GMA T.50 '23
To be sold in Brand Central.
#Road Car, #Midship, #Hypercar
"Legendary car designer Gordon Murray reimagines his greatest creation, the McLaren F1, for the modern age."
People always remember Gordon Murray for his work on designing the legendary McLaren F1, a car famed for boasting the fastest top speed of any production car in its day and featured advanced and otherwise unconventional technologies that made it a whole lot of car compared to other supercars out there, and rewrote the rule book of supercar, and to an extent, hypercar design and engineering since its reveal in 1992.
Throughout the years, the McLaren F1 became such a historically important car to the point where other famous hypercars in later years, such as the Bugatti Veyron and Koenigsegg Agera RS, wouldn't exist without it. Fast forward to nearly 28 years later, Gordon Murray is back with his new GMA (Gordon Murray Automotive) company established in 2017, and set out to create a love-letter to his greatest masterpiece, called the "T.50", which was, in essence, the McLaren F1 reinvented for today's automotive world, and one that McLaren refuses to build.
As the car was supposed to be placed as a main rival to other hypercar behemoths such as the Mercedes-AMG One and Aston Martin Valkyrie, the GMA T.50's technical underpinnings eschew some bit of modernity for traditional and old-fashioned development techniques.
Its rivals may have all been powered by hybrid-assisted engines, but the GMA T.50 features a unique, naturally aspirated 4.0-litre Cosworth V-12 producing 654 hp and 344 ft-lb of torque, which may seem quite modest in today's standards compared to many hypercars out there which may have roughly 50% to more than double the horsepower. The car weighs in at 986 kilograms, giving a power-to-weight ratio of 1.51 kg/ps, which also adds to its acceleration capabilities and lightweight handling character.
This engine also produces a beastly, high-pitched roar synonymous with finely-tuned V-12 engines, with the redline being able to reach beyond 11,500 rpm, similar to some F1 cars back in the day. It is also mated to a traditional six-speed manual transmission just like the car that inspired it, for that traditional approach to performance, and the added bonus of pleasing the true hardcore enthusiasts. Even the central seating position from the original McLaren F1 was carried over as well.
But what really makes this car unique from all the rest is that this is the first production car in history to be a fan car, which was based on technologies that were once considered to be forbidden fruit in motorsports from years back, as seen on cars like the Chaparral 2J and Brabham BT46B. This rear-mounted fan was built to assist in improving the car's ground effects, in order to give it unrivaled downforce that not even a wing, splitter or diffuser could ever provide.
As such, the fan allows the car to suck air from the ground and convert it to constant downforce to keep it planted, giving the GMA T.50 the potential to become one of the fastest exotic cars around a track if driven in the right hands. It's a hypercar that prioritizes lightweight driving dynamics and overall functionality over raw power and extreme horsepower. Still, the car can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds and achieve a top speed in excess of 217 mph.
A track-only version called the T.50S Niki Lauda has been unveiled the year later with increased horsepower of up to 700hp, a lighter body of 852kg and 1,500kg of downforce, courtesy of a more aggressive aerodynamic upgrade, paying homage to the McLaren F1 LM, and to some extent, the McLaren Senna, due to the car referencing Niki Lauda himself, where he won in 1984 driving a McLaren.
As with the McLaren F1, the GMA T.50 is also extremely limited to around 100 examples, all of which were sold out within two days of its reveal, and with the first car being produced in 2023 with a sticker price of 2.36 million British pounds, which proves that the fruits of Gordon Murray's labors are yet again, only for the chosen few.
Over time, the GMA T.50 will age like fine wine and see its value rising sharply much like its elder sister car in the coming years, for reference, the McLaren F1 can fetch prices as handsome as up to $20 million.
