McLaren said all 500 Senna models had been allocated to customers in the lead up to the hypercars launch, but it turns out the company had something special planed for the final car honoring the Brazilian Formula 1 driver.
The last remaining McLaren Senna has been auctioned off by the British car maker to raise money for late Formula 1 drivers' charity, benefitting underprivileged children in Brazil.
“Only 500 will be built and to raise such a significant sum at auction for a cause as worthy as the Instituto Ayrton Senna – the foundation that cherishes the legacy of one of McLaren’s greatest Formula 1 racing drivers – is both a genuine pleasure for McLaren and a testament to the desirability of our new Ultimate Series car,” said Mclaren CEO Mike Flewitt.
After fierce bidding during the McLaren Winter Ball, the new hypercar sold for over three times its list price, fetching £2,000,000 excluding taxes (NZ$3,820,000), all of which will go to the charity in Senna's name.
“Raising this amount of money for the Instituto Ayrton Senna is a wonderful result for our collaboration with McLaren Automotive,” said Viviane Senna, Ayrton's sister and mother of racing driver and McLaren ambassador, Bruno Senna.
“The Senna family has a long-standing association with the McLaren brand and when the idea of a new model in the McLaren Ultimate Series taking Ayrton’s name was raised, we were immediately interested to explore the possibility. Now that the McLaren Senna has been revealed, we can say publicly how happy we are to be a part of this project.”
Viviane Senna and Bruno Senna. Photo / McLaren
Revealed to the world earlier this week, the McLaren Senna is the most extreme road car to date from McLaren Automotive. Designed, engineered and developed with the single-minded purpose of being the ultimate McLaren track car legalised for the road.
With a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine producing 588kW and torque of 800Nm – the most powerful road car internal combustion engine ever created by McLaren – and a lightest dry weight of only 1,198kg.
More importantly, the aerodynamics and RaceActive Chassis Control hydraulic suspension promises incredible circuit ability, with the ambition for the McLaren Senna toit to be the best road-legal track car.
“The McLaren Senna is the personification of McLaren’s motorsport DNA, designed without compromise to excel on a race circuit, but legalised for road use,” said Flewitt.
