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McLaren Senna First Drive Review | What's in a name

LISBON, Portugal — Ferrari owners don't just buy a car, they buy an image of performance and sophistication. Let's be honest: this reflected glory is a primary motivating factor for supercar ownership, and it's great for self-esteem. More to the point, it's sustained Ferrari for the last 70 years. And now McLaren, on a much steeper learning curve, is catching on that supercars need more than just dominating performance figures to reach the next level. If you're going to name your car after Ayrton Senna, it had better be something special. Evidence is provided by the fact that the McLaren Senna isn't just wickedly fast, it puts you in the driving seat of a car named after one of the most revered F1 drivers in history, built by the road car arm of the team that powered him to three championships. Driving it might not make you his equal, but the marketing gold is self-evident. McLaren isn't letting this opportunity slip through its grasp, not least in its choice of launch venue — Estoril circuit outside of Lisbon, the scene of Ayrton Senna's first Grand Prix win back in 1985. The manner of that victory, conducted in pouring rain and seeing him lap all but one of the field, set in place a legend. OK, he did it in a Lotus and not a McLaren. But given how many of the people behind this car also started their careers at Lotus, that's kind of appropriate, too. Thankfully it's not raining when I arrive at Estoril, so we won't be required to display similarly God-given driving talent. That doesn't make it much less intimidating, though. Having had the full technical deep dive, I confess to approaching this drive with a degree of trepidation. Sure, it's road car with street tires, air-con and touchscreen navigation. But 789 horsepower in a car weighing less than 2,900 pounds, fueled and ready to roll? The Senna's 1,764 pounds of downforce at 155 mph is an impressive number, but pretty much an abstract concept unless you live on the track. But its 0-124 mph time, a whole second faster than a hybrid-enhanced P1? That's one to wake you up. Likewise, a track briefing before heading onto the track revealed that our braking point from 180 mph for Estoril's first turn will be 60 feet past what it would be in a 720S. A few reconnaissance laps reveal Estoril to be narrow, technical, and with an odd mix of slow, tight corners and hugely committed high-speed ones. All with authentic, mid-1980s quantities of run-off. Which is to say, not much.

Mclaren 570S-based track car spied at the Nurburgring

We're just a few days away from the reveal of Mclaren's latest car, a track vehicle of some sort, but new spy shots give us a sneak peek at the new car. It's unquestionably based on the McLaren 570S and its Sports Series variants. It also looks like a pretty hardcore machine. We can tell this is the car McLaren has been teasing the last few weeks because it has the same top-mounted exhaust, and the same taillights and extreme diffuser. There are a number of details we weren't able to see in the teaser images, though. A big one is the big rear wing on the back. It's matched by deep side splitters with tall fins for channeling air. And of course there's a deeper front splitter to finish things off. It also appears that the intake scoops on the sides are a bit larger than on the normal 570 models. McLaren hasn't revealed any specifics about this new vehicle. All the company has said is that this will be a serious, no-compromises track car. It's a safe bet that it features a number of suspension upgrades to go along with the aerodynamic changes. It's possible that it has more power, too, just as the 675LT had more power (and a revised name) compared with the 650S. We won't have long to wait for the details, since McLaren will show the car on June 28, and it will be driven at Goodwood on July 12. Related Video: Featured Gallery McLaren Sports Series track car View 18 Photos Image Credit: CarPix Spy Photos McLaren Coupe Performance Supercars mclaren 570s mclaren sports series

McLaren reveals top-exit exhaust of new model, announces launch date

McLaren just released some more tidbits of info about its next car, including a new teaser image. This one explains the lack of the exhaust in the last photo: The exhaust comes out of the top of the engine cover. Two big outlets sit at the back and center of the engine cover, and it looks like they're just ahead of the retractable rear spoiler. They certainly look cool, probably sound cool, and we wouldn't be surprised if there's a performance reason behind this placement. Besides the sneak peek at the exhaust, McLaren made a few broad statements about the car. It said that it will be more powerful and lighter than whatever it's based on.The company also indicated earlier that the car will be very hardcore and uncompromised. From the previous teaser, we're fairly certain the car is based on the Sports Series McLarens that include the 570S, 570GT and 570S Spyder in the U.S., and the 540C in other markets. Since the names of the cars are based on horsepower, and this one will make more than the current 570 models, it probably won't use the 570 moniker. We also won't have to wait too long to see the car revealed. The company will show it off on June 28 at 7 a.m. Eastern time. We'll then get to see it in action when it heads up the hill at Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 12. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: McLaren McLaren Coupe Performance Supercars mclaren 570s

FIA introduces 'Hypercar Concept' for World Endurance Championship

One of the most common jabs at hypercars is the question, "Where can you drive them to their potential?" Imagine the answer being: to the checkered flag in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We're not there yet, but the FIA World Motor Sport Council took a step closer to the possibility during its second annual meeting in Manila, the Philippines. One of three initiatives the WSMC announced for the 2020 World Endurance Championship was "Freedom of design for brands based on a 'Hypercar' concept." This "Hypercar concept" would replace LMP1 as the premier class in the WEC. The dream, of course, would be seeing racing versions of the AMG Project One, Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro, Bugatti Chiron, Koenigsegg Regera, McLaren Senna GTR, Pagani Huara BC, and the rest of the gang trading paint and carbon fiber through Dunlop in a heinously expensive version of "Buy on Sunday, sell on Monday." The reality is that we don't have all the details yet on the set of regulations called "GTP," but the FIA wants race cars more closely tied to road cars, albeit with the performance level of today's LMP1 cars. Exterior design freedom would shelter internals designed to reduce costs, the FIA planning to mandate less complex hybrid systems and allow the purchase of spec systems. One of the FIA's primary goals is lowering LMP1 budgets to a quarter of their present levels. Audi and Porsche budgets exceeded $200 million, while Toyota - the only factory LMP1 entry this year and next - is assumed to have a budget hovering around $100 million. Reports indicated that Aston Martin, Ferrari, Ford, McLaren, and Toyota sat in on the development of the proposed class. If the FIA can get costs down to around $25 million, that would compare running a top IndyCar team and have to be hugely appealing to the assembled carmakers. The initiative represents another cycle of the roughly once-a-decade reboot of sports car racing to counter power or cost concerns. The FIA shut down Group 5 Special Production Sports Car class in 1982 to halt worrying power hikes, and introduced Group C. In 1993, Group C came to an ignoble end over costs; manufacturers were spending $15 million on a season, back when that was real money and not one-fifth of a Ferrari 250 GTO. Then came the BPR Global GT Series that morphed into the FIA GT Championship, which would see the last not-really-a-road car take overall Le Mans victory in 1998, the Porsche 911 GT1. That era would be most aligned with a future hypercar class.

New McLaren coming, looks like a high-performance 570S

McLaren has a new model coming out soon, and to announce it, the automaker released the above teaser image and the below teaser trailer. Though there isn't much detail in the announcement, we can tell a fair amount from what the company did release. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. First of all, the car in the image looks like a variant of the current Sports Series McLarens, which include variations on the 570S. This is based on the taillight design. It's probably a high-performance version, too. The image shows this model has a far more aggressive diffuser, a new air outlet on the edges of the bumper behind the rear tires, and no visible exhaust tips. We do know that this car has some sort of internal combustion engine, though, since the trailer features a high-pitched, urgent exhaust note. Further evidence of the high-performance nature of this McLaren comes in the phrasing used on the promotional website. It uses phrases such as "raw and uncompromised," "total focus," "pure adrenaline," and "the edge is calling." This is definitely some sort of extra fast, probably track-oriented McLaren 570. Maybe it will be called McLaren 570 GTR. Only time will tell, and how much time is also a mystery, since McLaren simply said the car is "coming soon." Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: McLaren McLaren Coupe Performance Supercars mclaren 570s mclaren sports series

McLaren 675LT gets paint scheme from its dad

The McLaren 675LT was designed as a lighter, faster version of the 650S, and it gained a lengthened tail section, hence the LT designation. This longer design was partly inspired by the McLaren F1 GTR "longtail." That race car also featured a longer body. One 675LT customer decided bodywork wasn't enough of a connection to the famous '90s racer, so he commissioned the race-inspired paint scheme you see above. The paint job is a rendition of the 1997 Le Mans GT1 class-winning F1 GTR, which sported a livery based on main sponsor Gulf Oil. It's not a simple design, and it's one that McLaren completely painted. There are no stickers here. And it took a lot of work to complete. McLaren says the whole car took 1,000 hours to finish, and 800 of them were spent on the paint. The company even had to ask Gulf Oil permission to use the color scheme again. But the end result is a convincing facsimile of the old race car, particularly with those almost glowing orange wheels. Aside from the striking paint, the car has a few exterior changes. It has vented front fenders, a more prominent roof scoop, and a visible carbon-fiber rear air brake. Inside, the car features black upholstery with contrasting orange and blue stitching, orange vent surrounds and seat belts, and blue handling and powertrain switchgear. The only things left unchanged are the performance numbers. It doesn't weigh any less than a normal model. It also makes the same 666 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque as the regular 675LTs. But that should still be plenty of fun to play with, and surely the paint job makes it feel a lot faster. Related Video: Featured Gallery McLaren 675LT Gulf Livery View 10 Photos Image Credit: McLaren McLaren Coupe Supercars gulf mclaren 675lt mclaren f1 gtr

Silverados, Raptors and a 710 horsepower McLaren | Autoblog Podcast #542

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale. We talk about driving the new engines in the upcoming 2019 Chevy Silverado, updates to the Ford F-150 Raptor and a purple McLaren 720S that briefly passed through our office. As always, we also help a listener buy a new car in our "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #542 Your browser does not support the audio element. Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we've been driving: Chevy Silverado, McLaren 720S Ford F-150 Raptor Updates Best food for road trips Spend my money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: Podcasts Chevrolet Ford McLaren Truck Coupe Performance Supercars ford f-150 raptor mclaren 720s

We spec a McLaren Senna supercar with MSO

A rarely considered similarity between hypercars: poor or nonexistent configurators. The Ferrari LaFerrari configurator let you choose between three colors. Bugatti once let you change the colors and wheels on the Chiron, but no more. McLaren didn't bother with a configurator for the P1. Only the digital playground built for the Porsche 918 Spyder bucked the trend. That's likely because as soon as an MSRP requires two commas, shoppers become "clients," and clients deserve hosts in Hermes to help them navigate the party. No supercar better demonstrates this trend than the McLaren Senna. And, it just so happens, McLaren invited Autoblog to Beverly hills to roleplay as one of the 15 LA-area residents who bought Sennas. I'd be assisted in the act by two MSO Bespoke Liaison Managers – Katie Newell and Emily Monk – who were on an international jaunt shepherding actual buyers through the process. MSO doesn't send the duo on global tour dates for every offering, only the limited, special ones. When I asked what the personal service accomplishes, McLaren said, "The benefit of working directly with a MSO Bespoke Liaison Manager to spec your car is that they are deeply familiar with the ins and outs of the vehicle, and understand how different fit, finishes and options will interact together. They also understand what is feasible from an engineering, manufacturing and paint perspective given the years of experience they have building P1, 720S, etc." Boiled down, that means institutional knowledge, and they also know when to propose curbing your egregious enthusiasms. There will be no whale penis leather here, thank you, now let's move on. Ultimately, a configurator is a configurator – the mechanics of selection and dialogue boxes apply equally to cars, dress shirts, and pizza. The difference with the Senna is in having oh-so-many-more dialogue boxes, as well as two Ye Olde Worlde assistants, champagne, and petits-fours. And this comes before one casts about for unique electives. I heard a client from a previous car sent half a hair dryer to be color-matched – just the kind of fantastic eccentricity I expect from the word "bespoke". An MSO briefcase on the table in front of me provided abundant starting points: exterior paint swatches, carbon fiber colors, stitch types and thread colors, laser-etched accelerator pedals, different finishes for the rather large key, a sample of the 24-carat gold engine bay heat shield.

Like dragons? The 2018 McLaren 570GT Cabbeen Collection is for you!

McLaren must be doing good business with its McLaren Special Operations (MSO) special edition supercars because it has just released another, and like with the Canada Commission, this one takes its inspiration from a specific country, namely China. It's called the 2018 McLaren 570GT Cabbeen Collection, and was developed in conjunction with a Chinese fashion designer simply referred to as Mr. Cabbeen. We suspect that it received the name "collection" because of the connection to fashion, despite the special edition being just one model. The 570GT Cabbeen Collection is instantly recognizable by its black paint scheme with gold wheels, gold brake calipers and gold dragons painted in the intake scallops. It does revive memories of the garish Jeep Wrangler Dragon Edition, but the McLaren is admittedly much more tasteful. It also boasts some fine craftsmanship, since the dragons are hand painted. Inside, the theme continues with gold dragons embroidered into the center tunnel and the cargo area. They are done in an embroidery style specific to China known as Chao, and they were put in by the Director of the Professional Embroidery Committee of China's Arts and Crafts Institute ( now that's a job - Ed.). This is all a far cry from cheap stickers and color-coordinated stitching. Unlike the McLaren 570S Spider Canada Commission, the 570GT Cabbeen Collection will be available globally. But if you want one, speak up quickly, because only five will be built. Pricing was not revealed, but expect something well into the six figures. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2018 McLaren 570GT MSO Cabbeen Collection Image Credit: McLaren Beijing Motor Show McLaren Coupe Supercars mclaren special operations mso mclaren 570gt

McLaren 570S Spider Canada Commission is for our northern neighbors

McLaren's MSO custom division seems to stay quite busy. Every few months they seem to have a new special configuration to offer buyers. Sometimes they're a bit silly or unimpressive, but other times they create something really unique and cool. This McLaren 570S Spider falls into the latter category. It's called the Canada Commission, and the company will build just five of them exclusively for our northern neighbors. What makes it a Canadian Commission is primarily the unique color scheme. It's painted white, and the various carbon fiber accents are finished with a translucent red finish. In addition, it has white accent stripes along the side sills and on the rear diffuser. A white maple leaf appears on the back ahead of the spoiler, and on either side sill where the car's typical "570S" logo would go. Inside the custom Canadian contraption are even more white and red accents amidst the black interior. The headliner is red as is the steering wheel. On the top of the steering wheel is a white stripe indicating the 12 o'clock position. There are other maple leaf accents scattered about the interior, too. As we mentioned, the Canada Commission 570S Spider is just for Canadians. Three examples will go to McLaren's Toronto dealer, and one each will go to the Montreal and Vancouver locations. It will also cost just over $353,000 Canadian, which comes to about $280,000 American. That's over $70,000 more than a plain roadster. But hey, it's really exclusive, and a pretty cool custom edition. We're sure McLaren won't have trouble selling them. Related Video: Image Credit: McLaren Design/Style McLaren Convertible Performance Supercars mclaren special operations mso mclaren 570s spider