CarBrandLogos archive · McLaren · 2018

McLarenMcLaren Senna

Shaped entirely by the airflow, and named with the family's permission.

Photo: Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in McLaren history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the McLaren Senna, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

McLaren's Ultimate Series has room for cars that answer one question at the expense of all others. The Senna, launched in 2018, answered lap time on a circuit, and it looks like it.

Geneva Motor Show 2489 · Norbert Aepli, Switzerland (User:Noebu) · CC BY 4.0

Design and engineering

Almost nothing about the body was drawn for appearance. The vast double-element rear wing is mounted on a hydraulic gooseneck that moves it constantly, the front splitter and dive planes feed a fully sealed underbody, and the rear bodywork is cut away entirely where airflow needed to escape, leaving the suspension and exhaust exposed. The doors have optional transparent lower panels because the driver's view of an apex mattered more than the panel did. It generates several times the downforce of a 720S at speed.

McLaren Senna GTR Genf 2018 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0

In production

Underneath sits the Monocage III tub, a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 in its hardest state of tune driving through a seven-speed dual-clutch, and a hydraulic suspension system with a track mode that all but eliminates roll. Weight was fought everywhere: thinner glass, carbon shells for the seats, no sound insulation to speak of.

2020 McLaren Senna LM · MrWalkr · CC BY-SA 4.0

Legacy

Using the name required approval from Ayrton Senna's family, and the Senna Foundation receives a share of the proceeds. All 500 road cars were sold before the public saw one, and were followed by 75 track-only GTRs and a small run of Le Mans-liveried specials. Nobody has ever called it beautiful, which was never the brief.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

2018–2019

Designer

Rob Melville

Body

2-door coupé

Technical specification

The McLaren Senna, in detail.

Production: 2018-2019; 500 Senna made; 75 Senna GTR made; 35 Senna LM made; 5 Senna GTR LM made
Class: Sports Car (S)
Body style: 2-door coupé
Layout: Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive
Engine: 4.0 L Ricardo-built and assembled McLaren M840TR twin-turbocharged V8
Transmission: In-house 7-speed dual-clutch
Designer: Rob Melville
Assembly: United Kingdom: Woking, Surrey, England
Manufacturer: McLaren Automotive