McLaren’s GTRs Leave an Incredible Legacy. Here’s How They Compare

McLaren has made three GTRs in its existence—F1, P1, and Senna. Each is extraordinary, and journalist Henry Catchpole had the extraordinary fortune to bring together all three for a video. You owe it to yourself to set aside a half-hour to watch.

The story starts with the F1 GTR, a car that almost never happened. F1 designer Gordon Murray didn’t want to race his creation, but customers—notably Ray Bellm, who’s interviewed here—did. McLaren boss Ron Dennis acquiesced and the company hastily created a racing version of the car, the F1 GTR. To everyone’s shock, it won Le Mans on debut in 1995, and got developed further for 1996. But, Porsche’s 911 GT1 rendered the F1 GTR uncompetitive, so McLaren created new, longer bodywork and made a bunch of changes to try and keep pace. The car we see here is a Gulf-livered 1997, converted for road use.

Astonishingly, the P1 and Senna were also converted for road use. Both were track-day only cars before British firm Lanzante—not coincidentally the team that brought McLaren to Le Mans victory—made them road legal. Though you can drive them on street, they are still very much meant for the track.

The P1 is the only hybrid of the group, and consequently, it’s performance is savage. Arguably, though, the Senna GTR is the more interesting of the two modern cars. Catchpole notes that McLaren wanted to race the Senna in the GTE sports-car class, but for whatever reason, that never came to pass. It’s sort of the opposite of the F1, then. A race car turned into a road car, turned into a track car.

Each is special, though of course, the P1 and Senna can’t quite match the F1. It’s the slowest car, but it’s the one with the big V-12 in the back, and it’s the one with the real racing pedigree. But the modern cars can hold their heads high in the F1’s company.