Final McLaren Senna raises £2 million for charity
The last build allocation for the new McLaren Senna hypercar was sold for £2 million, with proceeds going to the Ayrton Senna Institute
McLaren has auctioned off the final build slot for its new Senna hypercar for £2m – donating the proceeds to the Ayrton Senna Institute.
The charity, named after the legendary F1 driver who won three world championships with McLaren but was killed in an accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, provides education to nearly two million underprivileged children in Senna’s home country of Brazil.
The last of the 500 build allocations was secretly held back by the British supercar maker especially for the event. Attendees – all McLaren customers and devotees – were under the impression that all 500 Senna cars had already been allocated.
McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt said: “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.
“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 One racing drivers – is both a genuine pleasure for McLaren and a testament to the desirability of our new Ultimate Series car.”
Viviane Senna, Ayrton’s sister and mother of McLaren brand ambassador and racing driver Bruno Senna, added: “Raising this amount of money for the Instituto Ayrton Senna is a wonderful result for our collaboration with McLaren Automotive.
“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.”
The McLaren Senna, which is billed as the ultimate track car that has been legalised for road use, is powered by a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 that develops 789bhp and 800Nm of torque.
It has a dry weight of 1,198kg, while its extreme styling is a product of McLaren’s “function-first” approach to design, ensuring the Senna has incredible levels of aerodynamic downforce when driven at speed.
All 500 examples have now been allocated, with the first 499 costing customers £750,000 each.
