Got time to kill on lockdown? McLaren has just put out the second video of its new Tech Club series, following up its earlier vid about the Elva’s wind deflecting tech by explaining how the Senna GTR generates so much bloody downforce. It’s no easy task to get a 2020 audience excited about downforce because big numbers are thrown around so often these days. But as principle designer for the GTR, Esteban Palazzo, emphasises, a machine producing 1,000kg of downforce is no ordinary performance car.
For starters, it has to offer drivers – who’ll be rich but not necessarily that experienced – that peak force seamlessly, with none of the snappy scariness that can catch out even the most professional of racers in more conventional slick’d and wing’d racers. The GTR’s drag reduction system must also go from open to its high-pressure setting at the click of a button, without causing too much upset to the surrounding airflow. Suffice it to say designing it was no easy task – as Palazzo explains.
If you’ve not seen McLaren’s earlier Elva video (it’s below for your convenience), you might be even more astounded at the angles at which designers have encouraged airflow through the car. McLaren’s greatest USP might just be the extent to which its aerodynamicists push things. Something we’d argue is worthy of attention on your tea break.