Gordon Murray to make a true successor to the F1- T50

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Completely unrelated, y’all’s highways out here are no better quality than Ohio. And these drivers struck me as being in less of a hurry and with better lane discipline than Ohio. I just drove from San Fransisco to Monterey. That has nothing to do with the T50.

I find drivers in NorCal to be pretty decent. Sure there is a substantial amount of highway shootings in Oakland, but other than that it's pretty chill around here. What roads were you on? The colossal amount of rain this winter has definitely degraded some of the roads around here, but they are typically in decent to good shape - certainly better than Maine, Texas, or Michigan (the other places I've lived).

Let me bring this back to Murray and deftly link all this together with a video of a Mclaren F1 blasting down some roads near Santa Cruz

 

[LeGeNd-1]

Just can't get enough of that sound I was a bit concerned because the dyno runs and pre-prod prototypes sounded a bit "trumpety", but the final sound is pure bliss.



I still don't know how Gordon can pack a V12, 3 people and enough suitcases for a weekend in a car as small as a Cayman and weights <1 ton. Just pure magic. I still think the F1 looks better but by any other metric this just blows it out of the water.

 

[ScottPuss20]

This is probably a stupid thought but will other manufacturers follow Murray's lead and make their own analogue supercars and sports cars? I'm honestly of the belief that Ferrari should revive the F40 in a similar way with the twin-turbo V8 from the 488, gated manual gearbox, small size and light weight. It would be a hit and sell out in minutes. Honda should do something similar with the NSX. They'd make an absolute killing if it was a no-nonsense, light weight car with a reliable V6 engine, manual gearbox and the bare minimum amount of luxuries. We don't need the most advanced tech to have fun in a car - the same basic principles of light weight, a competent chassis and mechanical precision are still valid in this day and age. Manufacturers should be trying to do more with less in order to keep the governments and car enthusiasts happy.

 

[SestoScudo]

I really do love the fan at the back. It really gives the car as its own identity and it blends in well with the car.

 

[TheCracker]

This is probably a stupid thought but will other manufacturers follow Murray's lead and make their own analogue supercars and sports cars? I'm honestly of the belief that Ferrari should revive the F40 in a similar way with the twin-turbo V8 from the 488, gated manual gearbox, small size and light weight. It would be a hit and sell out in minutes. Honda should do something similar with the NSX. They'd make an absolute killing if it was a no-nonsense, light weight car with a reliable V6 engine, manual gearbox and the bare minimum amount of luxuries. We don't need the most advanced tech to have fun in a car - the same basic principles of light weight, a competent chassis and mechanical precision are still valid in this day and age. Manufacturers should be trying to do more with less in order to keep the governments and car enthusiasts happy.

I'm not saying there isn't the market for this sort of analogue supercar anymore, the popularity of Porsche's 'GT' versions proves that, but the average supercar buyer these days expects everyday usability. They want to own a Ferrari or a McLaren but they want it to be useable in the same way a Ford is. Manufacturers go where the money is and sadly the bulk of the money isn't in the hands of genuine enthusiasts/petrolheads.

I was watching a video the other day on the Testarossa, which in its day was a pretty 'soft' Ferrari, it was already aimed at a wider audience, but it was amazing quite how unuser-friendly the cabin was. Loads of unmarked buttons, buttons and levers not placed where you'd expect them to be etc. Owners wouldn't put up with that now, but it was commonplace back in the 80's and 90's.

 

[LeGeNd-1]

This is probably a stupid thought but will other manufacturers follow Murray's lead and make their own analogue supercars and sports cars? I'm honestly of the belief that Ferrari should revive the F40 in a similar way with the twin-turbo V8 from the 488, gated manual gearbox, small size and light weight. It would be a hit and sell out in minutes. Honda should do something similar with the NSX. They'd make an absolute killing if it was a no-nonsense, light weight car with a reliable V6 engine, manual gearbox and the bare minimum amount of luxuries. We don't need the most advanced tech to have fun in a car - the same basic principles of light weight, a competent chassis and mechanical precision are still valid in this day and age. Manufacturers should be trying to do more with less in order to keep the governments and car enthusiasts happy.

I agree, you only need to look at the popularity of restomods like Singer to see people will pay millions for a back to basics, analogue sports car. Something that looks and feels old, but has modern performance, reliability and comfort.

If Ferrari comes up with a modern interpretation of the F40 it will sell like hotcakes. I would love to see a new NSX based on the old formula, but I don't think Honda has enough brand cachet to charge a premium for it. Gordon, Ferrari and Porsche all have enough pull as a brand. But you only have to look at Alpine A110 sales to see just having the right ingredients isn't enough to be successful.

 

[Keef]

I'm not saying there isn't the market for this sort of analogue supercar anymore, the popularity of Porsche's 'GT' versions proves that, but the average supercar buyer these days expects everyday usability. They want to own a Ferrari or a McLaren but they want it to be useable in the same way a Ford is. Manufacturers go where the money is and sadly the bulk of the money isn't in the hands of genuine enthusiasts/petrolheads.

I was watching a video the other day on the Testarossa, which in its day was a pretty 'soft' Ferrari, it was already aimed at a wider audience, but it was amazing quite how unuser-friendly the cabin was. Loads of unmarked buttons, buttons and levers not placed where you'd expect them to be etc. Owners wouldn't put up with that now, but it was commonplace back in the 80's and 90's.

I'm not exactly sure what youre point is with the Testarossa. Cars of that era were simply results of industry standards - a lack of understanding of ergonomics and human factors. Engineers at the time literally did not consider the end user in their processes which is why vintage cars are almost universally terrible to operate.

That's exactly why @ScottPuss20 bringing up the original NSX is interesting, because the NSX is the first supercar that truly considered human factors. They created a supercar that was as easy to use as a Prelude. For the life of me I cannot understand why companies aren't doing that today. Whoever is advising them on market trends simply doesn't understand where the money is and what it wants. They don't get that everybody is fearful that something like the original NSX or Elise is never going to exist anymore and we're willing to spend $100k on a bare bones sports car...the originals are going for that much in excellent condition anyway. Hell, just put the old cars back into production in limited numbers to skirt safety regs and jack the price up, rich people will still buy them left and right.

 

[05XR8]

Make sure they can pair their phones to the speakers.

 

[AudiMan2011]

New T.50s video series

 

[McLaren]

This is probably a stupid thought but will other manufacturers follow Murray's lead and make their own analogue supercars and sports cars? I'm honestly of the belief that Ferrari should revive the F40 in a similar way with the twin-turbo V8 from the 488, gated manual gearbox, small size and light weight. It would be a hit and sell out in minutes. Honda should do something similar with the NSX. They'd make an absolute killing if it was a no-nonsense, light weight car with a reliable V6 engine, manual gearbox and the bare minimum amount of luxuries. We don't need the most advanced tech to have fun in a car - the same basic principles of light weight, a competent chassis and mechanical precision are still valid in this day and age. Manufacturers should be trying to do more with less in order to keep the governments and car enthusiasts happy.

Ferrari already does this with its Icona series, in a way. The SP1/SP2 Monzas are throwbacks to their 50s Monzas & the SP3 is influenced by their 60s LeMans cars. A SP4 is expected due next year or 2025 & if the trend follows, it could be a late 70s-early 80s racing inspired design. The SP5 is rumored to going on the F167 platform (FR V12).

The reason we most likely won't see the F40 influence any Icona is merely because Ferrari has abandoned the manual transmission b/c of cost & not enough demand as evident by the California & 612 (I believe). A F40-influenced design with no manual will drive the purists mad.

 

[05XR8]

Toyota could do it. I miss the MR-S. No one makes an affordable MR car under 1000kg. They have the GR family 3-cylinder. Drop that in a modern GR MR-2/Spyder with better packaging for luggage.
The FT-Se is fine, but a limited run petrol MR would surely sell.

I feel offering a car like the T.50, but in poverty spec for the mass production, would have been ripe, from when the Honda S660 came out. A high revving, lightweight sports car. When most sporting cars are so heavy today.