According to the engineers at McLaren, the Senna is the most responsive car they have ever built. Their claim couldn’t be further from the truth because the McLaren Senna broke four U.S. track test records in 2020. But does it stand a chance against a track-built racer like the AMG GT3 racer? James Walker of Mr. JWW bumped into AMG GT3 Driver Adam Christodoulou at the Dubai Autodrome and decided to find out.
Adam Christodoulou isn’t just an AMG GT3 driver. He has an extensive career developing the McLaren 12C and the McLaren P1. Walker clarifies that Adam doesn’t race a Porsche 911 GT3 but rather a GT3 category of race cars.
Walker bumped into Adam at the Dubai Autodrome while testing cars. Off-camera they speculated how the McLaren Senna compares to a full-blown GT3 car.
For Nurburgring, GT3 race cars like the models from Audi, Mercedes, and the BMW make around 525 HP and weigh around 1,300 kilograms. The Senna, on the other hand, is so much heavier but also comes with so much more power. It also doesn’t have restrictions on how much downforce it can produce.
To compare the McLaren Senna against the GT3 racers, Walker lets Adam drive the Senna against the average GT3 lap time around the Dubai Autodrome, which is about 01:58:00 minutes.
It’s also important to note that the Senna is not fully set up for the track and is currently running on road tires. Walker will also be using Track Telemetry on this test for the first time.
After a thunderous lap, Adam completes it with the Senna at 02:04:07 minutes against the benchmark 01:58:00. It’s pretty impressive, considering he did the lap with Walker inside and experienced some frustrating blocking from other racers on the track.
Without the passenger and blocking from other cars, Walker shaves off 2 seconds and settles for 02:02:00, which is completely mind-blowing.
Adam explains that the GT3 racers go through some 30-hour testing before they finally do the 24-hour race.
Humphrey is a car enthusiast whose love and passion for automobiles extended into collecting, writing, driving, and working on cars. He got his passion for cars from his Dad, who spent thousands of hours working on his old junky 1970 E20 Toyota Corolla. Years later, he would end up doing the same with a series of lemons he’s owned throughout his adult life. Full profile
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