Gordon Murray details Alpine A110 rival
F1 creator, Gordon Murray, says work has already begun on affordable Ford-sourced, three-cylinder sports carMcLaren F1 creator, Gordon Murray, has confirmed new details of an exciting affordable lightweight sports car he is developing.
Currently codenamed the T.43, Murray told journalists at the Geneva motor show that his latest sports car would weigh in at less than 950kg, have a manual gearbox and be powered by a 160kW Ford's three-cylinder engine and be priced at less than £40,000 ($A75,000).
Speaking to US mag,
, the former Formula 1 engineer and designer said: "I'll tell you what it is. It's a Lotus Elise, but usable every day, Murray said, adding: "You can get in and out. It's got a roof. It's got air conditioning that works, sound system, sat nav, airbags."It's a market segment that's not just underpopulated, it's virtually empty at the moment."
Criticising his daily driver, the new Alpine A110, for being too wide, Murray proposed his own solution: "If it was another 100mm narrower, it would be the perfect car".
The T.43 is being developed to be not only smaller than its new French rival, but 100kg lighter, $A12,000 cheaper and much quicker.
Measuring in at 3960mm long, 1670mm wide, the T.43 is being developed to have the power-to-weight ratio of the outgoing Porsche 911 Carrera S.
Set to be sold under Murray's IGM car brand that was announced back in 2017, the T.43 will use his innovative iStream Superlight construction method combining an aluminium tube frame with carbon honeycomb chassis panels. The resulting structure is stronger, 50 per cent lighter than a press steel platform and cheaper to manufacture.
The same method is set to be used for the new TVR Griffith when production eventually begins.
According to Murray, licensing for the iStream lightweight chassis design will be offered to other car-makers and its sheer flexibility will allow it to be scaled up easily for other applications with different powertrains.
Speaking to Road & Track, Murray says he wants the T.43 to be sold everywhere, including the US market where its tough construction is claimed to have no problem in meeting crash regulations.
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