The McLaren Senna – My In-Depth Look!

McLaren revealed their new Senna model back in December 2017. Introduced as the most extreme road car they have ever built, the Senna sits in the McLaren Ultimate Series category. It has been given the name of legendary Formula 1 driver, Ayrton Senna, giving it a lot to live up to! The car has been designed, engineered and developed with one, single minded purpose, to be the ultimate McLaren track-concentrated car for the road, and I've been lucky enough to get an up-close and personal look at it!

Let's start with the structure. The carbon core of the Senna is named Monocage III, a structure first introduced in the 650S, which moved up to Monocage II in the 720S and now III in the Senna. This core is the strongest structure McLaren have ever built for a road car, combining the carbon fibre body with lightweight materials to produce a car weighing 1,198KG.

The mid-engined, 4.0L twin-turbo V8 puts out 800PS or 789BHP, giving the car a power-to-weight ratio of 668PS (659BHP) per tonne. This engine is the most powerful road-car internal combustion engine ever built by the Woking manufacturer. This engine is connected to a dual-clutch, seven-speed gearbox, delivering power to the rear wheels. The launch control function allows the Senna to achieve 60MPH from a standstill in just 2.8 seconds, and has a maximum speed of 211MPH.

​At 155MPH, the car produces 800KG of downforce, thanks to it's aerodynamics. The carbon front splitter is 150mm longer than that on the McLaren P1, and 75mm longer than the P1 GTR. McLaren have been clever with the front splitter on the Senna, which juts out just a little in front of the car. The splitter has been engineered to be as thin as possible, whilst still meeting legal requirements. It can also be removed and replaced, meaning any damage caused by curbs, either on the street or on the track, can be rectified easily.

The brake discs alone take seven months each to create. The carbon ceramic brakes created by McLaren are their most advanced ever, taking inspiration from racing technology. The brakes have four times the thermal conductivity and are 60% stronger than conventional carbon ceramic brakes. This allows the discs to be smaller, yet 150 degrees cooler and reduces brake fade and wear rates. McLaren have been so focused on saving weight, the raised logo has even been removed from the brake calipers to shed a few pounds!

The active front aero blades on the car work in union with the rear wing and help increase downforce in accelerating and cornering. The blades rotate to direct air onto fixed blades higher than the bumper or to a shallower angle to reduce downforce and provide better balance. In addition to this, the rear wing also makes a huge contribution to downforce on the car, which moves under heavy braking to increase stability and making it easier to corner the Senna on track. When put into race mode, the centre of gravity is lowered by lowering the nose of the car by 39mm. The suspension is also stiffened to work with the aerodynamics and give the driver more confidence and grip whilst on the track.

​The two front headlights are each made up of 21 LEDs, that change intensity according to the steering angle of the car. To the rear, the lights have been designed to be as slim as possible to reduce interruptions to the airflow. 84 LEDs make up the rear lights, with 60 red LEDs for rear lights and brakes and the remaining 24 amber lights for indicators.

One thing that raised a few eyebrows upon the Senna's release was the windows in the lower parts of the doors. McLaren state that this toughened, Gorilla glass adds to the sensory experience for the driver, allowing more light into the cabin. The trademark dihedral doors open with a portion of the roof and expose lower sills. This allows a driver easy access to the Senna, even when wearing a full race suit and helmet.

Inside the new model, each carbon fibre seat weighs just 3.35KG. The seats are wrapped with seven, lightweight Alcantara pads, or the owner can opt for leather. The pedals are fixed, and the seats move on rails. What is interesting is that the module that selects Drive, Neutral and Reverse is fixed to the driver's seat, meaning it will always move where the driver moves!

Like a fighter jet, the start button for the car is located in a roof mounted panel, and the door release mechanisms and window switches are located on the centre console. Unlike most supercars on the market today, the three-spoke steering wheel is free from buttons, apart from the shift paddles behind. McLaren say that this is to allow the driver to focus on the feedback the steering delivers. All of the car information can be seen on an seamless, 8-inch infotainment screen. Similar to the 720S, this screen slides down into a slim display mode to show just speed, RPM and the selected gear at the touch of a button.

The Senna has the option to be fitted with McLaren Track Telemetry, which captures real-time data such as speed and lap times to allow the driver to analyse their laps and sector times whilst on track. Pretty impressive! Further to this, an additional 3-camera system can also be fitted to do video analysis of your lap.

In summary, McLaren’s new Senna embodies the values of it's namesake driver. McLaren believe that the passion in everything Ayrton Senna did is reflected in the efforts of every designer and engineer that worked on creating this vehicle that carries his name. Bruno Senna stated that the car honoured his late uncle's name as it was so utterly focused on the driver and their connection with the vehicle. It’s clear that McLaren’s focus on this car has been about weight saving and making the Senna feel like a track car meant for the road, and they have certainly succeeded with this!

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