McLaren Senna #001
After the McLaren Senna officially debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March, delivery of the first customer cars started recently. Chassis number 001 has been built for British car collector David Kyte, who not only ordered a very special configuration, but also completed the braking in of engine and gearbox within a day after he got the keys by driving it on a road trip to the racetrack Le Castelet in southern France. It took him about 1,400 kilometers from the factory in Woking near London to the track, where he was able to fully enjoy the new supercar without paying particular attention to the technical components.
But we will start with the actual handover and the vehicle itself. Mike Flewitt, CEO of McLaren Automotive, presented the car keys for the first production Senna to Mr Kyte at the McLaren Technology Center, where the car was placed next to the 1988 F1 World Champion vehicle of Ayrton Senna. Visually chassis number 001 is almost reminiscent of a special edition model of the Bugatti Veyron called L’Or Blanc, but shows various distinctive details next to its unusual paint dress whose basic colors are ‘MSO Anniversary White’ and ‘MSO Aurora Blue’. The silhouette of the Formula 1 racetrack of Interlagos in Sao Paulo/Brasil, the home of Ayrton Senna, can be found around the McLaren logo at the front. For the paintjob two well-trained painters took 600 hours of work, of which about two weeks were needed for all different masking necessary for the stripes on individual areas. While the roof scoop, the T-section between door openings and the fuel filler cap show flat bare carbon, the central lockings of the wheels got red paint (Volcano Red) and the brake calipers blue (MSO Bespoke Burton Blue).
Other unique MSO details can be found both on the outside of the end plates of the rear wing, which bears the model name on the left and the ‘1’ as a reference to the chassis number on the right, as well as in the interior. As soon as you open the doors, you will see logos indicating that this is chassis #001 as well as replicas of Ayrton Senna’s signature. On the throttle pedal the MSO division (McLaren Special Operations) engraved the three years 1988, 1990 and 1991, in which Senna became Formula 1 World Champion. The seats feature black Alcantara with diamond stitching and Senna S logos on the headrests in Harissa Red. Also the five-point seatbelts sport the red color. On the center console there are control buttons in red bare carbon, which can also be found on the car keys.
On his way to the Pure McLaren event in Le Castelet, David Kyte was joined by three more McLaren Senna from pre-series production, a 600LT pre-production car and a 720S. These were driven by Bruno Senna, nephew of the famous F1 driver, Dr Jens Ludmann (COO McLaren Automotive) and Andy Palmer (McLaren Ultimate Series Vehicle Line Director), among others.
Images: McLaren
