Now You Can Hear Gordon Murray’s New V12 Rev to 8,000 RPM
That’s three-quarters of the way to its 12,100 RPM limit, but GMA is a real tease.
Gordon Murray's new T.50 supercar will be powered by a naturally aspirated, 3.9-liter Cosworth-GMA V12 marvel. It was first tested in three-cylinder form, and then again recently when a full-scale prototype teased us with a 1,500 rpm run. However, with these initial tests already confirming that the T.50's V12 is more powerful at 672 horsepower and passes all emission regulations without a problem, the next on Cosworth's agenda was to push it to a higher engine speed of 8,000rpm.
And so here's the world's newest 12-cylinder engine climbing to revs where most power plants would give up already:
When it comes to naturally aspirated V12s of late, Ferrari's 6.5-liter in the 812 Superfast redlines at 8,900 rpm, but peaks at 8,500 rpm. Lamborghini's equally-sized V12 in the Aventador SVJ will go to 8,700 rpm, with the same engine maybe turning slightly higher speeds in the upcoming track-special SCV12. And that other Cosworth V12 in the Aston Martin Valkyrie? 11,100 rpm from a 6.5-liter—impressive, but still short of the T.50.
GMA's V12 goes up to 12,100 rpm while maxing power at 11,500 rpm. What's more, Gordon Murray claims it will rev from idle to the redline in just 0.3 seconds, making it almost three times sharper in throttle response as the McLaren F1's BMW engine.
Murray has a mighty reputation to live up to, and it looks like he might be well on his way to doing exactly that.
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