How Did the McLaren Senna Get Its Name?
The McLaren Senna is easily one of the automaker’s most extreme road-legal cars it’s ever made.
With a ridiculous amount of downforce, an 815 horsepower 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 and extra-sticky Pirelli Trofeo R tires, the McLaren Senna will lap circuits faster than any other McLaren-badged vehicle with a license plate. The Senna name, inspired by legendary Formula 1 racer Ayrton Senna, is suitable for the car, then. But what inspired McLaren to name it after the late Brazilian racer in the first place?
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In a new official video, McLaren engineers explain how they got the idea to name their latest creation ‘Senna’. The F1 racer was a perfectionist through and through with a notorious attention to detail. Engineers had to have a similar mindset when developing the Senna, and had to display Senna-like levels of focus and determination. There’s also a famous audio clip of Senna explaining that sometimes when you think you’ve reached your limit and done all you can, it’s possible to focus and reach an even higher limit. This is something McLaren engineers relate to not only in developing the Senna, but other racing and road cars from the company as well.
Check out interviews the official video embedded above. It’s full of video clips of the Senna in action on the track as well, which we had seen very limited amounts of before now.
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Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
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as long as they don't run GM's Harley Earl style commercials where Senna comes back from the dead and gives his blessing to green-light the model name.