Although the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 is unlikely to be driven very much once it reaches its owners’ garages, the upcoming hypercar still has to be comfortable on the streets. So test driver Dario Franchitti has borrowed a prototype to drive it around on Italy’s public roads and see how good it is off the test track.
And the results are pretty good. Seen in Nardo, Italy, near the famed circular test track at which closed-door tests were being carried out, Franchitti, who is a member of the American Motorsports Hall of Fame, borrowed the car for a quick drive, which, if he’d had his way, would have turned into a much longer drive.
“We’re sitting here in the south of Italy, and I’m thinking to myself, I wonder if Gordon [Murray] would let me drive it back to Shelford, to the base, because I think it would just be an epic road trip,” Franchitti says. “And considering we’re not at the end of the development cycle yet, we’re not fully happy with it yet—we’re close, but we’re not fully happy. I think that’s maybe an insight into how good this car is going to be.”
Read Also: Watch Gordon Murry Automotive Pummel Its T50 Supercar During Airbag Testing
Along with being a part of the GMA T.50 development team, Franchitti is an avowed fan of the car, having previously gushed about it after driving a test mule in another video published by the automaker.
“It is the best engine I’ve ever driven,” he said at the time. “Or, even in its very basic state, it’s the best. It’s just. We were just laughing. There’s nothing else to say.”
Indeed, the 3.9-liter Cosworth V12 can be heard revving incredibly high in this video, too. Reaching speeds of up to 12,100 rpm, the engine is rated at 650 hp (659 PS/485 kW), though tests have shown it can reach up to 672 hp (681 PS/501 kW).
Just 100 GMA T.50s will ever be built by GMA, in addition to 25 T.50S Niki Lauda track variants. If this test proves nothing else, it’s that the buyers who have signed up for these models (all of which are sold) should be very excited indeed.
