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The GMA T.50 shook the industry when it was revealed last year, so how do you follow it up? Adam Towler sat down with GMA founder Gordon Murray to explore the finer points of its new brother – the T.33 – a supercar Murray’s had in his head for the last 25 years.
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0:00
This is the T33, the second car from Gordon Murray Automotive
0:07
We sat down with Gordon to hear all about the new car and how it differs from the firm's halo model, the T50
0:15
Gordon, lovely to see you again and it's great to be here at your new Windlesham headquarters
0:22
And we have a very beautiful new car behind us as well
0:28
It doesn't seem it was that long ago that we were talking in front of a T50
0:35
And obviously many people have seen that car at Goodwood now shrieking and wailing its way around the circuit
0:42
So clearly things are moving at pace at GMA. And now you have this
0:46
So it's been, I imagine, a very busy period. Before we get into specific details about this car, though
0:54
Can you give me some background to it and the ethos of the car and how it fits with T50 as well
1:02
Yeah, sure. There's a couple of big sort of starting points really
1:06
One is this is a car I've had in my head for decades actually
1:10
I've always wanted to do a motor car that picks out all my favourite 1960s sports racing car features
1:17
Not retro in any way, shape or form, but actually just uses those shapes and brings them into a modern form
1:24
So that's always been hanging around long before T50 actually. And the other one was our promise to everybody was that T50 would be our halo car
1:32
And of course, central driving position, sub-thousand kilos, 12,000 revs. It really is
1:38
To follow on though from that, and of course we promised we never make more than 100 cars a year
1:43
So when T50, the last T50 and 50S rolls off the line, we have to roll on to the next one
1:49
So this is something the team and I have been talking about, you know, what the next one should be
1:54
moving on from T50 in not a different direction because the seven core
2:00
principles in GMA apply to anything we do absolutely anything we do so once
2:05
again a supercar with no real influence from what other people are doing just
2:10
what what we feel would make a great little good-looking motorcar that
2:16
people would want to use that's the background really well if I may I'm
2:20
going to start with the design because not only is it a very striking car but it's also for a
2:27
supercar a car that looks different to what is the perceived norm of supercars out there at the
2:33
moment so and i know you've got as you've already hinted strong views on the design
2:38
so yeah if you could maybe explain to me that philosophy why does it look the way it does
2:45
and i suppose inevitably then we'll have to talk about aerodynamics because clearly that's
2:50
sure part of that yeah so as i said already we don't we don't follow trends and it seems to be
2:56
a trend now within the supercar community of trying to make the next one look more and more
3:01
outrageous just for the sake of it really and we didn't want to follow that at all we wanted to do
3:06
a nice pure motor car like 50 using classic shapes and curves and something that will look good in 20
3:12
or 30 years time which we hope 50 will as well it's all about a not following trends but b
3:19
B doing a car that's a genuine, what I call a genuinely styled motor car
3:24
So there's nothing on this motor car that doesn't have a function. You won't find a slot or a louver or a fin or anything that doesn't actually have a function
3:34
And that's really what GMA is all about. So we have our own say over everything in the company
3:40
We're not, you know, we're not, we have got layers of management. So if we decide to do a car that looks like this and is styled and designed in this vein
3:48
can do it and I have a fantastic team of people. My creative director Kevin Richards and myself go
3:54
back more than a quarter of a century now so we think the same way and we have a great team in the
4:00
studio so turning something that was a concept in my head 20 years ago, 25 years ago, into reality
4:07
has been fun So given the performance of the car which we come on to talk about in a minute or two how does it stay on the ground Clearly there not big spoilers and there not especially at the front there no jutting splitter
4:23
but you're obviously managing that airflow very carefully. Yeah, it's got very interesting aero on it actually
4:28
First of all, it doesn't have quite the same downforce as 50 had, the 50 was a very special motor car
4:34
and of course we don't have the fan but what we learnt in the months and months it took to develop
4:39
the diffuser shape with the fan was with the very steep kick we have on 50 where we draw the air out
4:45
with the fan and force the air to follow that we found we found once we developed the kick point
4:51
and the shape of that diffuser when we switched the fan off it was still effective it dropped about
4:57
70 percent of the downforce but it was still about 30 percent better than a conventional
5:01
ground-effect car. So we started, banked that one and started developing a diffuser shape
5:09
that would still nowhere near as violent as 50, but would still use the base suction behind
5:16
the car to suck air out on the kick point of the diffuser. So the benefit that gives
5:22
you, instead of giving you the resulted downforce around the rear flank of the car, it gives
5:29
you the downforce around the sort of B pillar bulkhead area which means you're
5:33
much nearer the center gravity so you don't need unsightly and ugly front
5:38
splitters and error devices to make front downforce we do have two diffusers
5:43
but they're hidden in the front wheel arch on this car but the main reason
5:48
why we don't need a lot of ugly error on the front is once again it's the it's
5:52
the sort of boundary layer control although with a fan it's fan assisted
5:57
course with this it's passively controlled. When you walk around the car it does feel very compact
6:02
and low, is that a fair assumption? It is, in fact it's 35mm longer wheelbase than 50mm because
6:10
once you don't have central driving position of course the occupants move back 250mm or so
6:16
so we needed a bit more wheelbase to fit the occupants of the fuel tank in
6:20
and the overall length is about 40mm longer and the width is exactly the same. So this is exactly
6:31
the same footprint as a Porsche Boxster now. Quite something given the performance of the car and
6:36
underneath that skin again different to T50. Oh completely different architecture. And different
6:42
method as well. Indeed yeah so this is what we call Superlight, our Superlight architecture which
6:47
which is based loosely on our iStream, GMD iStream technology. And it's a combination of an aluminium frame, but cored, you know, sandwiched carbon fibre panels
6:59
in the occupant area and the engine bay area to give you like a Formula 1 style safety cell
7:06
So you have the benefit of not having to try and having a central tub and bolt on aluminium frames
7:13
frames because the bolted joints are flexible and quite heavy. Suspension, that's different again from T50, new wishbones, things like that
7:24
Yeah, all the suspension is new front and rear. It's just an architectural thing again
7:28
it's not that we thought of something better, it's just the fact that the crash structure
7:33
on the front is much wider than 50 because once again that was just a foot well wide
7:37
with the central driving position. So the geometry for the front end is completely new
7:42
and we took the opportunity to repackage the rear end as well
7:46
And you mentioned crash testing because this car as well is federalised for sale in the US. It's fully federal indeed yes I think
7:56
whereas the T50 were show or display like most low-volume cars are into the
8:02
States we thought we thought this time we'd bite the bullet and we go for full
8:09
Federal which gives us a global car, a car that you can sell anywhere basically. It does
8:13
add 28 million pounds to the development programme which brings you under cold sweat to start with
8:21
Yes I can imagine The other thing which I think everyone will be very keen to know about and it over there on a stand is the engine and this once again is a naturally aspirated v12 which i sure many people will be very excited about
8:37
it is part of the same family as the engine that was in the t50 but with substantial revisions what
8:43
can you tell us about that yeah so obviously the the base engine the gma cosmos gma base engine is
8:49
exactly the same so it's the same block and crank but this one's had reworked cylinder heads a new
8:55
camshafts obviously very different mapping on the variable valve timing completely new induction system and exhaust system amongst other things like
9:05
engine mountains different you can't the engines aren't interchangeable for example and we've done that because we've knocked a thousand revs off the
9:13
top down to 11-1 instead of 12-1 and Cosworth have once again done a magic
9:18
job of making the engine very very drivable the car still lights it's under
9:23
under 1,100 kilos so although it's a little heavier than T50 it's it's still
9:30
very very light in this sort of supercar genre and Cosworth's have done a great
9:36
job by making the engine even more flexible I mean the 50 engine is now
9:41
that I've driven it a few times it's ridiculous you know it makes 70% of the
9:45
torque at 2,500 revs this makes 75% of the torque at 2,500 and when you've got
9:52
maximum torque of 451 newton meters it actually makes more than 400 newton meters from 4.5 to
10:00
10.5 so the torque curve is just about flat yeah and it's um that's that's an advantage of knocking
10:07
a thousand revs off the top end right right so a little bit less power than the t50 yeah
10:13
and a little bit more wider torque spread yeah right and you mentioned that weight figure is
10:18
Is that a DIN figure with fluids, with fuel? Yes, so we always wear cars with what we call showrooms
10:24
So it's all the fluids you need to go apart from a full tank of fuel. So we don't do dry weight
10:31
Motorbikes do that. You know, we don't do dry weight. You can't drive a car without water and oil and stuff like that
10:38
Yeah, yeah. And another new gearbox as well for this car. Yes, so to make this appeal to, let's say, a slightly broader one
10:45
because the T50 was unbelievably, as you can see, focused. While this is still driver-focused
10:52
we wanted to make it appeal to a slightly wider audience. So we're offering it full federal, as we've talked about
10:58
left and right-hand drive. And people, when you say that with 100 cars
11:04
people throw up their hands in horror. But actually, if you design that in from the beginning, it's not as horrendous as you imagine
11:10
As long as you've designed the left and the right-hand drive together in the basic package, it's fine
11:15
you know so left or right hand drive and an option on the gearbox standard is six speed manual
11:22
and then we have an option of an extract gearbox with a paddle change which is a new system they
11:28
developed initially for their touring car racing and we've using on t50s right so it's called an
11:37
instant it's it's an igs instantaneous gear shift mechanism selection and it really is
11:43
instant because it's actually a pre-selector box. We're just looking at the figures at the moment
11:48
but it's got a good chance it'll be the fastest gear change on the planet. So we go from the
11:54
sublime to the ridiculous. You've got an H-pattern manual or the quickest gear change on the planet
12:00
How do you think it will play out in terms of sales? What's your prediction
12:05
That's a really interesting question and actually a slightly embarrassing question because the car's been quietly on pre-sale, very, very quietly
12:14
and we've already sold more than half of them before the launch
12:19
And so far, we've only got, I think, 5% uptake on the paddle shift
12:26
So we could find ourselves in a situation when we get to the 100 cars after the launch, hopefully
12:32
where we've got just a handful that are paddle shift. But we've promised we would develop it anyway
12:38
so, you know. Yeah yeah And is that a single clutch that gearbox How many what sort of Yeah it a single clutch box yeah But it a preselector so it already in the next gear
12:50
Right, right. Hence the speed of the change, obviously. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And then in terms of the interior, it's back to a conventional two-seat, side-by-side
13:01
layout. But I know, again, that it's very much your philosophy, the team's philosophy in there
13:07
in terms of an absence of, shall we say, modern touch screens and things like that
13:12
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we have very modern interface. We have Apple CarPlay, of course
13:17
or Android. We have all that, you know, off your phone. But from the point of view of the tactile
13:23
primary and secondary controls, once again, everything's machined from solid aluminium, everything's ogue. All the secondary controls and some of the primary controls are rotary
13:32
no touchscreen, two information screens and still the big 120mm TACO. Everything's floodlit
13:42
no backlighting through plastic. Very much a driver-focused motor car again. The same
13:49
ethos as 50mm, you're just not sitting in the middle. And once again as well, I know you won't have forgotten about luggage capacity and that
13:57
kind of side of it. I imagine for a mid-engine car that's pretty well specified
14:01
Once again, we've gone push the boat out a bit. 50 does pretty well. It's about 220 litres I think
14:10
with the around 200 litres, something like that, with the side lockers which goes up to about 280
14:16
if with two people with the suitcase in the passenger seat. This has three luggage compartments
14:22
one on the nose and two in the rear flanks with a total capacity of 280 litres or six cases
14:28
and that is well that's the same as a small patch yeah and sort of picking up
14:34
on that as well I know we were talking earlier clearly this is a car that will
14:38
have lots of track performance but once again it's a car in the sort of spirit
14:45
that you've become known for with road cars where it is very usable ground
14:49
clearance yep good ride quality you're aiming for those kind of things yeah
14:53
lots of wheel travel not not a ridiculously high natural frequency from
14:58
springing and damping point of view. But yeah good ride height so you don't need nose lifters and
15:04
stuff like that. Very good visibility. Once again incredibly low scuffle like the 50 so the forward
15:12
visibility and the side visibility very very good. This time conventional mirrors because we don't
15:16
have the issue with the central driving position that we had where the mirrors would have been on
15:21
50 they would have been on top of the front wing which looked horrendous. But this time with the
15:26
left and right hand drive we can put the mirrors in a more conventional position. Yeah, yeah. And in terms of time frame you're moving to prototypes
15:35
This summer, actually yeah. I think it's around June we start putting the first cars together
15:40
So really exciting. So we'll be driving them this summer and production is right at the beginning
15:46
of 2024. So just two years from now. For me what we were trying to do, I know this sounds slightly
15:53
silly but if you only ever had to have one supercar to use this would be it because it's it's
16:01
practical it's usable well like t50 the maintenance costs are relatively low servicing costs are
16:07
relatively low it should look good in 20 years time 30 years time and you've got that glorious
16:13
little uh four liter v12 you know the the world's best v12 we can now categorically having driven
16:19
minute now we can categorically state you know it's got that behind you as well so
16:24
I couldn't have imagined it turning out any better to be honest
16:30
It may be a more conventional car than the T50 and a very very slightly more affordable one
16:38
at 1.37 million pounds plus taxes but the T33 certainly promises a spectacular og
16:49
drivers experience like few other cars
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