When it comes to wild wings, few modern cars compete with the McLaren Senna. The wing itself is huge – all the better to develop massive downforce – but its literal over-the-top mounting configuration is as distinctive in the automotive realm as the Lamborghini Countach’s wheels or the Pagini Zonda’s quad-exhaust cannon. Mind you, that goes for the standard Senna; the track-monster GTR uses a similar design that ultimately encompasses pretty much the entire backside of the car. Obviously it’s functional, but in a new video series, McLaren explains more of the science behind the GTR’s wing.
“In any other program, the engineers will come to you with figures they want to achieve,” said McLaren Principal Designer Esteban Palazzo. “In this particular project, the number was quite large. That number was a big challenge.”
The number Palazzo refers to is total downforce, and yes, it’s a very big number. The target was 2,204 pounds…
