The cars of Gordon Murray Automotive will be the focus of the famous central sculpture at the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed as part of the event's celebration of 60 years of its founder’s influence in automotive design and engineering.
As part of the celebrations, the Festival of Speed will also host the brand’s public debuts of the T50, T33 and T33 Spider supercars. The T50s will also make its dynamic debut at the 81st Goodwood Member’s Meeting.
Gordon Murray, who founded GMA in 2017, has been an influential figure in design and engineering during his six decades in the automotive industry. He was Formula 1 technical director for Brabham and McLaren Racing, where cars he designed won the world championship in 1981, 1983, 1988, 1989 and 1990.
In 1988, Murray began the development of the ground-breaking McLaren F1, which entered production in 1992, and in later years he went on to found Gordon Murray Design, in 2007.
“For 60 years, I have enjoyed the design and engineering challenge of pushing the boundaries of what’s possible – be that in racing or road cars,” said Gordon Murray, who was awarded a CBE in 2019.
“The supercars that Gordon Murray Automotive builds today are inspired by every car I’ve designed, raced and owned. Lightweight design, innovative use of materials, the latest technologies and even bending the laws of physics come into all we do,” he added.
The 2025 Festival of Speed will be the 32nd running of the UK's most popular motoring event and will take place from Thursday 10 July to Sunday 13 July.
Last year’s central sculpture focused on 100 years of MG and featured the MG B and the MG Cyberster.
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Personally I think the T.50 is a masterpiece in pure design with a low weight, space enough to be usable and unrivalled driver engagement. Obviously the performance is stratospheric. It is a much cooler and understated piece of automotive design as supercars from Lamborghini and others just become massive, noisy and heavy, in the end, classless beasts.
Good luck to Gordon Murray and GMA. That said, I sense that there is not a lot of enthusiasm for the T.33 and T.50. There's lot of reasons for that, not least the fact that these cars are are over priced (even by current supercar and hypercar standards) and there is no objective evidence that they are any better to drive than their nearest rivals. Also, despite Murray's race car credentials, these new cars have gone into private collections from the outset and most will never be seen in public. Not much there for 'ordinary' car enthusiasts.
If its not well loved is the T50 not completely sold out including the special track focused versions?
Difficult to say its over priced, if it was based on another car yes I would agree but as its a completely bespoke vehicle its not that easy to say its over priced or not as its not just basing the car on something else and hiking the price.
As far as I know, only 100 standard T.50s will be produced, along with 25 track-focused special editions. Apparently, all 100 standard models sold out within 48 hours of the car’s premiere, likely driven by Gordon Murray’s reputation and the halo effect of the McLaren F1 (106 units produced).
It’s reasonable to assume that at least 90% of T.50 buyers are collectors who already own an array of exotics. This makes it difficult to assess the T.50’s true appeal and status among great or celebrated cars. Its limited production and positioning as a modern spiritual successor to the F1 add to this uncertainty.
The automotive landscape has changed significantly since the F1’s launch, with far more competition. While I’ve seen driving reviews of the T.50, it comes across as quirky rather than visceral or truly one of a kind. Frankly, Aston Martin’s Valkyrie (275 units produced) generates more excitement and is arguably the car the T.50 could or should have been.
Ultimately, in 10, 20, or 30 years time, I can't see that the T.50 will be talked about in the same reverential terms as the F1 is now. The buzz just isn't there.