In an ultimate ‘battle of McLaren’ supercars, drag-race experts pitted the Senna against its manufactured sister the 765LT in a quarter-mile sprint.
Currently, the UK-based powerhouses are flying around the F1 tracks at lightning speed.
But how quick are their supercars in straight-line drag races?
Well, two of their quickest cars ever made have now been pitted against each other as the ultimate ‘Battle of McLaren’ saw a Senna take on the 765LT.
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McLaren Senna vs 765LT, the ultimate orange drag race
On the Formula 1 circuit, McLaren is currently the world’s fastest manufacturer, having won the 2024 Constructors Championship over Red Bull and Ferrari in front of Supercar Blondie.
Lando Norris nearly saw the tangerines back on top, following in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton, Mika Häkkinen, and the late great Ayrton Senna.
The latter is a racing legend, but after dying on the track over 30 years ago, McLaren named its 2018 ‘Ultimate Series’ supercar after him.
The Senna currently sits as one of the fastest cars produced by the company alongside the 765LT Spyder.
But which of these iconic cars are McLaren’s fastest?
YouTube content creators at CarExpert have run both of these in a straight-line drag race, and the results are quite surprising.
Most people would pencil in the carbon fiber Senna as the quickest, given it has a slightly higher max speed of 208mph (compared to the 765LT at 205mph).
But, even with the same amount of power and torque, the 765LT isn’t weighed down by the rear spoiler and differs in its peak pace points.
It’s safe to say that the Spyder is no slouch, and the evenly matched cars should be inseparable over the line.
Should…
McLaren Senna versus 765LT spyder results
The race had multiple heats: two straight-line quarter-mile drags, two with rolling starts, and a final timed dead-start drag.
From a dead start, it was actually the 765LT that absolutely lambasted the Senna, being quicker off the mark in both heats and launching into top speed quicker to across the line with a number of car lengths distance between the two.
In the rolling starts, the Senna found some joy, albeit due to some driving errors behind the wheel of the 765LT, which was in a gear too high by the time they started shooting off.
In the timed lap, the Senna failed to get under 11 seconds, coming in at 11:02 for a quarter-mile. By comparison, the 765LT shaved off over half a second, timing 10:43.
Despite most people placing the Senna as the strong favorite, it’s time to put some more respect on the Spyder.
It would be interesting to see if any of these could get near the Speedtail though, which is slower off the mark but reaches a much higher top speed and weighs nearly half of the amount.
McLaren manufacturers are hard at work improving their upcoming racecars, with the McLaren W1 coming in 2026 and new ‘big risks’ coming to the reigning champion F1 car.
Senna’s legacy continues to be honored too, even if McLaren’s namesake supercar has been overtaken, as Netflix’s new documentary about the racing hero saw the TV experts rebuild his magnificent F1 car from the early 90s.
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