While the McLaren Senna GTR is the track-only version of the already close to perfection Senna limited-production supercar, Novitec Group’s Supercar Diaries still looks like a work in progress even after episode nine. No worries, because the host - Bijon de Kock – still manages some of his signature camera angles, shows us some genuine fun, and a subtle way to cool off at the very end...
Much has been said about McLaren’s Senna – the third representative of the “McLaren Ultimate Series” (after the F1 and P1). It’s both an exquisite mid-engined supercar and a fitting tribute by the British company to ace Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna and his exploits alongside the Mclaren F1 Team.
McLaren, on its own, prefers to let the numbers do the talking – and this summer the Senna came back from a visit in the United States where it snatched four performance benchmarks for major automotive publications.
Later on, it also unveiled just five McLaren Senna GTR LMs in honor of the 1995 McLaren F1 GTR, just because it can. Because Novitec has a special relationship with McLaren, the Supercar Diaries show on its YouTube channel was given permission to play (or better said, fool around) with one example.
Even if you’re a well-versed socialite like Bijon, it’s still a unique experience to have the Senna GTR for a track session, so we could easily excuse some of its clumsiness. He’s making all the efforts to look professional and do his camera angles, but still manages to goof around during the static presentation.
And wait, there’s even more – because after the customary cinematic presentation (4:45) and the mandatory interior discussion (5:55) comes the initial botched attempt to get the aerodynamic flow going (7:25). Once the fault – not just the nervousness of the presenter – is located, it’s finally on to the track drive from the 9:20 mark.
Don’t get your hopes up for much action, though – because they’re not allowed to reach the speeds the Senna GTR’s aero actually needs to help with the cooling... so it’s off to a premature end for a quick cool off... or two.
The third cooling sessions occurs a little later that evening (from the 16-minute mark), when Bijon actually takes the Senna GTR for a quick McDonald’s Drive-Thru session that shows the window slot on the driver’s side is not large enough, as it doesn’t allow for the menu and beverage to pass through easily...
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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