Photo: Gordon Murray
This week will go down in history as the week when one of the most talented car designers in the world, Gordon Murray, presented the first true successor of the McLaren F1. Called T.50, the supercar looks insane, is extremely expensive, and promises unparalleled performance.
An actual, physical T.50 is not here quite yet, as Gordon Murray will just begin rolling-road wind tunnel testing at the Racing Point Formula 1 team facility next year, and that with a 40 percent scale model.
But that is not stopping the South African-born from trying to get on the grid of the 24-Hours of Le Mans race sometime soon.
We've known of such a plan for a while now, but we are only now just beginning to understand what an entry in the race would mean for the T.50.
The car’s most stunning pieced of engineering are the active underbody aerodynamics, and the huge 400 mm fan fitted at the rear. Used to accelerate the air passing underneath the car and force it out through control ducts at the rear, this ground effect system is supposed to give the T.50 the most advanced aerodynamics of any road car.
But neither FIA nor ACO are big fans of fans, so the Le Mans version of the T.50 would most likely lack this rear element.
"We have talked, and are talking to, the FIA and the ACO about potentially entering something in the future," Murray said in a statement for Road and Track. "Of course, I don't think they'd let us run the fan."
Even so, the designer doesn’t think this should be a problem, as even as a “normal ground-effect car the thing is very effective."
The street versions of the T.50, nearly all of which (100 units) have been already sold, are powered by a purpose-built, naturally aspirated Cosworth 3.9-liter V12 engine that usually develops 650 hp. In the Vmax mode though, aided by a boost from a 48-volt integrated starter-generator, the engine peaks for a limited time at 700 hp.
Murray plans to start deliveries of the T.50 no sooner than 2022.
But that is not stopping the South African-born from trying to get on the grid of the 24-Hours of Le Mans race sometime soon.
We've known of such a plan for a while now, but we are only now just beginning to understand what an entry in the race would mean for the T.50.
The car’s most stunning pieced of engineering are the active underbody aerodynamics, and the huge 400 mm fan fitted at the rear. Used to accelerate the air passing underneath the car and force it out through control ducts at the rear, this ground effect system is supposed to give the T.50 the most advanced aerodynamics of any road car.
But neither FIA nor ACO are big fans of fans, so the Le Mans version of the T.50 would most likely lack this rear element.
"We have talked, and are talking to, the FIA and the ACO about potentially entering something in the future," Murray said in a statement for Road and Track. "Of course, I don't think they'd let us run the fan."
Even so, the designer doesn’t think this should be a problem, as even as a “normal ground-effect car the thing is very effective."
The street versions of the T.50, nearly all of which (100 units) have been already sold, are powered by a purpose-built, naturally aspirated Cosworth 3.9-liter V12 engine that usually develops 650 hp. In the Vmax mode though, aided by a boost from a 48-volt integrated starter-generator, the engine peaks for a limited time at 700 hp.
Murray plans to start deliveries of the T.50 no sooner than 2022.
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