South Africa is by far the largest producer of cars in the African continent, with the Mercedes Benz C-Class, Ford Ranger and BMW X3 all being major exports. But perhaps our greatest motoring export is Gordon Murray, designer of the McLaren F1, and he’s just launched his latest design.
Clearly, petrol runs in the veins of us South Africans, and nobody is a better example of that than the world-famous Gordon Murray. Born in Durban to Scottish immigrant parents, he spent his childhood here and eventually studied mechanical engineering at Natal Technical College. After moving to England in 1969, he focused on designing Formula 1 cars (including the hugely successful McLaren MP4/4 from 1988), and then later on created one of the most famous road cars on the planet: the McLaren F1.
The McLaren F1 rewrote the rulebooks for the supercar. It did things that were previously considered impossible. Mated to a pleasingly manual six-speed gearbox was a bespoke 6.1L BMW naturally-aspirated V12 heart, meaning the F1 could accelerate from 0-100km/h in under 3.5 seconds, and shattered top speed records by reaching a maximum of 386km/h – a record it held for years. Such mind-blowing figures combined with a pleasingly 1990s analogue driving experience has meant the F1 never left the public spotlight. Only the Bugatti Veyron from over a decade later arguably dethroned Murray’s McLaren, but it has never been truly forgotten.
Since the F1, Gordon Murray’s ventures have been somewhat quieter. He headed the design of the 2003 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren – still a monster of a supercar in its own right, but one which didn’t have quite the same headline-grabbing figures as the F1. In 2007, he founded the Gordon Murray Design consultancy, and revealed the T.25 – an ultra-economical city car for the masses.
Now, however, Murray is back with a bang. In 2019 Gordon Murray Automotive was founded, and almost instantly in June came the reveal of the T.50 – a spiritual successor to the F1, right down to the unique three-seat layout.
The T.50 will weigh just 950kg – lighter than most superminis on the road – and features figures to make the F1 blush. Its 3.9L naturally-aspirated V12 engine features 485kW, and revs to an almost-unbelievable 12,100rpm. It’ll have no flywheel, either, meaning that the engine will blip and rev as freely as a racing car.
Despite that screaming engine and a 511kW-per-tonne power figure, the T.50 is still designed to be used every day, with its three spacious seats and room for luggage. Only 100 will ever be built, to be sold at the equivalent of R45,000,000 each. Deliveries will begin shipping in 2022, so there’s not long of a wait for this spaceship to become reality.
South African-born Gordon Murray is set to re-establish himself as the creator of the world’s most impressive cars, and continues his status as the father of machines that will live on as bedroom posters for decades to come. It’s surely only a matter of time until the next great South African petrolhead captures the world’s imagination with another mind-blowing creation.
Please note the imagery supplied in this blog was taken off www.timeslive.co.za
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