McLaren’s MSO has revealed five unique customer-commissioned Senna GTRs that pay homage to the F1 GTR race cars that dominated the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. The F1 GTRs took 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 13th positions.
The first example is Senna GTR LM 825/1 — a homage to F1/01R (1st place) — often referenced as ‘The Ueno Clinic car’. The car bearing race number 59 was driven by two-time Le Mans winner Yannick Dalmas, Japanese veteran Masanori Sekiya and former Formula One driver, JJ Lehto. The charcoal grey livery is branded with the Japanese sponsor Ueno Clinic. The MSO team has recreated it on the Senna GTR LM, precisely matching the colour by mixing a new tone dubbed ‘Ueno Grey’.
The second example is the Senna GTR LM 825/6 — a homage to the F1/06R (3rd place) — often referenced as ‘The Harrods car’. The car number 51 was driven by an all-British line up of Andy Wallace, Derek Bell and Justin Bell. The car’s famous yellow livery with bold green stripe bore the name of the iconic London department store, Harrods. The MSO paint team used Solar Yellow for the body of the car, and that distinctive wide stripe is applied in Heritage Green, shadowed by a matching green pinstripe and green detailing within the front aero diffuser.
The next car is the Senna GTR LM 825/2 — a homage to the F1/02R — often referenced as ‘The Gulf car’. Brazilian Maurizio Sandro Sala joined Brits Mark Blundell and Ray Bellm behind the wheel of the F1 GTR for 291 rain-lashed laps of La Sarthe in 1995, eventually finishing in 4th place. The Gulf Racing blue is reimagined here by MSO as Gulf 95 Blue, combined with Gulf 95 Orange pinstripes, vivid orange blades on the front splitter, and OZ Racing wheels finished in vivid orange. The lower body and roof stripe are painted in Gulf 95 Silver.
The fourth example is the Senna GTR LM 825/7 — a homage to the F1/07R — often referenced as ‘The Jacadi car’. The car number 50 was run by France-based customer team Giroix Racing. Two French drivers — Fabien Giroix and Olivier Grouillard — joined Swiss pilot Jean-Denis Deletraz to bring the car home in 5th place, just a lap down on the Gulf car. Its royal blue livery has been recreated with a bright color called Le Mans Blue for the body and the diffuser, which is complemented by a blue metallic color called Polaris. The car is branded with Elf logos belonging to the French oil company which sponsored the 1995 race car. Also, it wears a French flag.
The last example is the Senna GTR LM 825/5 — a homage to the F1/05R (13th place) — often referenced as ‘The Cesar car’. Run by French team Société BBA, the car number 42 was driven by an all-French line-up of Jean-Luc Maury-Laribiere, Marc Sourd and Hervé Poulin. Apparently, Maury-Laribiere and Poulin were pioneers of “art cars” and asked renowned artist Cesar Baldaccini to envisage a livery for the F1 GTR they would be racing at Le Mans.
The Senna GTR LM 825/5 is a modern reinterpretation of the livery, drawing in new elements, such as pole position lap times; contemporary race trophies and Le Mans branding cues. The complicated artwork took so much time to produce that MSO had to stop recording the time taken. Interestingly, it wears an American flag.
All five Senna GTR LMs have now been completed and will be delivered to owners in the United States, Europe and the UK, McLaren said.
More power
In case you’re wondering, these GTR LMs boast 845 metric hp – an increase of 20 metric hp over the “regular” Senna GTR, and revised torque curve characteristics that deliver more torque at lower revs and enable a rev limit set closer to 9,000 rpm than the ‘soft limit’ of 8,250 rpm. Enhancements to the GTR’s 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged M840TQ engine include valve spring retainers made from metal matrix composite (MMC) to deliver a 65% weight reduction, higher grade steel for the valve springs and hand-polished, CNC ported cylinder heads.
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