Gordon Murray to launch McLaren F1 successor in 2022

The T.50 is expected to have a power-to-weight ratio equal to the specially lightened F1 GTR race car that won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1995 and the hybrid-powered McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari. 

But Murray said he won’t be chasing particular performance statistics or circuit times because he believes such exercises compromise the car. “The F1 turned out to be quick,” he said, “and T.50 will be quicker.” 

Chassis and suspension

Like the F1, the T.50 has an all-carbonfibre tub chassis, clad with carbon panels. All are designed to meet current crash legislation and the car has a single airbag for the driver. The three-seat layout allows it to be radically cab-forward. 

No subframes are needed to carry the suspension. The rear suspension mounts directly onto the aluminium gearbox housing and the front suspension’s mountings are bonded, race-style, into the carbonfibre chassis structure. 

Murray decided against using carbonfibre for suspension components or wheels, believing they wouldn’t offer the durability a road car needs. All suspension parts are aluminium except for the steel rear lower wishbones. The brakes are carbon-ceramic discs, with ABS. The car also has traction control, but in line with Murray’s desire for maximum driver control, there’s no chassis stability control. 

Suspension is by double wishbones at each end, with coil-over units mounted inboard and connected by linkages designed to provide rising rates that resist aero loads as speed increases. There is generous static and low-speed ground clearance. 

Wheels and tyres are modest for a supercar: 235s mounted on 19in wheels in front and 295s on 20in rims behind. “We’ve chosen these because they’re all we need,” said Murray. “It’s another part of the virtuous circle. They save static weight, unsprung weight, and intrude less into the body.” 

Engine and transmission

The T.50’s 3.9-litre engine is extremely small and light for a V12. According to the designer’s instruction, it is also very high-revving, redlining at 12,100rpm with a hard limit of 12,400rpm, and it produces slightly more power than the F1’s 6.1-litre V12 engine of 1993. Internal details are secret for the time being, but Murray did say “everything’s titanium”. 

Engine flexibility and torque (341lb ft) are “no problem”, said Murray, because the engine’s variable valve timing – working with driver-selectable high or low-speed engine maps – should ensure it works as well in traffic as on track. He added that, when a car weighs 980kg, you don’t need as much torque as with a heavier machine. 

The choice of a six-speed manual gearbox, built by Xtrac, is perhaps the T.50’s only less than progressive aspect. The decision to use it follows requests from a “secret list” of potential clients who prefer the “involvement” of a stick-shift, a view that dovetails with Murray’s own preferences. 

Aerodynamics

The T.50’s most eye-catching feature is its 400mm-diameter, electrically driven fan, which creates downforce under the car to increase stability and cornering power, literally sucking it onto the road. 

Murray described its functioning as “active and interactive”: it automatically configures the car for different conditions but can also be controlled by the driver. It can create high-downforce modes for wet roads, or low-drag modes for very fast cruising, and everything in between. It can even produce low drag for straights and high downforce for corners while you drive. 

Another vital advantage, Murray said, is that the car can retain a purity of design simply not possible in existing supercars, which are covered with “unsightly wings, outlets, vents and bulges”. 

Cockpit layout

Murray’s preference for a central driver’s seat, with a passenger seat on either side, gets full expression in the T.50, whose credentials as “the last great analogue supercar” are stressed by its traditionally styled analogue instruments and switches, dominated by a large central tachometer. 

Access to the surprisingly large cabin will be via a pair of dihedral doors. The seats will be relatively thinly padded, but perfectly shaped, to save space. 

As with the F1, exaggerated attention has been paid to providing first-class visibility and ventilation, and Murray is currently deciding which audio provider to approach to create a special lightweight system.