You can make your supercar track weapon as focused as you like – the simple fact is it’ll be compromised by its road legality. So, the natural thing to do is make a non-road legal version with slicks plus suspension and aero setups that just wouldn’t work away from the circuit, and up the price a little.
The latest car to fit that mold is the McLaren Senna GTR. Revealed first in concept form at the Geneva Motor Show last year, Woking now has a production version to show off. Looks mean, doesn’t it?
Compared to the Senna road car, An extra 25bhp has been liberated from the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 thanks to an ECU recalibration and the removal of the secondary catalytic converter. This brings the total output to 825bhp. The side-exit exhausts of the concept are gone, replaced with a top-exit system to save weight and give the exhaust gases a shorter route of escape.
The aero side of the equation has been drastically altered. At the front there’s a new splitter, raised slightly in the middle, helping feed air to the huge rear diffuser. The rear wing now sits further back, just outside the footprint of the car, and has been given LMP1-esque endplates.
All of this comes together to give a peak downforce of 1000kg, up from 800kg for the road-going car. In fact, the ‘downforce curve’ is entirely different, meaning it’s capable of matching the Senna road car’s negative lift levels at 15 per cent lower speeds.
For the suspension setup, McLaren ditched the complicated variable ride control suspension and replaced it with conventional aluminium double wishbones plus 720S GT3-spec dampers. The track is wider too, growing by 77mm at the front and 68mm at the rear.
The GTR’s 19-inch centre-locking wheels are wrapped in full slick tyres from Pirelli, and just behind them, you’ll find 390mm carbon ceramic discs squeezed by six-piston calipers at the front and four-pots at the rear. Working together with the air brake functionality of the rear wing, the new stoppers can haul you up with 20 per cent greater deceleration than before.
Despite the widened track, the new aero bits plus additions like an internal air jack system and a fire extinguisher, the Senna GTR is actually 10kg lighter than the road car with a 1188kg dry weight. You can thank the GTR’s crash diet, which included switching glass for polycarbonate, and ripping out the infotainment system. But don’t worry, for hotter track days, there is still an air conditioning system to stop you drenching your racing overalls in sweat.
Want one? Tough luck. Even if you can navigate the initial hurdle of needing £1.1 million (plus taxes) to secure one, it’s moot – all 75 are spoken for. The first examples will be delivered this September.
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