McLaren completely removed from Gordon Murray F1 sequel

McLaren says a tie-up with Gordon Murray to develop an F1 successor was never on its radar, though the British car-maker will be watching the legendary engineer’s latest piece with interest.

Just last week, Murray unveiled details of a “spiritual successor” to the McLaren F1 – a car that put McLaren’s road car division on the map and reinforced Murray’s status 30 years ago – with a new offering called the T.50 supercar, sold under the Gordon Murray Automotive brand.

Sharing the original F1’s three-seat layout, which places the driver in the centre, Murray announced the new car will “improve upon its predecessor in every way”.
Limited to 100 examples, the all-new T.50 shares much in common with the original McLaren F1 under the bonnet – including a naturally-aspirated V12 powertrain – in this case a small 3.9-litre (the original F1 was powered by a BMW-sourced 6.1-litre.)

Despite the similarities and the storied history between Murray and McLaren, the British car-maker says it never really considered input in an F1 sequel.

“I don’t believe so, Gordon’s got a very strong history but where we are we’ve been developing our business in an impressive way in the last seven or eight years,” George Biggs, McLaren’s Asia Pacific managing director, told carsales.com.au.

“I saw the pictures and details of the car, and I look forward to seeing it, but it’s not something that we considered.”

Murray says the T.50’s V12, developed by British F1 engine builder Cosworth, will produce 485kW and 450Nm but rev to 12,100rpm – the highest revving engine ever used in a production car.

To keep weight down, the V12 will not feature any electrification and all its force will be directed to the rear wheels.

That in itself represents a departure of sorts from McLaren, which is fast moving towards an electrified future and has already developed its own F1 sequel with the P1 released in 2013.

Instead, the T.50 will be based around an ultra lightweight carbon-fibre monocoque that limits the kerb figure to just 980kg – the same weight as most city cars but with more than six times the power.

Size-wise, the new supercar will be smaller than a Porsche 911 but with a superior 50:50 weight distribution.

Despite tight packaging, the T.50 will be capable of GT-style cruising with plenty of luggage space.

New tech set to be introduced on Murray’s F1 follow-up includes pioneering aerodynamics that uses fans to suck the floor to the car – a technique used by the F1 designer on the 1978 Brabham BT46B ‘Fan Car’ that won the one and only race it competed.

To help develop its unique aero package, Murray says it has teamed up with an unnamed F1 team.

Despite the McLaren F1 record-breaking reputation, Murray has already ruled out chasing Bugatti and Koenigsegg for top speed honours with the new T.50, saying his latest creation will be judged on the experience, rather than the numbers – hence its manual transmission.

Commenting on the T.50 Murray said: “I have absolutely no interest in chasing records for top speed or acceleration. Our focus is instead on delivering the purest, most rewarding driving experience of any supercar ever built – but, rest assured, it will be quick”.

Until recently, Murray has been heavily involved with the design and engineering TVR’s first sports car in more than a decade, but that project has been reportedly delayed.