Gordon Murray Automotive has unveiled its
T.50 supercar in full for the first time, showing the finished exterior and
interior design and confirming its ground-breaking technical specifications.
The T.50 has been engineered to be the purest, lightest, most driver-centric
supercar ever.
Improving on his acclaimed McLaren F1 “in every conceivable way”,
Professor Gordon Murray CBE is leading the team that will begin building
customer versions of the 986kg supercar. Justifying its $4,000,000 (before luxury
taxes) price tag, the T.50 promises to deliver an unsurpassed driving
experience. It is powered by a 100% bespoke 3.9-litre, V12 engine that revs to
a record-breaking 12,100rpm, and features the most advanced and effective
aerodynamics ever seen on a road car – aided by a 400mm rear-mounted fan. Murray’s
design for T.50 was the 50th in
a prestigious line of race and road cars he’s penned over his illustrious
50-year career – both reasons combining to name the car T.50.
The rear-wheel drive T.50 features Murray’s
favored three-seat layout, with the driver benefitting from a central
‘jet-fighter-style’ driving position. Aligned with Gordon Murray’s claim that
the T.50 could be the pinnacle of great analogue supercars, the driver-centric
analogue controls are positioned to provide the ultimate, highly-intuitive, and
totally-immersive driving experience.
The T.50 takes road-car aerodynamics to
entirely new levels with Murray’s ground-breaking design significantly
enhancing the supercar’s ground-effect capabilities. To achieve unmatched
aerodynamic performance, the car’s 400mm fan rapidly accelerates air passing
under the car, forcing it through active boundary-layer control ducts that form
part of the rear diffuser.
The fan and its associated ducting system build on conventional
ground effect systems by actively helping control both the underbody and overbody
airflow ensuring that both airflow systems interact to ensure absolute control
of the enhanced aerodynamics and improve the car’s performance.
The underbody airflow system allows Gordon Murray Automotive to
achieve purity of design for the car’s upper surfaces, with air flowing over
the top of the car undisturbed by unsightly vents, ducts, or flaps. At the
rear, air is channeled down through vents to cool the power train oil. Also, a
pair of active aerofoils at the rear of the car contribute to downforce or
shedding drag, as required.
The fan’s design and underbody ducting does away with the need
for a ‘skirt’ – like that of the BT46B Fan Car – while the vertical inlet
ducting ensures no road debris passes through the fan. The novel system has
multiple benefits, enhancing engine cooling, boosting downforce and maximizing
efficiency. The various fan functions, combined with the underbody ducting and
activation of the rear aerofoils, are controlled seamlessly as part of the
car’s six distinct aero modes.
Two modes operate without any driver input. ‘Auto Mode’ is the
car’s default, which optimizes use of the rear aerofoil, fan and underbody
diffusers in response to speed and driver inputs. When high levels of
deceleration are required, ‘Braking Mode’ deploys the rear aerofoil's
automatically and the fan operates simultaneously at high speed. This function
doubles the levels of downforce, enhancing stability and grip, and enables the
T.50 to pull up a full 10 meters shorter when braking from 150mph.
The other four aero modes are driver-selectable. ‘High Downforce
Mode’ delivers enhanced traction – where the fan and the aerofoils work
together to increase downforce by 30%. At the flick of a switch, the driver can
shift to ‘Streamline Mode’, to reduce drag by 10% and boost straight-line
speed, while also reducing fuel consumption and downforce. This mode closes the
underbody ducts and sets the fan to operate at high speed to extend the
trailing wake of the car, creating a ‘virtual longtail’.
When maximum velocity is required, the ‘Vmax Mode’ can be
deployed by the driver at the push of a button. This utilizes the same
aerodynamic configuration as ‘Streamline Mode’, but adds an extra boost of
around 30hp for up to three minutes by adding power to the crankshaft from the
car’s 48-volt integrated starter-generator.
This may be the last supercar in history
that uses an Internal combustion engine of 12 cylinders Weighing just 980kg,
the T.50 will deliver the most driver-focused performance and dynamics of any
road car in production ever. The sound itself (12,000 RPM) from the Cosworth
V12 will be the highest-revving road car engine ever made and sounds like an F1
car. Gordon Murray makes history again.