The keys to this McLaren Senna, an early factory-owned pre-production unit, got here with warnings hooked up. The sternest got here from Bruno Senna, yup, that Senna, who referred to as it the noisiest, rattliest instance he’d ever pushed. Alongside the carmaker’s beneficiant PR group, he insisted that its construct high quality wasn’t consultant of the five hundred buyer automobiles produced. It hasn’t had a straightforward life both. Having racked up just below 10,000 of the harshest miles a automobile can cowl, together with starring in varied damaging journal exams, this Senna wanted a whole restoration of its suspension earlier than its sixth birthday.
Because the warnings poured in, this automobile’s attract solely grew. Drive alternatives in hypercars are uncommon sufficient, however an opportunity to pattern a correctly thrashed, high-mile, pre-production unit? That simply doesn’t occur.
Powered by anticipation, pleasure, and a splash of hysteria, I walked into the storage of the Portola Lodge in Monterey Bay, the place the MSO Kyanos Blue Senna sat. It was the height of Automobile Week, and a dozen younger automobile spotters wielding supercar-hungry cameras swarmed the awaiting McLaren. This easy-to-sneak-into multi-level construction is known for the steel it homes throughout this famed week in August. And alongside its low price of entry, it’s one in every of few locations you’ll discover a Lamborghini Countach flanked by a Bugatti Veyron and a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.
Cameras rolling, I fired up the McLaren’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, engaged the entrance raise, and exited the crowded storage. Particular consideration was paid to avoid wasting its nostril. By chance making a well-documented viral second would make for an embarrassing begin, however that’s the fact of driving a Senna throughout Automobile Week. From the second I turned onto the streets of Monterey looking for the Pacific Coast Freeway, I can’t recall an occasion after I wasn’t being filmed or photographed. Automobile spotters would crowd crosswalks to get the right shot, capturing what I’m certain are flattering pictures of me fidgeting with this automobile’s antiquated however nonetheless usable navigation system. Too dangerous Apple Carplay wasn’t extensively adopted again in 2018.
Regardless of the outpouring of consideration, the Senna doesn’t cease site visitors as a result of it appears good. It’s the clearest instance of a automobile that prioritizes operate over kind, with its purposeful design producing a sense of shock and awe. It’s a automobile you gaze upon with disbelief that it even exists. But, that McLaren efficiently federalized it on the market within the US stays an incredible feat. Whereas automobiles just like the Aston Martin Valkyrie and the Mercedes-AMG One arguably outdo it when it comes to motorsport theatrics, they’ll must cross the Atlantic beneath the “Present or Show” exemption. Years after the Senna’s 2017 debut, no totally US-legal highway automobile is as devoted to extremes.
Turning onto the Pacific Coast Freeway, adorned by endlessly winding pavement, towering cliffs, and beautiful ocean views, is normally a horrible thought throughout Automobile Week. A powerful police presence, confused vacationers piloting overpriced leases, and simply aggravated locals make discovering a highway clear sufficient to train a automobile just like the McLaren Senna a real problem. Fortunately, or technically unluckily, intense storms broken sections of Freeway 1, triggering its closure about 40 miles south of Carmel. With excessive hopes {that a} highway to nowhere would offer sufficient open house, I pointed the Senna’s nostril in the direction of the coast.
Instantly, I hit site visitors, with my common velocity dropping to what felt like a crawl. Unexpectedly, nevertheless, the McLaren Senna was unaffected by the slowed tempo. Driving on a modified model of the carbon monocoque that underpins the 720S, the Senna additionally incorporates up to date variations of its seven-speed dual-clutch computerized and its twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, simply boosted to 789 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. As such, it doesn’t wrestle in slow-moving site visitors, shifting seamlessly in computerized mode with its dampers remaining comparatively compliant of their softest setting.
Within the Senna, it’s straightforward to settle into what looks like a wholly regular driving expertise till it’s instantly not. Attempt to decrease a window, and also you’ll encounter a gap giant sufficient to suit a postcard. Oh, and the swap that operates it’s now on the roof, as is the beginning button and the door launch.
Look out the facet view mirror, and also you’ll see its huge rear wing making changes on the fly. Searching the rear window feels akin to peering by way of a peephole, though you get yet one more clear view of the huge spoiler. Even admiring the Pacific turns into an uncommon expertise as you may catch glimpses by way of the standard side-view home windows up high and the additional piece of glass in its door beneath.
There are fixed reminders that you simply’re piloting one thing particular. Be it the cabin, the stares of passers-by, or that cut up second while you catch a glimpse of its excessive design mirrored off one other automobile. Click on down by way of a couple of gears, nevertheless, and the expertise takes yet one more flip. Passing what felt like, and what Waze indicated, was the final CHP officer on the route, I switched its powertrain and suspension settings into Sport.
This McLaren Senna, which had up till this level, performed the position of grand tourer, instantly awoke in anger. The graphics of its digital instrument cluster morphed to show a big tachometer and a distinguished gear indicator whereas its dampers stiffened significantly. I might immediately really feel extra highway vibrations permeating by way of the cabin and, crucially, my fixed-back seat.
Not confined to decrease revs, the Senna’s exhaust be aware doubled in quantity virtually immediately, with a high-pitched buzz absent in all different McLarens. Of all the recommendation Bruno Senna gave me forward of this afternoon, sporting earplugs was one I mistakenly ignored. He talked about that the manufacturing automobiles had been far quieter. Nonetheless, I hadn’t anticipated how loud this pre-production unit can be. Fortunately, the track emanating from its giant twin pipes wasn’t simply louder; it retained an thrilling, raspy tone, which made punishing my eardrums worthwhile.
On paper, I can perceive how the McLaren Senna may come throughout as a re-bodied 720S given all of the components sharing, however diving into the primary bend at velocity revealed it’s something however. There’s an immediacy to the response you get from its entrance finish that I’ve by no means felt earlier than. It modifications path immediately with out hesitation, its steering feeling virtually telepathically fast. Its electro-hydraulic setup transmits each final highway characteristic with near-constant suggestions, even whereas resting on middle.
Chaining some switchbacks reveals a sense of masslessness you may’t pretend with wider tires and agency suspension, a present of this automobile’s 2,641-pound curb weight. It pays additional dividends while you lean into the throttle between corners and it simply picks up velocity immediately so long as you keep away from the turbo lag current at decrease revs. Cresting a small hill supplied a transparent view of the highway forward. My impromptu highway journey south had lastly paid off, and I couldn’t see one other automobile forward for what will need to have been a mile. Assuming such a gap wouldn’t repeat itself, I dialed to trace mode and went for it.
As within the 720S, the Senna’s digital cluster swiveled, revealing a small slit-like show displaying the chosen gear, engine revs, and present velocity. The grip ranges had been in contrast to anything I’ve skilled earlier than. It’s undramatic in how confidently it sticks to the highway with no added noise from its tires, simply lateral forces embedding your torso into the leather-based seat pads. With every passing bend, its highly effective carbon ceramics, fast entrance finish, and grippy rubbers invited me to brake and switch later. But, as I did, the Senna by no means misplaced its composure, simply selecting up faster nook speeds.
I’d like to inform you that the soar from Sport to Monitor was transformational, however even on one of many best roads within the nation, accessing that highest stage of velocity merely isn’t potential outsie of a correct circuit. As pleasurable and confidence-inspiring because the McLaren Senna is to hustle up an empty mountain highway, there’s an unshakable sense that you simply’ll attain your limits far earlier than it does. Realizing when to again off, I discovered a turnout simply forward of the closure and pointed the Senna’s nostril again to Monterey.
As a part of McLaren’s Final Collection, this automobile carried a $958,966 base value when new, making it a seven-figure proposition as soon as choices had been factored in. And regardless of not producing one million horsepower, this crops it firmly inside the illusive hypercar class. An area devoted to the automobiles that aren’t simply quickest, though the Senna’s 2.8-second run to 60 mph and 211 mph high velocity are nothing to scoff at, however those who ship an expertise most supercars can’t.
On this context, the McLaren Senna represents not simply the most effective the carmaker might do in 2017 however a pivotal second for its phase. This yr’s Monterey Automobile Week noticed a number of automakers that generally reside within the seven-figure house, together with new entrants, deal with extra than simply outright velocity. With the arrival of electrical tremendous and hypercars within the interim making on-paper stats virtually superfluous, there’s a renewed deal with the driving expertise. The individuals who can have something have spoken, and so they need memorable drives.
Considered by way of this lens, the Senna was, looking back, forward of its time. Even when new, it didn’t have essentially the most horsepower or the quickest in a straight line. As an alternative, it takes the idea of the racecar for the highway and focuses it to supply a memorable expertise. From the second its large door opens, or its huge wing adjusts into place, the Senna fills any house it inhabits with theater. What makes it distinctive, nevertheless, is that you simply don’t must essentially drive it to expertise what makes it so particular.
The spotters I first encountered, the youngsters that diligently stalked the Portola’s car parking zone, had it proper all alongside. Regardless of sitting in rarified air, the Senna stands as undeniably distinctive. It’s the form of automobile you’re compelled to admire, even when you’re not doing so for its appears. Years on, nothing on the highway appears prefer it, and because it seems, nothing drives prefer it both.
