Gordon Murray has chosen the birthday of three-time world champion Niki Lauda, and invoked the title of his former Brabham F1 colleague, to unveil the promised track-only model of his ultra-lightweight, V12-powered T50 supercar, simply 25 of which will probably be constructed.
Formally dubbed the T50s Niki Lauda, the brand new automobile will probably be constructed fully by Murray’s new low-volume specialist manufacturing firm, on the identical timetable because the road-going T50 — with manufacturing starting on the finish of the yr for deliveries throughout 2022.
The dimensions and design relationship with the road-going T50 is obvious, however Murray stresses that it has been designed particularly for observe responsibility from the start with “lots of” of various, particular parts in all sides of the design.
The T50s, which is able to value £3.1m earlier than native taxes, weighs an unbelievable 852kg (128kg lower than the common mannequin’s world-beating 980kg) whereas a specifically engineered, larger revving model of its ultra-compact, bespoke 3.9-litre Cosworth V12 engine can have 700bhp on faucet as a substitute of the usual automobile’s 650bhp, an output that can develop to 725bhp at excessive velocity as a consequence of ram-effect within the engine’s air consumption.
Whereas the T50 street automobile particularly avoids dominant aerodynamic addenda, relying totally on its revolutionary 40cm diameter fan to suck it down onto the street, the T50s has the same fan supported by a complete suite of distinguished aerodynamic physique components that collectively can ship as much as 1500kg of downforce at excessive velocity.
Each T50s can have a novel specification, Murray says, so every chassis will probably be uniquely named after considered one of his grand prix wins. The primary, as an example, is known as Kyalami 1974, and will probably be delivered with a particular ebook that explains the importance of the race and tells its story.
“I badly wished to keep away from what I did with the F1,” says Murray. “The observe variations of that automobile have been tailored after we did the street automobile. This time, we designed the 2 variations roughly in parallel, beginning on the T50s again in July 2019. So the monocoque is totally different, the engine is totally different, and there’s a brand new paddle-shift gearbox.”
“We have been enthusiastic about making the form of observe automobile nobody else may do,” he says. “No different producer will ever get near delivering the expertise of driving an 850kg automobile powered by a 700 horsepower normallhy aspirated V12 engine that may rev to 12,100rpm. The exhaust we’ve designed goes to maneuver engine sounds onto a complete new stage.”
Murray “couldn’t care much less” about horsepower or lap instances in contrast with different automobiles although he has little doubt that the T50s will probably be “very fast”. Quite, his focus has been on delivering the easiest driving expertise attainable on the observe.
