The Senna: McLaren’s track-focused hypercar detailed

McLaren fans were split down the middle when the British firm unveiled its Senna hypercar last October. Some loved its extreme looks and racing-inspired rear-wing, while others thought it was ugly and oddly proportioned.

While looks are subjective, there’s no denying the hypercar, named after McLaren driver and triple F1 world champion Ayrton Senna, appears to be the most extreme road car the company has ever made.

Now McLaren has detailed the performance of the Senna ahead of its public debut at the Geneva Motor Show on 6 March.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Under the carbon fibre skin is a mid-mounted 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine, the same motor that powers the company’s 720S supercar. It produces 789bhp and 590lb-ft of torque, which makes it the most powerful McLaren road car on sale. This helps the Senna go from 0-62mph in just 2.8sec and on to a top speed of 211mph.

Power is sent to the rear wheels through a seven-speed, dual-clutch automatic gearbox. You can switch the car into manual mode and change gear using the carbon fibre paddles behind the steering wheel.

On a circuit, the Senna can produce 800kg of downforce, which keeps the car under control when corning at high speeds. McLaren has achieved this by fitting the car with active aerodynamics, where the wings automatically change position for optimum grip.

Plus, McLaren will remove the vehicle’s silencer on models shipped to countries that do not have noise restrictions. Unfortunately for fans of loud cars, that doesn’t apply to models bought in the UK.

The company plans to produce 500 Sennas, each costing £750,000 and taking 300 hours to build by hand.