GT” that pays homage to the original F1 supercar, produced from 1992-1998.

“The track-only McLaren Senna GTR will have more power, more grip and more downforce – up to 1,000 kilograms – than the McLaren Senna and post even faster lap times,” said Mike Flewitt, McLaren Automotive CEO. “The very limited number of customers who secure this car will be buying the closest experience you can get to a race car without actually lining up on a circuit grid.”

Interestingly, about the only thing this race-focused McLaren doesn’t offer is the means to drive it on public roads – this is a track-only speed machine. Then again, if you can afford the roughly $1.4-million price and manage to snag one of the 75 scheduled to be built, commissioning the build of your own private racetrack probably isn’t out of the question.

McLaren will reveal exact technical specifications of the Senna GTR at a later date, though the automaker revealed its taking “expressions of interest” during the Geneva Motor Show. McLaren, consider us interested!

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