This is the very first Gordon Murray Automotive T.50s Niki Lauda. It is a long name for a short car with a big punch: A track-only ‘version’ of the sublime, 10/10 Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 supercar.
Except we know it’s not really a ‘version’ of that T.50 road car, more a separate, bewinged nutjob. Only 25 are being built, and each one celebrates famous wins taken by Murray’s Formula One cars.
So, this one honors the Brabham BT44’s win at Kyalami in 1974—Murray's first ever F1 win, no less—which means it gets a South African flag-inspired livery. There’s a gloss-black ‘7’ layered onto the flanks referencing Carlos Reutemann’s race-winning car number, a small badge on the inner door card that reads ‘Kyalami 1974’…and that’s about it. Subtle.
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What isn’t subtle is the powertrain, aero, and central driving position. This T.50s Niki Lauda gets an uprated version of the mad 4.0-liter V12 offering up 761hp at 11,500rpm, and 497Nm at 8,000rpm. That aero allows for 1,200kg of downforce, and it weighs 900kg. It’s also quite tiny.
And, as we discovered when we tested one, “probably better than the sum of its money-no-object, conceived-by-F1-genius parts.”
Like we said, this is chassis number one of 25 cars, so we’ll let you know what the others look like when we see them. You’ll be able to see this very car at Goodwood this year, alongside the simply gorgeous S1 LM, the GTR XP prototype, and the T.33 Spider prototype.
“In just six years since we unveiled the T.50, the team has designed, developed, manufactured and delivered 100 customer cars to owners around the world,” said Professor Murray. “We’ve also started building T.50s, while T.33 and T.33 Spider are well through development, ahead of production.
“Alongside this, we have created an even more specialised range of vehicles that explore the limits of our design and engineering philosophy—it is a privilege to develop lightweight, beautifully engineered supercars for our customers and to share them with enthusiasts.”
More photos of the GMA T.50s Niki Lauda:
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
