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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 P1 crashed by 27-year-old driver a day after he bought it

There's one fewer McLaren P1 spitting fire on the world's roads after a 27-year-old driver wrecked his $1.15-million supercar in Dallas, TX, just a day after he picked it up from a local luxury car dealer. According to KHOU local news, police were responding to the crash site by 7:41 AM the next day. The 903-horsepower P1 allegedly hit a wet patch of road and spun, slamming the car into a guardrail. Judging by a photo obtained by KHOU, the hit did serious damage to the back of the supercar and bent the driver's side rear wheel into the body. The McLaren was the only vehicle involved in the crash, though, and the shunt sent both the driver and a 24-year-old passenger to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Featured Gallery 2015 McLaren P1: First Drive View 39 Photos News Source: KHOU via Motor AuthorityImage Credit: Copyright 2014 Matt Davis / AOL McLaren Ownership Safety Coupe Performance Supercars mclaren p1

McLaren P1 GTR Senna tribute car built by MSO as the ultimate P1

McLaren just finished what looks to be one of its most incredible MSO ( McLaren Special Operations) projects ever with a P1 GTR. As is obvious in the photos, this P1 GTR is meant to celebrate the McLaren MP4/4 F1 car Ayrton Senna raced to complete dominance in the 1988 championship season. There is no shortage of Senna projects going on over at McLaren, clearly. This car has been in the works for three years running, along with McLaren's actual car, the Senna. Don't be confused, however, this is a one-off P1 GTR that a McLaren collector/Ayrton fan commissioned to be built. The livery isn't the only thing that sets it apart from other P1 GTRs either. McLaren says this car has a unique engine specification. Its heat shield is made out of 24 carat gold; the rear cover is made out of Lexan (type of plastic) and it has modified engine bay shrouds. We're not told how much more power it makes, but apparently it's more than the 986 horses in your standard P1 GTR. This Senna fan managed to wrangle the McLaren engineers into designing him a bespoke aero package for the car too. It has new front dive planes, a wider front splitter, Gurney flap, new barge boards and bigger endplates on the rear wing. Even more downforce is generated by inboard secondary wing elements. A "normal" P1 GTR produces 1,433 pounds of downforce, but this car brings that up to a whopping 1,763 pounds. Yeah, it's going to stick just fine. The design and customization on this car is pretty next-level. McLaren Rocket red and Anniversary white are the same color codes used on the F1 car. Both doors have the Marlboro barcode that was used in lieu of Marlboro script when regulations changed to bar that sort of advertising. Senna branding is all over the thing, everywhere you look. The seats are actually the same ones McLaren used in the Senna (actual car) itself. Yeah, there's a whole lot of Senna going on here. With the unbelievable attention to detail and expense that went into this car, we wonder what the owner's plans are for it. Will it live at the track (we hope) as the extra power and aero suggests? Or is this something to be put away in a collection because it's just too freaking special? Call it a good problem to have. This thing is awesome. Related video: