The McLaren Senna

The McLaren Senna, 

Let me tell you about this car, keeping in mind I have never driven one and can only aspire to ever get to. 

The Senna, where did it come from and how did it come to be? 

McLaren named the Senna, (if it wasn’t already obvious to you) after the late and great Ayrton Senna. Former F1 champion, winning the world champion titles in 1988, 1990 and 1991. And to this day, still seen as one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. Unfortunately, Senna passed away from a crash in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

The first McLaren Senna was released in 2018, and then in 2019 they announced the GTR version. Both Senna models are unsurprisingly fast as hell, and though the original is road legal, the GTR is not. Since then, they have also released a special addition called the Can-am. Can-am because of the old racing series. 

I was told from a McLaren sales associate, that 75 of the McLaren GTR’s were being built and of those 75, they were only able to sell 52. Leaving McLaren 23 other GTR chassis to build special projects with. And of those 23, three McLaren Senna Cam-am’s were going to be made for the Canadian market, and those are all sold. 

The base Senna features a 4.0L twin-turbo V8 making 789hp and 590lb-ft of torque. That power paired with a carbon body weighing only 2,641lbs (dry weight) makes for a monster of a vehicle. The GTR however makes 814hp and 590lb-ft, and weighs 2,619lbs (also dry weight). Doesn’t seem like much, but when your comparing two of the fastest cars McLaren has ever built, those small differences can take A-LOT of work to accomplish. Especially when you look at what they’ve added with the GTR. 

What are some of the other differences between the base Senna and the GTR?

The doors for one. On the base model, they have glass in the lower section of the doors, whereas on the GTR that part of glass is replaced with a carbon panel. The front fenders also have vents on the GTR where the base model does not, and the rear wing also has much larger side panels that carry all the way down to the lower part of the bumper. The GTR is also lower and wider than the original Senna.

The Senna Can-am also features other items then GTR does not, some of which include; Special floor mats, head rest sticking that says Can-am, grey, white and orange stitching throughout the car, and nice grey, white and orange line across the top of the steering wheel. 

So, out of all three, which one would I have? Quite frankly probably the base model. The reason behind that is, you can’t drive the other two on the street. So, yes it would be nice to have the fastest track car McLaren makes (other than the F1 cars), but what’s the point if you can’t even drive it to and from the track? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but even with that much money I would still like to drive it home at the end of the day.