When you’ve designed some of the greatest Formula 1 cars in history—and the legendary McLaren F1 road car—you don’t set normal performance targets. Instead of focusing on pedestrian zero to 60 mph times or top speed, Gordon Murray and the team at his eponymous automaker wanted the GMA T.50s Niki Lauda to beat a GT3 race car around a track before giving it the green light for production.
Three-time Indy 500 winner and four-time series champion Dario Franchitti managed a 1:53.03 at the Bahrain International Circuit, more than seven seconds quicker than the benchmark time for the GT3 class established in 2001, according to a Gordon Murray Automotive press release. He reached a top speed of 184 mph, experienced 3G under braking and 2.7G of lateral force in corners, and had fun doing it.
“The T.50s is the most engaging car I’ve ever driven,” Franchitti said. “For pure fun factor, it surpasses all other track-only models, my favorite supercars of all time, and even race cars I drove to multiple world championship wins.”
One would expect a spokesperson and test driver to give a glowing review in the PR copy, but the T.50s is definitely something special. GMA changed nearly everything from the base T.50, including altering every body panel and adding adjustable aerodynamic elements to generate up to 3,306 pounds of downforce, and lightening the car to 1,878 pounds.
The most important bits carried over. The T.50s is still powered by a Cosworth-developed 3.9-liter V12 that revs to 12,100 rpm, with peak power of 701 horsepower in standard form and 725 hp with an optional ram-air intake arriving just before that at 11,500 rpm. Peak torque—357 pound-feet—comes at 9,000 rpm. However, it swaps the six-speed manual transmission for an Xtrac electronically actuated, paddle-shifted six-speed gearbox that’s 11 pounds lighter.
Also retained is the downforce-generating fan inspired by Murray’s Brabham BT46B “fan car,” which Niki Lauda drove to its only victory at the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix. So it’s appropriate that the track-ready version of the T.50 is named after the three-time F1 champion. And if that’s not enough lore, the planned production run of 25 cars represents the 25 victories of Murray-designed F1 cars, with each car carrying a name referencing one of those wins.
Those production cars should be completed by the middle of this year, according to GMA, which says it has orders from around the world, including North America.