Your guide to the McLaren Senna GTR

With race car looks and GT3-class beating power and downforce, the newest in the illustrious McLaren GTR family (the first GTR won Le Mans outright, you will remember) is officially just a pure track car for owners to enjoy in private. But if it looks like a race car, and sounds like a race car… 

At Goodwood over the 6-7^th April weekend the Senna GTR will lead a track procession of McLaren Ultimate Series greats, including the first XP5 F1 prototype. Seeing the Senna GTR in such company it will be tempting to speculate that here is the car to follow in the F1 GTR’s tyre tracks and take on Le Mans in 2020, the first year of the new WEC hypercar class, the 10^th anniversary of McLaren Automotive, the 25^th anniversary of the famous F1 GTR win at La Sarthe in 1995, and the 50^th anniversary of Bruce McLaren’s death. It could be quite a year...

Tempting, but not so far confirmed. So what we are left with is McLaren Automotive’s most extreme track car ever, freed from the constraints of all road and GT-class racing regulations in order to give well-heeled owners the track-day experience of a lifetime. Seventy five are being made, all ordered, from £1.1 million each plus taxes. First deliveries will be made in September this year.

We saw the Senna GTR first as a concept a year ago in Geneva, and while the production-ready prototype making its world public debut at Goodwood is the same in spirit it is slightly different in execution, and claimed to be faster around any circuit than ever. The only thing faster with a McLaren badge is an F1 car.

With 825PS (814bhp), 25PS more than the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 pushes out in the regular road-legal Senna, the GTR is not McLaren Automotive’s most powerful car – that honour goes to the Speedtail – but it is the most track-focused car ever from Woking.

Free of having to meet road or race regulations, the GTR surpasses both the standard Senna and McLaren’s GT3 racecar and is faster around a circuit than either. Over the racer, the GTR has more power, bigger 19-inch wheels, wider slicks, bigger brakes and the active aero (banned by GT3 regulations) of the road-legal Senna.

Changes over the GTR concept include re-siting the exhaust from the side exit ahead of the rear wheels to the rear deck under the wing, where it is said to be both more efficient and sound better. The front splitter, vortex generators, aero blades and diffuser are all subtly different while the rear wing is new, too. Reprofiled and with distinctive new endplates connecting wing to lower bodywork, it has been moved back outside the car’s footprint where it is said to be more effective than ever.

Aero downforce peaks at 1,000kg – 200kg more than the standard Senna offers – but comes with benefits to stability at all speeds in keeping with the car’s emphasis on accessible handling for drivers of all abilities, says McLaren. The ability to ‘stall’ the wing with an automatic drag reduction system (DRS) means top speed should be in excess of the fixed-wing GT3 racer.

With GT3 derived suspension, the GTR is not just lower than the Senna but also quite a bit wider. Front and rear tracks are wider by around 3-inches (77 and 68mm). Despite the bigger footprint, the GTR weighs in at 10kg less than the already very lean Senna thanks to measures including polycarbonate windows and a spartan, race-inspired cabin – although air-conditioning has been retained and a passenger seat is a no-cost option. Its dry weight of 1,188kg is impressive given the GTR comes with essential race kit including pneumatic air jacks and a fire extinguishing system.

With 825PS and that impressive dry weight, the GTR has a power-weight ratio of 694PS per tonne, the highest of any McLaren in current production and ahead of what is allowed in GT3 racing.

So is this the car to emulate one of motor racing’s most acclaimed achievements and, 25 years on, serve up another McLaren victory at Le Mans? McLaren Senna GTR vs Aston Martin Valkyrie vs Mercedes-AMG One – to mention just three – in wheel-to-wheel racing over 24 hours promises to provide a spectacle not to be missed.

We can but dream… meanwhile it will be a treat to see it first in West Sussex at the weekend.