- 3 months ago
In this special edition of The Rev Up, we hit the road with Bruno Senna in the cutting-edge McLaren Artura Spider. Over a coffee, Bruno shares stories about his career in motorsport, his uncle Ayrton’s legendary legacy, and his hands-on role in developing the McLaren Senna.
This isn’t just another car review — it’s a firsthand look at the man behind the wheel and the innovation driving McLaren’s future. Join us for an unforgettable drive, candid conversations, and a few surprises along the way.
This isn’t just another car review — it’s a firsthand look at the man behind the wheel and the innovation driving McLaren’s future. Join us for an unforgettable drive, candid conversations, and a few surprises along the way.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00If you're driving a supercar, you should always have the engine running, but those who know,
00:04know, people who have experienced this, I think, understand it, this electric ability.
00:11So today is a very special day. We're standing here at the McLaren dealership in Sydney
00:16to drive a very special car, not one of these cars, an even newer car, an MY25 Artura,
00:22and it's standing on the stage just behind me. And there's a very special guest too with us,
00:27who's going to put the roof down for us. And there he is. We haven't just brought out some random
00:33person, some engineer, we brought out the man himself, Bruno Senna. Hey mate, good to see you.
00:39Nice to see you too. Who better to show us around this car than one of McLarens, the biggest names
00:43in McLaren as far as I'm concerned, Bruno Senna. That surname bears so much weight, but he's going
00:49to show us around this car because he's had a lot to do with it. He's developed a lot of
00:53the parts
00:53on this car. He's very instrumental in this process. So let's start. I think I'd like to start
00:58at the back if that's okay, because that's my favorite part of the car. It's pretty cool back
01:01of the car, isn't it? Lots of lots going on. You've got the chimney out of the turbos to cool
01:06the car
01:06down. This all brings all the heat out of the engine bay, which is essential for maintaining
01:12performance in high load situations. In terms of the engine, three litre V6, hybrid, it's got more
01:17power now. Yeah, it's getting 10 horsepower since it was introduced initially. I mean,
01:2310 horsepower is not a lot, but 690 horsepower is a lot. And it's a very nice engine, nice note.
01:31When you have the roof open, your hair is flying around with the wind. It's pretty cool.
01:35We don't want to spend too much time standing here in the studio. We're going to jump inside the car
01:38and we're going to do a coffee run, if that's all right. Absolutely. Have you had Australian coffee yet?
01:42I haven't, but I'm suppose you're going to show me what's a good coffee. I'm from Brazil,
01:47but I'll show you Australian coffee. I'll show you some good coffee. We'll have some good coffee.
01:51Cool doors. All right. So the first thing we have to do is actually, unfortunately,
01:57put the roof up because it decides to start raining. I know. Normally, you expect Sydney to have like
02:02perfect weather every time. I always bring the rain. That's the thing. I said it when we're in the studio,
02:08but I always bring the rain. This is your karma. Whenever I have a good car, it's always raining.
02:12So we have to deal with it today. That's pretty quick. I think that's like 13 seconds or less, I
02:17think.
02:19A bit of air. Yeah. A little bit of air. This is the electric. Electric. All comfortable. So good.
02:26I actually love the fact you can drive these cars in electric. And I know everyone's like,
02:30the average pundit, probably the person watching this video is like, why don't you just,
02:34you're driving a supercar. You should always have the engine running. But those who know,
02:38the people who have experienced this, I think, understand it instantly. This electric
02:43ability to cruise around and just stealth is what I call it. Also, when you're like leaving home or
02:49arriving home in a place where you have children or something like this, supercars are loud. Yeah.
02:54And sometimes I live, I live in Monaco. There's loads of supercars there. Sometimes you're like
03:00sleepy and someone decides to do a full acceleration. There's a Lamborghini there. It's like,
03:06wah! And it wakes up everybody in a one mile radius. It's always the Lamborghini owners.
03:11I don't know what it is about. I don't want to say anything, but.
03:14I can say it. I think I said this when I was driving the 750. It was, you can experience
03:19a supercar at all
03:20speeds. I mean, obviously it's great to go nuts, go to track, do what you were doing the other night.
03:24But even when you're just cruising around, everyone's reaction, getting to see it,
03:29seeing cars like this, especially in like a nice color like this. It's just giving people that
03:33experience, giving yourself that experience of driving something special. And with McLarens,
03:36I've always found that the view out of the cockpit is always really good. You get in the car and
03:42you're
03:42sort of, you're in the car. It's different. You're not driving an SUV, but you're sitting up a little
03:50side. There's a lot of view, which is nice, especially when you're driving an expensive car
03:54like this. And I think a lot of people sometimes would sometimes overlook just how fast this car
03:59actually is. You read on paper, you're like V6 hybrid. You're like, cool, cool. That's like
04:03definitely very modern. It would have a lot of power, but I think people forget just how fast the car
04:07is
04:08that does zero to 103 seconds. And then it does zero to 200 or something like seven and a bit.
04:13So
04:13I drove it in Fuji last year. And Fuji has like a long straight, but it's uphill, right? So
04:22I'm like, I drove a few cars before there, race cars, obviously racing there. And this thing was
04:29doing over 310 kilometers per hour before the braking area. And I'm like, this is crazy, man.
04:35I think one of the main things about McLarens in general, you get such great feeling from the
04:40steering wheel. I think a lot of people that drive cars that don't give you the feedback,
04:45they are driving tense, right? With McLarens, you have so much texture from the steering wheel and
04:52also the steering responds to the behavior of the car so quickly that sometimes you have a snap over
04:56steer because you hit a bump or something and the steering catches the car for you. So you need to
05:01be
05:02easy on the steering wheel and the car is doing a lot of the work for you. Most people who
05:05make mistakes, they're like just holding on too tight. So it's just very natural, very welcoming
05:12and very confidence inspiring. I think this is something that McLarens really is like at the
05:17base of the core of McLarens. Yeah, absolutely. I think that we've been driving in EV mode this
05:21whole time. So I think I might just turn the engine on quickly. So you can do that by just
05:25kicking it into
05:26comfort or into sport. Comfort does a little bit of both, but you can see it fires up pretty much
05:31instantly there and then you're just driving around with an engine. I think I like to drive
05:36it around in sport so it doesn't go in between, it just sort of keeps the engine turned on constantly
05:40which is quite cool. But yeah, now we have an engine and it'll do a little bit of charging to
05:45the battery when it can and then we'll get a bit more EV range back. But another thing about these
05:50cars which I don't think people realize is because there's so much power back there with the engine,
05:54it does recharge the batteries really quickly and you can be driving around in sport mode, put in track
06:00mode, drive around, it'll recharge the battery almost to the point where you're back at the
06:04maximum range by the time you get home after a nice long day of driving. If you're on comfort mode
06:08then it takes a bit longer to charge and the ride is a lot easier as well when you come
06:13off the throttle
06:13it doesn't regen, but when you're in sport and track mode it does recharge the battery more aggressively
06:19which means that you get more power available to you at all times. It's a great feature just to be
06:23able to do it.
06:24Yeah, this is a more everyday car with a huge performance on tap. I think the leap between
06:30570 and Artura is something that people don't realize. I think it's a bit like the leap that
06:35went from 650 to 720. It's not one generation, it's a couple of generations leap for sure.
06:42This car is a whole new car in terms of performance, dynamics, feeling compared to 570.
06:48Yeah. And even versatility, this car is more economical than the 570. Yeah. And it has
06:55a more sort of rounded character as well. It's a great little car.
07:02Sydney is such a beautiful place, honestly. If you don't spend enough time here it's hard to
07:08realize how nice it is. It's a really nice place. Yeah, I enjoy it.
07:13It's a shame it's so far. Yeah. Yeah, for you. I mean, coming from...
07:16Yeah, so a little backstory. Bruno's come all the way from Monaco to spend a few days in Sydney,
07:21then he's going to spend a few days in Brisbane and then go to Taiwan, is it?
07:24Yeah, I have a couple days in Melbourne and then Taiwan. So McLaren does keep me busy,
07:30which is nice. I get to drive nice cars, do some track time.
07:33If you could just give us a little bit of a background about exactly what your role is with McLaren.
07:38First of all, of course, my dream was to race for McLaren, of course, with the family history we have
07:43in F1. I got to F1 but never got to race for McLaren, unfortunately. And once I finished with
07:51F1 and I was racing in endurance, I managed to become part of the McLaren automotive family in 2014.
07:58This is the first year, so 10 years now that I've been with McLaren. In the beginning, a bit of
08:02racing,
08:02but mostly events, track events, lifestyle events. I do ambassadorial work for them,
08:09so I go to represent them in launches and so on. But more fun than that is that I get
08:16to develop some
08:17of their cars. So I was involved in quite a few cars throughout the history. I'm not the main test
08:22driver, of course, but sometimes I get to come over and drive the cars a little bit before they're out.
08:28And every time you come with a fresh sort of perspective, they are able to also see something
08:34else. And then it's a discussion that sometimes brings some different direction in the development.
08:40It's a real rewarding work when you have a little bit of your touch on something and you guys drive
08:50it and you love it. It's like a really rewarding thing because when you're racing, all you're doing
08:55is trying to set up the car for you. You don't care about what everybody else thinks because it's
09:00your car. Tell us about the center development process. Tell us everything about start to finish
09:05with that car, all your involvement in that. Obviously, it's a car that bears the surname,
09:09the family name. Yeah, McLaren Senna was an amazing achievement for us. Ayrton always wanted to have a
09:15car that, you know, bear his name. But he never got the chance to actually, you know, sit down and
09:20develop a road car with someone. So for many years, we've been looking for the ideal partner to do
09:26something like this. And of course, this relationship with McLaren allowed us to create this.
09:32This was at the end of 2016. I was at the design studio and I saw the McLaren Senna in
09:36the clay model
09:37before. It was like even a computer model. They were developing this and they're talking about it.
09:44Like they said, it's 800 horsepower, 800 newton meters of torque, 800 kilos of downforce and
09:49supposed to be our like most focused road car for the track. Yeah. Pure, like very raw experience.
09:56Yeah. And I was like, why don't we call it the McLaren Senna? And they're like, oh, well,
10:02it's a, you know, it's not an easy situation, especially because previously every single McLaren
10:07had had a number name, you know, it was related to the power or P1, but it was basically a
10:13number
10:13name. So having a name, like just a, you know, letters name for a car was a real shift in
10:19paradigm
10:19for them. And it took a while before we sort of like got everything going. But once we did and
10:26everybody realized it was a great synergy, you know, it's a great achievement. So the car obviously
10:32made us very proud as a family. Yeah. In terms of driving development, I managed to do more days
10:41than any other car with the McLaren Senna and the GTR. Still racing was in the way, so I didn't
10:47get
10:47to do as many days as I would like to, but I drove the car when it was still a
10:52meal. So it was like,
10:53it was 675LT tub, like chassis with, you know, aero for the McLaren Senna. So I had like some wings,
11:02like it was like a really high aero car. Yeah. So that was the first time I drove. I had
11:06the
11:06contact with this platform and then I drove the engine platform as well, the test platform for
11:10the engine. Yeah. And then the, the suspension, so like all new, mill cars. And then we did a bunch
11:16of driving on the first sort of full car came out. We did filming and then we did some, some,
11:21some
11:21driving as well. It was like a... Very involved by the Senna. I mean, it, it sounds more than it
11:26is
11:26because you know, these cars, they go for, they go for like a year and a half of development,
11:30like every day. But it needs that ticket of approval. At least for someone like me sitting
11:34back, I'm like, there needs to be some Senna involvement in that, right? Oh, but yeah,
11:38that was for sure. I drove, I drove my, uh, my McLaren Senna at the, um, Monaco Grand Prix circuit.
11:45Oh, wow. So that was, uh, that was pretty awesome. That's going to be an experience.
11:49Is it the grumpy baker? Yeah, the grumpy baker. That's a great name. We went to the grumpiest person
11:55in town for the, one of the nicest guys I've ever shared a car with, but we've even got a
12:00spot right
12:00at the front. Yeah, nailed it.
12:11I've got us some pastries. Oh, that looks very nice.
12:14We don't have to, but this muffin, I have to quickly say something on grumpy baker. This muffin is
12:18one of the best I've ever had in Sydney. And we've got coffees. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
12:26Seems like we're going to have a good day. You started in karts, from what I know. I was
12:31five years old when I drove the go-karts for the first time. Just before turning 10,
12:35I was about to start racing professionally in go-karts. So I was only doing, driving like on
12:39weekends and then my uncle passed away. So I never actually started the professional career in go-karts.
12:44I knew I could go fast in the go-karts, but never raced. And then when I started racing properly,
12:50I was almost 20 years old. I went straight to the UK. I did Formula BMW for a few races.
12:57And then I did Formula 3 in the UK for two seasons. And then I did a good couple of
13:02years in Formula 2,
13:04which is GP2 at that time. And then pretty much into F1.
13:07Where was your uncle's involvement in that racing, that early days?
13:11You know, Ayrton was in Brazil maybe two or three times a year at most. And whenever he was around,
13:16he was trying to, you know, teach me what he knew. He was not like one of those people that
13:22tell you
13:22what to do. He would sort of show you what to do. So we would go on the go-kart
13:26track together.
13:27He would like do some play fighting, you know, push me off the track and play overtaking and defending.
13:34It was a lot of fun. You know, it didn't feel like lessons. It felt like just pure fun.
13:38You probably heard this story before. But 2006, Australian Grand Prix. You won your first race?
13:43Yeah, I won my first three races there. So there was a support race for the Formula 1 Grand Prix
13:49here.
13:50And I came carrying my F3 seat from the car that I was driving in the UK.
13:55Put it in the car, got the seat, the belts on. Ten minutes later, I was in a practice session.
14:00So it was kind of a rush. Got thrown in.
14:02Yeah, I got to win the first three races. And the last one, I had a coming together with someone
14:06and finished, I think, three or four. But it was the first time I won professionally in my career.
14:11So I'll never forget it.
14:12In Australia, we have to talk about McLaren, obviously. McLaren's leading the Manufacturers
14:15Championship right now, which is amazing. There's obviously been a heavy development into these
14:20cars. What do you know? Why are they doing so well?
14:22Well, first of all, of course, Zach coming into the team, he managed to really do a big revolution
14:28on the organizational side of the team and putting the right people in the right places.
14:31It's a whole team effort. Everybody's pushing so hard together to deliver these results. And
14:36the drivers are obviously doing very well. You know, Oscar, the second year, he's nailing it.
14:41What's he doing so well? I mean, he's clearly very talented. You know,
14:44Oscar is super talented. He was always very fast. I think one thing that he has that nobody
14:50knew so much is that he's got this like edge on the racing. You know, he's aggressive,
14:55but he's also very precise, like razor sharp on overtaking, defending. His mind is very calm
15:00inside the car, but still he's got the aggression. I think this is going to be very important for him
15:05to chase for championships. As an Aussie, we want Oscar to do so well. And he gets out the front
15:09of
15:09these races and you're just like, he's still young, like you might make a mistake. How do you stay
15:14like locked in in those moments when you know you're at the front, you know all you have to do
15:17is just the
15:17same thing he'd done 60 laps before that. I think Oscar is obviously a very strong-minded guy.
15:23He's got, you can see when he's talking on the race, even if it's
15:27a very tense situation, his voice is always very calm. So clearly
15:31in his inner strength, he's a very strong guy. The days that he's not as strong as Lando in qualifying
15:36particularly, it's just the lack of experience. Lando's been doing it for quite a few years now,
15:41and he knows the team, he knows the car. I think Oscar with a few more years under him,
15:45if the car is able to deliver, he's going to fight for it. So I just want to finish
15:49briefly on the legacy of Ayrton and the McLaren brand itself. There's obviously such a rich history
15:55here. The relationship is undeniable and the connection is so strong. Even 30 years on,
16:00you know, Ayrton has not been with us for 30 years, but we still celebrate his legacy to this day.
16:05For me, it's crazy that you see like young people, they never even saw him.
16:10I never saw him race. I was, I mean, I was born in 97, showing my youth here, but my
16:15dad told me to
16:16see the movie and he said, like, you have to see this. And I felt emotional in the movie. And
16:20I was
16:20like, I've never even seen this guy race, but I just get it. Exactly. And you know, this connection
16:24that you shouldn't have had with him, exists very strongly even now with young people as well.
16:30So for me, it's amazing that we are at this point and McLaren is also helping so much with carrying
16:38the legacy on, you know, the automotive and the racing sides have done amazing tributes to him
16:43this year and they're pushing this legacy, which is very important for us. So I've almost finished my
16:48coffee, but there's one place I want to take you before we wrap in this car. It's one of the
16:52best
16:52vantage spots in Sydney. You guys have probably seen it on our videos a million times, but I want to
16:55take
16:56Bruna there just to give them a full view of the harbour. Sounds like a plan. Let's do it.
17:05I'm surprised there's not more people here. Cool. Let's jump out. Let's do it.
17:11What a spot, eh? Yeah, it's such a good spot. It's a little bit of a secret spot. I don't
17:15like
17:15telling too many people about it, but we'll keep it between you and I, if that's all right.
17:19Nobody will see it, right? No, no one will see it. Yeah, exactly. Thank you so much for hanging out
17:23today. It's been an absolute pleasure. It's been great hanging out, hearing all these cool stories,
17:26hearing a lot about the cars, the lifestyle, the career. It's been absolutely amazing.
17:31Thank you so much. Thank you. And if you guys like this video,
17:34don't forget to drop a like on it. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button as well and go check
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17:38manameli.com.
17:39you