Striking.
Earlier this year, British supercar specialists McLaren unveiled their most performance-focused road car in history, the McLaren Senna, and made us believe that they’d rewritten the book on what unfettered, untamed performance for the road felt like. With a design dictated by aerodynamics, the Senna was touted as uncompromised, unapologetic, and brutal.
So of course McLaren’s in-house skunkworks, McLaren Special Operations (MSO), decided they’d have a go at the Senna and make it even more distinctive. Welcome the Senna Carbon Theme, which is headed for its motor show debut in Geneva next week.
If you can’t tell, the primary focus of the Carbon Theme is carbon fibre, with the ultra lightweight material used liberally all over the thing. All in all, the 67 carbon fibre parts that make up the Senna Carbon Theme take almost 1,000 hours to make, on top of the 300 hours that the Senna already commands for assembly.
A further 250-hours are demanded for the Solar Yellow detailing you see on various bits and pieces. Paired with the Laurel Green on the brake calipers, and the colour combination emerges as an homage to the colour scheme of the late Ayrton Senna’s helmet.
Going further, MSO has created a set of carbon-fibre wheels. The seven-spoke Hybrid Carbon Fibre units weigh just 7.5kg a piece, and will be offered to all Senna buyers in the future as an option. They can be had in either Diamond Cut or Stealth finishes, while the centre locks are finished in Memphis Red and Vega Blue, and are fitted to the right-hand and left-hand side wheels of the car, respectively.
The cabin of the Senna Carbon see further modification. Laurel Green is used on the gas struts that hold up the doors, and is also used for the contrast stitching throughout the black Alcantara interior. Finally, you’ll find the ’S’ for ‘Senna’ on the headrests, which is replicated on the end-caps of the rear wing, too.
The performance stats on the Senna are unchanged though. As such, motivation comes from a 4.0-litre biturbo V8, producing a stratospheric 588kW and 800Nm, which is impressive all on its own, even before you consider the Senna’s jaw-dropping 485/tonne power-to-weight ratio. This means that the Senna can rocket from rest to 100km/h in 2.8-seconds, and 200km/h in 6.8-seconds.
The Senna’s suspension is broadly familiar to what’s available on the P1, with independant double-wishbone suspension and hydraulic active dampers and anti-roll bars, which McLaren has christened as ‘Race Active Chassis Control II (or RCC II). With Race mode engaged (via a button mounted on the roof), the Senna lowers itself by as much as 40mm, while the suspension is stiffened, to sharpen its response. Braking is catered for using carbon ceramic discs and incorporate motorsports tech to make them some of the most advanced units available on a road vehicle.
McLaren will demand no less than £750,000 (or about $1.3-million) for one of just 500 Sennas, though we’re informed that all of them have been sold. The Carbon Theme adds to this a further £300,000 (or $534,000) to the asking price. And if the Carbon Theme isn’t quite your thing, McLaren will be showing a further four ‘themes’ for the Senna at the Geneva Motor Show next week, though the rest will be only in digital form.
For more information on McLaren, check out our Showroom.
