- The small British brand would likely have to make a Garage 56 entry into Le Mans.
- With a screaming V12, the T.50 would be one of the best-sounding cars at the endurance race.
The director of brand and product at Gordon Murray Automotive, Dario Franchitti, says he would love for the T.50 hypercar to race at Le Mans, but getting it to comply with regulations wouldn’t be easy.
Next year will mark the 30th anniversary since the Gordon Murray-designed McLaren F1 won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and while it would be fitting to see the T.50 at the Mulsanne straight for the anniversary, having just a year to get it ready probably isn’t long enough.
Read: Gordon Murray’s Wild T.50s ‘Niki Lauda’ Offers 725 HP Of Track Driving Bliss For $4.3M
“The problem, [with] T.50s right now is where would you put it?” Franchitti said while speaking with CarBuzz. “It weighs less than 900 kg [1,984 lbs]; the car that won the Le Mans Hypercar class this year was 1,200 kg [2,645 lbs]. I don’t know how you would BoP [balance of performance] it. There’s all sorts of obstacles in the road. Trust me, I would love it. And I think the big man [Gordon Murray], he’s still got that sort of glint in his eye with racing.”
One way that GMA could potentially get approval for the car could be to secure a Garage 56 entry. This class has been running for 12 years and allows concepts, innovative prototypes, and other cars to compete at the world’s most famous endurance race. The Chevy Camaro ZL1 NASCAR from last year’s event was a Garage 56 entry.
“I hope at some point GMA is going racing, and I look forward to that,” Franchitti said. “I’m not sure of T.50s; I’d love to see it run, even [as a] Garage 56 thing…Never say never. “Imagine that thing, that lovely V12 wailing down the Mulsanne Straight between the trees.”
GMA recently started development and testing of its second model, the T.33. This new supercar will weigh roughly 100 kg (220 lbs) more than the T.50 and be cheaper, but will sport the same basic 3.9-liter naturally-aspirated V12 from Cosworth. Some changes have been made to this engine, including the fitment of new camshafts, a special intake, and a bespoke exhaust system.
