The Driver’s Seat: Henry Catchpole on the McLaren GTR Trio–F1, P1 and Senna
Driving one McLaren GTR would make for an amazing day. Getting to drive all three is nigh-on unbelievable. Only the F1, the P1, and the Senna have ever had the GTR treatment in McLaren’s history. Even fewer have been converted to road use, but all three in this film have been through Dean Lanzante’s workshop, where they’ve been made road-legal to mingle with regular traffic. With matching liveries and a couple of Long Tails, it makes for quite a sight.
In this latest episode of The Driver’s Seat, Henry Catchpole tells the GTR story with the help of Ray Bellm, the man who started it all. The two delve into how the McLaren F1 road car became a race car that won Le Mans at the first attempt in 1995. What bargain did Ron Dennis make? How did J.J. Lehto get the best from the GTR? How did Bellm end up with two F1s in La Sarthe in 1997? It’s a fascinating tale.
Jump forward 20 years and you have the modern McLaren GTRs, here painted in tribute to the F1’s Gulf Davidoff livery. There are other nods to the older car inside each one as well, but the P1 and Senna both bring their own characters to the party. With 1095 hp, the P1 is insanely fast (even after the fury of the short-geared, sequential shift F1) and arguably the most fluidly beautiful of the trio. Meanwhile, the Senna GTR has a modern race car feel to it, and for the reason behind that you need to look at the car which was unveiled at the Geneva Motorshow in 2018…
After driving around the old Top Gear test track for the day, Dean Lanzante then sat down with us to explain the reasons for and the work that goes into road-converting a GTR. There are legislative, heritage, and comfort tightropes to be walked to greater and lesser degrees with all three. But the experience of driving a GTR on public thoroughfares is worth the effort. Just remember to shift all the way down the F1’s sequential ‘box before you come to a stop!
