As anyone who’s watched the old Top Gear or more recent Grand Tour shows would know, Jeremy Clarkson has driven some insanely fast cars in his time, but it’s unlikely that any of them have pushed him back in his seat quite like this.
“That’s really alarming… I’m going to be sick” Clarkson said jokingly after going foot flat in the new McLaren Senna for the first episode of The Grand Tour, Season 3, released on Amazon Prime recently.
The hypercar got the loudmouth car show host from zero to 60mph (96km/h) in just 2.7 seconds, with the 300km/h mark coming up in only 18 seconds. There simply wasn’t enough space to reach full velocity.
These figures are not surprising, considering that the hypercar weighs little more than a midrange VW Golf, and is powered by a mid-mounted 4-litre twin-turbo V8 that shoves 588kW and 800Nm through the back wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.
And sure, it’s not the prettiest performance car ever made - and that’s being kind - but that’s because the Senna’s exterior design was purposefully fragmented in order to optimise performance and aerodynamics.
Now watch Clarkson’s face nearly fall off:
Oh, and the McLaren Senna corners rather well too.
Although you don’t see the hot laps in this short YouTube clip, Grand Tour track guru Abbie Eaton did apparently break all previous Eboladrome records in this one, with a lap time of 1m12.9. Yes, that’s even faster than the Lamborghini Huracán Performante.