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McLaren Senna GTR Review | Driving the track-ready, race-banned hypercar

Reviewed by J.R. Hildebrand for TechCrunch. Hildebrand is a professional racing and test driver, nine-time Indianapolis 500 competitor and adjunct lecturer for The Revs Program at Stanford University.   SNETTERTON, England — The McLaren Senna GTR shouldn't exist. This feat of engineering and design isn't allowed on public roads. It's built for the track, but prohibited from competing in motorsports. And yet, the GTR is no outlier at McLaren . It's part of their Ultimate Series, a portfolio of extreme and distinct hypercars that now serve as the foundation of the company's identity and an integral part of its business model. The P1, introduced in 2012, was McLaren Automotive's opening act on the hypercar stage and was an instant success for both the brand and its business. McLaren followed it up with the P1 GTR, then went on to chart a course toward the Ultimate Series of today and beyond. Since 2017, the automaker has added the Senna, Speedtail, Senna GTR and now the open-cockpit Elva to the Ultimate Series portfolio. While the GTR is certainly the most extreme and limited in how and where it can be used, it follows a larger pattern of the Ultimate Series as being provocatively designed with obsessive intent. Automotive takes the wheel Purpose-built race cars that call on every modern tool of engineering and design have historically been produced for one purpose: winning. This objective, nourished by billions of dollars of investment from the motorsports industry, has led to technological and performance breakthroughs that have eventually trickled down to automotive. The pipeline that has produced a century of motorsports-driven innovation is narrowing as racing regulations become more restrictive. Now, a new dynamic is taking shape. Automotive is taking the technological lead.   Take the McLaren Senna road car, the predecessor to the GTR. McLaren had to constrain the design of the Senna to make it road legal. But the automaker loaded it with active aerodynamics and chassis control systems that racing engineers could only dream about. McLaren wasn't finished. It pushed the bounds further and produced a strictly track-focused and unconstrained race car that expands upon the Senna's lack of conformity. The Senna GTR might be too advanced and too fast for any racing championship, but McLaren said to hell with it and made the vehicle anyway. The bet paid off.

Fernando Alonso will drive for McLaren in F1, Toyota at Le Mans, WEC

Fernando Alonso will drive for Toyota in this year's Le Mans 24-hour race and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), his McLaren Formula One team said on Tuesday. The Spanish double F1 world champion has been considering taking part in endurance events as he bids to emulate Graham Hill, the late Briton who won the Formula One world title, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans in the 1960s. "I've never been shy about my aim of winning motorsport's Triple Crown — the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We tried for Indy last year, came close, but just missed out," Alonso said in a statement. "This year, I have the chance thanks to McLaren to race for the win at Le Mans. It is a big challenge — much can go wrong — but I am ready, prepared and looking forward to the fight." Following his appearance in the 24 Hours of Daytona last week, a deal has been reached with Toyota for the 36-year-old Alonso to take part in as many WEC rounds as possible. McLaren and Alonso have agreed, however, that Formula 1 remains their shared priority and he will miss the Japanese leg of the WEC season on Oct. 21 due to it clashing with the U.S. Formula One Grand Prix. Reporting by Hardik VyasRelated Video:

Watch a vintage McLaren F1 car fall from the sky in Monaco

All hell broke loose during last week's Monaco Historic Grand Prix after a crane dropped a vintage racecar right in the middle of a track. During a race. Then things got worse. The track was already under a full-course yellow with a safety car when the corner workers unsuccessfully tried to hoist the already stricken McLaren M23 off the track at Mirabeau. But before they could communicate what had happened to the head marshals, the safety car was back in pit lane and the field was moving up to speed. What happened next could best be described as chaos. In the coverage from Motors TV, you can just barely see the Renault Megane safety car rampaging through the pits trying to intercept the field of vintage F1 cars before they make the turn at Sainte Devote. It's ultimately unsuccessful, which leads to the bizarre sight of a bright yellow French hatchback trying to slice through a field of priceless cars on one of the tightest, most difficult tracks on the F1 calendar. The drivers, getting frantic communications from the pits about the danger at Mirabeau, do their best to slow down and get out of the Megane's way. An Avon slows a little too quickly and gets whacked by a lovely Tyrell. Like we said, chaos. Check out the action up top.