McLaren reveals staggering Senna hypercar

The second model in McLaren's flagship 'Ultimate Series' after the 2013 P1 hypercar has emerged – and it’s coming to Australia.

The McLaren Senna ditches its predecessor's hybrid powertrain for a less sophisticated but lighter twin-turbo V8 – yet achieves the same staggering 0-100km/h sprint time of 2.8 seconds.

It also matches the P1’s claimed 0-200km/h acceleration time of 6.8sec – and completes the standing quarter-mile in just 9.9sec. But the P1 is faster with a 350km/h top speed, versus the Senna's 340km/h.

However, with more aerodynamic advances, exotic materials and technical tricks than a cage-fighting cyborg athlete, the McLaren Senna will make your eyes itchy and brain shrivel up -- even before you look at the tech specs.

Wrapped in a wild carbon-fibre body punctuated by active front and rear wings and a double-deck rear diffuser, the Senna features a rotating digital instrument cluster that swaps between road and track mode.

Weight? Just 1198kg – a massive 220kg drop on the 720S. Production volume? Just 500 globally. Cost? £750,000 – or about $A1.3 million. Want one? Too late…

Only 500 McLaren Sennas will be built and all of them are already spoken for, sight unseen.

We understand that a small number of Sennas will come to Australia, for which the model has been homologated for road use, following strong interest from well-heeled Aussie buyers.

It’s a moot point, but local pricing will be announced at the 2018 Geneva motor show next month, where the Senna will make its public debut. Expect a price of between $1.5 and $2m.

Each car is hand-assembled and takes around 300 man-hours to build, says the Woking-based exotic car brand.

Whether the Senna is a more extreme vehicle than the P1, which was limited to just 375 units, will no doubt be the topic of hot debate, but more on that in a moment.

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What’s in a name?

Named after one of the most famous F1 drivers ever, three-times world champion Aryton Senna, the car's provenance recalls one of the British company’s most successful motorsport eras, rather than McLaren's lacklustre F1 results more recently.

The Senna is a not exactly a direct replacement for the P1, rather one part of its replacement.

The British car-maker has invested a large amount of capital in electric and hybrid technology and that is expected to be deployed with the three-seat McLaren Bespoke Project 2 (BP23).

Confirmed for production in 2019, the BP23 will reprise the McLaren F1's central seat position for the driver, and could take the brand's hypercar offering into the same territory as the upcoming Aston Marton Valkyrie and Mercedes-AMG Project ONE.

The McLaren Senna is based on the same Monocage III carbon-fibre tub and aluminium subframe as the 720S.

Breath-taking dihedral doors return too – although this time with see-through panels to reduce weight.

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More power!

Peak power from the Senna’s force-fed 4.0-litre V8, codenamed M840TR, is 588kW at 7250rpm. That's a lot.

Maximum torque from the mid-mounted engine is 800Nm between 5500 and 6700rpm. Again, more than you'll ever need when cruising along a serpentine coastal route.

All that power is transferred to the rear wheels via dual-clutch seven-speed 'seamless-shift' gearbox. Drivers can let the car do the shifting or take over by tapping carbon-fibre paddles behind the steering wheel that are "optimised to be used both with or without racing gloves".

The Senna's stomach-churning 588kW/800Nm outputs compare to 537kW/770Nm for the McLaren 720S and easily eclipse the 543kW/719Nm numbers of the P1, which was faster but no quicker.

The striking exhaust features triple-exit outlets. McLaren says it can remove the silencer and third exhaust exit "in markets that do not require valves to meet noise legislation".

According to the Brit brand, the Senna is "loud and sharp" and sings like a motorcycle race engine at full tilt.

"The intense crescendo encourages the driver to use high rpms," states the company, which adds that its volume increases by 10dB for every 2000rpm.

Other cool things about the powertrain include its unique Inconel and titanium exhaust system. The slash-cut outlets face up towards the automatically actuating rear carbon-fibre wing, "negating any disturbance to the wing or rear diffuser", says McLaren.

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Active aero

The McLaren Senna features self-adjusting front aero blades and a carbon-fibre rear wing, which can generate up to 800kg of downforce at 250km/h when angled just-so.

Along with a complete redesign of the front and rear ends, the latter featuring a wild double diffuser and other aero doodads, the car is designed purely for fast lap times.

Compare the design with the McLaren 720S's organic, smooth lines and the Senna looks harsh and severe.

McLaren calls the design "savage" and says the car is "ruthless in bending and guiding airflow to meet aerodynamic requirements.

"Proportionally, it is unmistakeably a McLaren, but you cannot follow a single body line from front to rear without it passing through a functional intake or vent."

The Senna sits lower than the 720S and is more stiffly sprung and features advances in its adaptive suspension too.

RaceActive Chassis Control II, or RCC II, comprises front and rear double wishbones with adaptive dampers that are hydraulically interconnected – front to back and left to right.

Lump in a range of sensors and accelerometers that can scrutinise and respond to changes in the road or track surface in two milliseconds, and you're looking at a car that should make amateur drivers look like professionals.

The tyres are specially developed Pirelli P Zero Trofeo Rs, measuring 245/35 ZR19 at the front and 315/30 ZR20 at the rear, while the anchors are "the most advanced ever fitted to a McLaren road car".

McLaren says each of the large carbon-ceramic brake discs takes seven months to create because the cooling vanes are machined, not moulded, into the rotors. Meanwhile, F1-inspired six-piston front callipers are designed to withstand repeated racetrack abuse.

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Academic incidentals

In total there are five primary paint colours available -- again a moot point considering all have been sold -- including Stealth Cosmos black, Trophy Kyanos blue, Trophy Mira orange, Vision Pure white and Vision Victory grey.

No matter the colour, the McLaren Senna will stand out on the road or racetrack with buyers able to specify contrasting-coloured front guard inners, brake callipers, door gas struts, front aero blades and even seat perforations.

"The McLaren Senna is a car like no other: the personification of McLaren’s motorsport DNA, legalised for road use but designed and developed from the outset to excel on a circuit," said McLaren Automotive CEO, Mike Flewitt.

"Every element of this new Ultimate Series McLaren has an uncompromised performance focus, honed to ensure the purest possible connection between driver and machine and deliver the ultimate track driving experience in the way that only a McLaren can."

The McLaren Senna will make its world public debut at the 2018 Geneva motor show on March 6.