A vehicle has to be special to get attention even while leading a parade of V10-era Formula One cars during the 79th Members' Meeting at Goodwood. With its high-revving V12, the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 in this video is the perfect vehicle for the job.
At the start of the clip, the T.50 rolls out of the paddock. If you look closely, there's a tiny light bar with flashing lamps on the rear deck. The car drives onto the track and immediately sounds fantastic.
Gallery: Gordon Murray Automotive T.50
Smartphone speakers don't do the sound justice. Plug in some headphones or load this video on something that can make some proper noise.
The video switches between two camera angles. The viewer is sometimes looking backward. Sometimes the Formula One cars are visible right behind the T.50. At other moments, the old racers aren't anywhere near the supercar.
There's also a look inside the cabin. The camera is next to the steering wheel and pointing slightly upwards toward the driver. The field of view is wide enough that you can see him rowing through the gears. Also, a person holding a radio is in the left-side passenger seat.
The T.50 gets power from a Cosworth-designed naturally aspirated V12 that displaces 4.0 liters. It makes 654 horsepower (488 kilowatts) and 344 pound-feet (467 Newton-meters) of torque. The redline is at a screaming 12,100 rpm. Gordon Murray Automotive claims the engine's weight of 392 pounds (177.8 kilograms) makes the mill the lightest road-going V12 ever.
The other thing that makes the T.50 special is that it uses a fan to improve aerodynamics. A 48-volt electric motor spins the piece at 7,000 rpm. The system uses this with the active rear spoilers and diffusers to increase downforce by 50 percent in normal driving or by 100 percent in the Braking mode.
Gordon Murray Automotive will make 100 units of the standard T.50. The company will also build 25 units of the track-only Niki Lauda model. It will make as much as 725 hp (541 kW) and will have a diet that will shave the weight down to 1,872 pounds (852 kilograms).
