Gordon Murray Automotive has revealed a longtail reworking of the T.50 and a reimagining of the Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR LM as the first two cars from its new Special Vehicles at Monterey Car Week in California.
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles (GMSV) is the Surrey firm’s answer to Bentley’s Mulliner and Lamborghini’s Ad Personam divisions. Its brief is to create one- and few-off special editions with their own styling and mechanical make-ups and enable greater scope for customisation.
GMSV will have three product lines: SV Design will create limited-run special editions; Bespoke will handle unique customer-commissioned one-offs; and Heritage is for continuation-style reworkings of cars originally designed by company chairman Gordon Murray.
Le Mans GTR
The GMSV Le Mans GTR is based on GMA’s T50 hypercar, but aside from its powertrain, “almost every other element of the car” has been modified.
So it keeps the T50’s naturally aspirated 4.0-litre V12 and six-speed manual gearbox but wraps the running gear in a completely bespoke bodyshell that’s inspired by the legendary ‘longtail’ racers that dominated at Le Mans for decades – including such icons as the Matra-Simca MS660, Porsche 917, Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/3 and Murray’s own McLaren F1 GTR.
A defining characteristic of longtail racers, as the name suggests, is a dramatically extended rear deck that boosts downforce and aerodynamic efficiency – particularly important attributes on on the high-speed Le Mans circuit, where a slightly higher top speed could be the difference between winning and losing the 24-hour race.
So inspired, GMSV’s first production car has been designed with a rigid focus on minimising drag and maximising downforce. It features a long, low and streamlined silhouette adorned by prominent splitters, skirts and diffusers that “generate maximum ground effect aerodynamics” – plus a huge fixed rear wing. As a result, the GTR is able to forgo the ground-sucking fan that’s fitted to the T50.
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Certain reminds me of what a brilliant designer Peter Stevens is , his original F1 was such a brilliant work . Wonder if this update is from his hand ?