“+r.itemList.length+” “+this.config.text.ariaShown+”
“This.config.text.ariaFermé”
Del y the driver
Gordon Murray, the designer of the iconic McLaren F1, has revealed the production model of its Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 hypercar.
The T.50 is powered by a Cosworth-built V-12 that makes 654 horsepower and has a redline of 12,100 rpm.
The car is notable for its smooth weight, an empty weight of 2174 pounds, however, the company does not call at a top speed, claiming that its engine “is designed to deliver optimal performance, not prescribed power, speed or acceleration targets. ” “
Three-seat hypercars with central driving positions don’t come along very often, but the past two years have brought us a pair, both of which share a common inspiration in the McLaren F1. McLaren’s own take is the Speedtail, a 1035-hp hybrid that is more complicated and heavier than its predecessor but considerably faster. It has already sold out its limited production run of 106 units, despite a price of around $2.1 million each.
This is the other, the GMA T.50, noticed here in its production form for the first time. It was created through Gordon Murray, the guy who designed the F1, around a purpose to suit the minimalist spirit of the original car, but also to surpass it in each and every measurable metric, anything that would have been delivered completely. The T.50 is even more expensive than the Speedtail with just over $3 million at existing exchange rates, however, most of the total hundred were sold before the car existed as a sketch.
The list of technical strengths is long. Like the McLaren F1, the T.50 has a natural suction V-12 engine that fixes the cab, a six-speed manual gearbox and a central driving position flanked through two passenger seats, available through butterfly-opening doors. He is about to beat his predecessor en masse, weighing 2174 pounds claimed (and impossible). If this is true, the T.50 would have a power-to-weight ratio of 3.3 pounds consistent with the horse, 13% higher than a McLaren Senna.
The big difference with the F1 is the arrival of active aerodynamics, thanks to a 15.7-inch electric fan, 11.4 horsepower and 48 volts that can rotate up to 7,000 rpm to vary the degrees of help when cutting the limit layer of the car’s base diffuser. However, you can also reduce resiliency by creating a long virtual queue in the car. (We have already made a technical explanation about the formula here; it is much more complex than vacuuming the famous Brabham BT46B Brabham BT1 car designed under Murray’s direction). This means that the T.50 does not have to carry the entire giant wing elements. Murray’s claims related to fan functions are impressive: up to 50% increase in aid strength, 12.5% relief in endurance, and 33-foot relief in the 150 mph braking distance. The really extensive fan ventilation at the rear of the car is the biggest apparent difference in F1 proportions, and also remembers very well the “jet car” remedy of General Motors’ revolutionary concept The Sabre through Harley Earl in 1951.
Murray describes the T.50’s Cosworth-built V-12 as “probably the largest internal combustion engine ever installed in a car.” Coming from someone else, it would look like a hyperbole, but the fact sheet makes it difficult to disagree. “Cosworth is way ahead of Ferrari and other people in internal combustion now,” Murray said. “Everyone points to hybrids and electric vehicles. It’s incredibly uncommon for someone to make a new engine with a blank sheet of paper in those days.”
Murray’s powertrain targets were incredibly difficult, especially given the need for the engine to be a structural link, which wears down part of the carbon fiber central tank and rear suspension.
“In November 2018, When we started talking, I said it would be great if we approached the force of F1,” he says – the 6.0-liter McLaren V-12 BMW S70/2 produced 618 horsepower – “but also had to be lighter and have to spin higher than the LCC Rocket [which also designed Murray], which can succeed at 11,500 rpm. I also said they needed the reaction speed of F1, which was about 10,000 rpm.”
After specifying titanium gears, valves and rods, Cosworth can beat the weight, strength and speed targets. The engine weighs 392 pounds (192 pounds less than the BMW F1 engine), has 654 horsepower and has a red line of 12,100 rpm. But that absolutely erased Murray’s desired reaction speed. The new V-12 is capable of adding 28,400 consistent laps with the timing free of charge. “Even after all my years in the industry, I find it hard to be consistent with this one,” Murray admits. However, despite its appetite for diets, the T.50 also promises to be useful: the engine produces 70% of its maximum torque of 344 lb-ft at just 2500 rpm.
The use of a 48-volt starter generator also allowed the installation of an electric-operated air conditioning compressor. “The air conditioning in F1 was pathetic. We might not have had it: it had a belt compressor that had to run at 7800 rpm, and at low speeds, it produced almost nothing,” he recalls. Other lessons learned come with the arrival of forced steering, with low-speed electric assistance to facilitate maneuvers. F1 did not have one, which means that, as Murray says, “the arms of the gorillas were needed to park.” It also receives LED headlights that have been evaluated to offer the most productive diversity and the tightest style of the segment.
The fundamental proportions of the T.50 are very similar to those of F1, but have a little higher. “The car is 30 mm longer [1.2 inches], and we use it for the inner area of the interior. I added 25 mm [1.0 inches] to the length of the driver,” Murray explains. At 6’4,” he has had a great appreciation of the difficulties giant drivers occasionally face to get comfortable on supercars. Murray says 3 adults can sit comfortably, with a rear-view formula founded on a camera that solves the F1’s most important visibility problem. “There were interior mirrors on either side, but if there was anyone in any of the seats, all you can see is his face.”
Murray has put a huge amount of thought into the design of the T.50’s cabin, especially its ergonomics, with bespoke switchgear that isn’t shared with any other automaker. Ahead of the driver’s seat, a conventional tachometer is flanked by digital display screens with controls for lights, wipers, and the various aerodynamic modes through rotary controls on the left, and those for climate and HVAC on the right. The eagle-eyed will spot the presence of two small paddles behind the steering wheel, despite the T.50’s manual gearbox; they are for the high-beam flash and horn, respectively.
Murray admits to spending an abundant amount of time looking for a match with the best weighting. “Despite everything, I discovered a company that can create a transfer without a pin set,” he says. “With the McLaren F1, we had big yettons and mechanized aluminum yettons, but there was something boring that all fashion cars have, the pin moving in the wrong direction. You put your finger on it and you feel it moves before you need it.” It’s something I hated, and the T.50 doesn’t. There are also 1.1 cubic feet of indoor garage area with five separate compartments; Murray says F1’s lack of garage has been a challenge for the owners.
Similar efforts have been made to adjust the sound of the T.50, which Murray says has enjoyed the F1. “Everyone said the F1 had a fantastic exhaust, but it’s not the escape at all, it was an induction noise,” he said. “At the cam stand, you have an era in which the intake and exhaust valves open in combination and you get that glorious pulse that resonates towards admission, in the central driving position that is just above the driver’s head. In F1, I adjusted the thickness of the panel to resonate with this beautiful induction sound. I’m doing the same thing here, unless this time we’re at 12,100 rpm.”
Murray’s hope is that T.50 buyers will be prepared to drive their cars frequently and hard, something that F1 owners have been less prepared to do as values have risen and parts supply has fallen. It’s something that Murray experienced himself, selling his own F1 several years ago.
“When it was worth a million quid, the insurance was fine and I used to take people out on a wet Sunday and slide it around in the rain, spin the wheels up in fourth gear, all the usual things you could do with an F1,” he says. “When it became worth £10m [about $13 million at current exchange rates], you had to start being a little bit careful, and the insurance premiums got eye-watering. And once a car gets over £20m [about $26 million], it’s a different story altogether. I was having to look at the insurance premium every three months, and every time somebody said, ‘Take me out for a drive,’ I’d make sure the road was dry. Suddenly I realized I wasn’t enjoying it anymore.”
There’s no secret that the T.50 draws most of its inspiration from the McLaren F1, but the man who designed both insists the new car will be better in every regard.
“I would say the outcome is about as perfect as it could be in terms of the transition from my brain to the real car,” he says. “Standing back and looking at it, I don’t think there’s anything I would change, even if I had more time.”
The next question is the one we’re really looking forward to answering: How does the T.50 drive when compared to its seminal predecessor?
You Might Also Like
Unclogging Streets Could Help City Dwellers Save 125 Hours a Year
The 10 Cheapest New Cars of 2018
Leave early, arrive late: what you want to know about automatic rental transfers