Two British supercar makers revealed their latest and most expensive creations at the Geneva Motor Show.
The McLaren Senna GTR and the Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR Pro are high-performance models priced in the millions. Neither one can be driven legally on public roads because they're tuned for performance not regulation.
McLaren had previously revealed the Senna, an extreme, high-performance car named for famed racecar driver Ayrton Senna who died in a crash in 1994.
The McLaren Senna has an enormous rear wing, a 789 horsepower V8 engine and a body with little consideration for anything but speed. It costs roughly $1 million, and is perfectly legal to drive on public roads.
Only 500 of those cars are being built and every one of them already had been sold before the car was even revealed to the public last fall.
At the Geneva Motor Show, McLaren unveiled a new version of that car called the McLaren Senna GTR. Only 75 of these cars will be built and under no circumstances should you drive any of them in your neighborhood. These cars are legal for track use only.
The starting price for a Senna GTR is about $1.4 million. It is very likely that, by the time you read this article, all of these cars will have been sold, too.
In its extreme race-inspired perfomance, the $3.2 million Aston Martin Valkyrie is a similar car to the Senna. It's a hybrid with a V12 engine producing up to a total of 1,100 horsepower. Like the Senna, the Valkyrie looks like something you never would expect to see on the streets -- it would look more at home in a science fiction movie -- but it is legal to drive on the road. However, you're unlikely to see one because only 150 are being built.
The new Valkyrie AMR Pro, which was unveiled in Geneva, Switzerland, is not allowed out on the road. It's another track-use-only supercar for those with the money to buy it and, presumably, regular access to a track on which to enjoy their purchase.
A car for track use frees designers and engineers from the voluminous and often conflicting regulations required to make cars legal to drive in various countries. Full concentration can then be given to speed and cornering ability, giving buyers the excitement of having and driving a car devoted purely to performance.
