Earlier today, Gordon Murray Automotive unveiled the T.33 Spider, and buried in the press release was the fact that the car would only be offered with a six-speed manual transmission. In a recent interview, he explained that he thought it was “stupid” to offer any other kind of transmission in the first place.
“So embarrassing. This is one I can’t blame anyone else on the team,” Murray told Harry Metcalfe in a video published today. “I suppose I couldn’t have been more stupid, if you like, because I should have read ‘Driving Perfection,’ and knowing that people—and knowing that the gear change is a huge part of involving the driver.”
Murray says he initially made the decision to offer a six-speed paddle-shift transmission on the T.33 coupe because he knew the platform underpinning it would go into a total of 300 vehicles. He reasoned, then, that the needed to have a broader appeal.
Read: New GMA T.33 Spider Unleashes 609 HP V12 Without Any Roof To Hold Back Its Sound
In the end, he says that just “three or four” people ordered the T.33 coupe with the paddle-shift transmission. However, the option was a useful accessibility feature, since two of the people ordered it, did so out of necessity, because of problems with their clutch leg, Murray explained.
Unfortunately for those buyers, the same logic that means that automakers that produce larger numbers of vehicles can’t afford to offer a manual transmission means that GMA can’t afford to offer a paddle-shift transmission.
“It would have ended up the world’s most expensive option,” Murray explained. The decision was reached despite the company starting development of the transmission. The team had a Lotus Evora that had the gearbox working within it, but ultimately decided to get rid of the option.
Unfortunately for those drivers with left-leg troubles, it means that they will miss out on the T.33’s uproarious 3.9-liter V12. Despite its size, the engine makes 609 hp (476 kW/617 PS) and 333 lb-ft (451 Nm) of torque thanks to a redline set at 11,100 RPM.