British designer’s £1.4million (around Rs 14 crore) junior sibling to T50 flagship is intended to be a daily driver
Gordon Murray Automotive has unveiled its second supercar, a “more practical” £1.4 million (around Rs 14 crore) stablemate to the three-seat, V12-powered T50 fan-car flagship that it revealed in August 2020.
The T33, which is built on an all-new carbon-aluminium monocoque chassis, is slightly longer than the T50 and its cabin is designed for two occupants. The car uses a specially adapted version of GMA’s Cosworth-designed 3.9-litre V12 engine with even more low-speed torque but a slightly lower rev limit of 11,100rpm, compared with 12,000rpm in the T50.
- The T33 is designed to be a daily driver
- The T33 reflects Murray’s love for 1960s exotics
- Two spin-offs of the T33 are planned
Further preserving the T50’s status as GMA’s flagship, the T33 uses newly developed passive underbody aerodynamic principles to deliver aero downforce as speeds rise, rather than the T50’s innovative fan system, which works at any speed. The T33 weighs about 100kg more than the T50 at the kerb, and its price shaves £1m (around Rs 10 crore) off that of its senior sibling.
“If you can have only one supercar,” said GMA founder and boss Gordon Murray, “the T33 is designed to be the one you should have.”
How are the T50 and T33 similar?
In other ways, the two GMA models are closely related. Both are about the same length as the Porsche 718 Boxster, but over 200kg lighter. However, their body proportions are considerably different (the T50’s screen is around 10-inch further forward to accommodate its centrally seated driver), but they share a carefully created family look. Murray and his design assistant Kevin Richards are responsible for the styling of both, created in-house with a small team of CAD modellers.
Murray has used the T33 to reflect his love of 1960s exotics (notably the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, Ferrari Dino 206 SP and Lamborghini Miura) and to create a more graceful, less cluttered shape than contemporary supercars.
Rather than copying his favourites, Murray has identified what he believes are timeless details and forms that will feed his long-term aim of preserving the beauty and relevance of GMA cars in the decades to come.
“I’ve had the T33 in my head for about 25 years,” he said, “but until now, we haven’t had the facilities to make it. “All of my designs carry ‘T’ numbers. For instance, the T25 and T27 were city cars, the T34 was our Ox flat-pack truck and the T37 was the TVR [Griffith] project.”
He added, “I’ve been planning a timeless supercar for a long time, and in the early planning I thought about a 3.3-litre engine for it, too, so I reserved the number 33. And now at last we’re doing it.”
True to its previously announced “never more than 100” principle, GMA will make just 100 examples of the T33 coupé, running initial prototypes this summer and delivering cars from 2024.
Two T33 spin-offs are planned. Murray said they are likely to be a roadster and “some sort of track-specific model” in the vein of the T50S Niki Lauda.
Although its proportions are different and it’s built for two occupants, not three, the T33 follows most of the principles used by the T50 (and before that, the seminal McLaren F1). It has a cleverly packaged and spacious cabin, with occupants protected by a carbon fibre safety cell. Many of the carbon fibre panels have a honeycomb core, and there is a light alloy frame to carry the major loads. There are three luggage compartments: one in the nose and a pannier-like one ahead of each rear wheel. Total luggage space is 280 litres, said Murray – “about the same as in a small hatchback”.
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