Gordon Murray T.50 supercar nears completion

Fans of heady high performance brewed the old school way should look forward to August 4 when SA-born Sir Gordon Murray finally reveals his new T.50 supercar.

But the father of the McLaren F1, the BMW-powered supercar that set a 386.4km/h production car speed record in 1998, had other ideas than chasing top velocities this time around.

The T.50's bespoke engine is built by Cosworth and Murray’s uncompromising brief to the company was clear, concise and against the grain of modern supercar build recipes. The engine had to be light, boast the fastest response time of any engine ever built for the road, look as good as a 1960s V12, sound superb and importantly, had to be high-revving.

He wanted a Formula One engine for the road, in a nutshell, and Cosworth has granted him his wish.

The normally aspirated 3.9-litre V12 that’s mated to a close-ratio six-speed manual gearbox produces 487.6kW, which is fairly modest by today’s supercar standards but it revs to a giddy 12,100rpm - the highest of any production car. To astonish further, the motor will rev from idle to that zany red line in just 0.3 secs. Its 467Nm torque peaks at 9,000rpm, ensuring a truly unique and visceral driving style.

The T.50 is also expected to weigh less than 1,000kg to give it an impressive power-to-weight ratio.

“The criteria and benchmarks set by Gordon for the T.50 engine comprised one of the toughest engine briefs we’ve ever taken on. It pushes the boundaries in every direction and will surely become as fabled a vehicle as Gordon’s McLaren F1 before it,” said Bruce Wood, Cosworth MD.

Professor Murray claims the three-seater T.50 will have the most advanced aerodynamics of any road car, courtesy of a rear-mounted 400mm fan which rapidly expels the air flowing beneath the car to create a suction effect for greatly increased grip.

More details on the T.50 will be revealed at its August 4 launch.