Creative solutions are needed when you have more than a ton downforce.
The McLaren Senna is the modern car for wild wings. Although the wing is massive, it can generate huge downforce. However, its over-the-top mounting arrangement is just as unique in the automotive world as the wheels of the Lamborghini Countach or the Pagini Zonda quad-exhaust cannon. This is the standard Senna. The track-monster GTR uses an identical design, which covers almost the entire car’s back. It’s functional but McLaren explains the science behind the GTR wing in a video series.
Esteban Palazzo, McLaren Principal Designer, stated that “in any other program the engineers will come up with figures they want,” “In this project, the number was very large. This was a huge challenge.
Palazzo’s number refers to total downforce.
Very big number. The goal was 2,204 pounds (1,099 kilograms), which is a 25 percent increase on the standard Senna. Designers didn’t have to follow the road-legal car rules, so creative solutions were possible.
The GTR removes almost all of the road-going aero components that the Senna has from the waist down. The wing was designed in a LMP1-style with endplates connecting it to the huge rear diffuser. This was done to increase downforce and stabilize the car when driving on straightaways at high speeds. The video compares the GTR’s aero parts to a jet fighter.
Yes, the design is full of pomp and circumstance. Customers will appreciate an aero design that produces more than one ton of downforce when it is presented in wild packaging. It’s clear that Senna GTR is a shock-value product. We have seen it firsthand.
The chances of actually seeing one are extremely slim. McLaren has only built 75 of them and each one is already taken.