One-of-five McLaren Senna GTR LM for sale
There are motorsport homages, and then there are motorsport homages
The McLaren F1’s victory at Le Mans in 1995 will always rank as one of motorsport’s greatest triumphs. It’s up there with the 1955 Mille Miglia win of Stirling Moss, Colin McRae’s WRC title and the Brawn GP championship-winning year as a truly unforgettable win. The F1 was never designed with racing in mind, really, because the focus was much more on creating Gordon Murray’s ultimate road car, yet there it ended up, on the top of the podium at La Sarthe. Against the odds and against dedicated sports prototype racers, an F1 GTR won the Le Mans 24 Hours.
So it should probably be little surprise that the achievement continues to be celebrated. Just last year we saw the Lanzante 95-59, a three-seat tribute to the F1 based on a new 750S; McLaren used the same base car to create its own homage to 1995, with the Le Mans Edition. But a few years beforehand, when the anniversary’s quarter century was being celebrated, McLaren went even more extreme, and created something called the Senna GTR LM.
Or rather, it made five of them, because that’s how many F1s raced in ‘95. Every single Senna would be painted like one of the old racers, including chassis and driver details on the carbon tub. Above a ‘standard’ Senna GTR, the LM received another 20hp - for 845 in total - and revved a little higher courtesy of ported heads, new valve springs and lighter retainers for them. They also got a unique exhaust for maximum bragging rights over owners of mere GTRs.
Like the cars they were based on, the LM was a track-only proposition, and all five - Harrods, Ueno Clinic, Gulf Racing, Giroix Racing and Société BBA Compétition - were shown to the public for the first time at Le Mans in 2021, and driven on the circuit. What a sight and sound that must have been. Since then, this one has covered 600 miles, so it’s basically box fresh. The incredible paint job, which is said to have taken 800 hours, is protected by PPF, those fabulous OZ wheels are unmarked and that, um, distinctive diffuser doesn’t look to have been scraped over many apex kerbs.
As well as boasting perhaps the best livery of the five, this Senna LM is being offered with another set of rims on wet tyres as well as a spare, GTR-spec engine. So there’s every excuse to get out there and experience what must be a staggering track car. Or have it road converted, which is being offered as an option. It promises to be utterly extraordinary in any scenario.
Quite what a lightly used McLaren of this calibre might cost isn’t exactly clear, but with standard Sennas still being offered at a million it’s clearly going to be deep into seven figures. Which might put some off actually exploring its abilities on a circuit, though as perhaps the ultimate modern McLaren collectable it’ll likely find a buyer soon enough. Someone, after all, must have the Harrods F1 GTR for this to sit alongside…
A middle east oil magnet would probably be the ideal candidate?
I refuse to believe it took 800 hours to paint though. That’s an out and out lie. A pretty pointless ‘fact’ too; why is how long it took to paint impressive in any way? To somehow justify the price?
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