For collectors, enthusiasts, car manufacturers and engineers, the McLaren F1 is the ultimate supercar, and this will always be the case. He has three places available, a super analog driving experience with an incredible V12 and a manual transmission, a record top speed, and he won at Le Mans. Only 106 have been manufactured, and they are currently among the most expensive cars in the world, especially in the modern era. More than thirty years later, people cannot stop talking about F1 or trying to reproduce their style and driving experience, especially at an era of increasingly strict emissions and accident security regulations.
Aside from McLaren herself, which made underestimated hypercars such as P1, W1 and three-seater speedtail, the only company that has really managed to channel the spirit of the F1 was Gordon Murray Automotive, founded by its namesake, the guy who designed the McLaren F1. The GMA T.50 is essentially a direct successor to the F1, a three-seater layout style, an F1-Esque style, a screaming V12 associated with a manual and a fan system in the back, something Murray had always wanted to do. There will only be 100 of the T.50 versions (plus 25 t.50s track), but GMA will continue to make special offers limited depending on the platform and the motorcycle group of the car.
The first super-exclusive creation of the new GMA special vehicle division is GMSV S1 LM (which means “Special One”). Only five will be built, all ordered by a client with a “passion for the Gordon conceptions of the 1990s and his historic 1995 victory in Le Mans”. It contains even better performance and track capacities than the T.50, but outside, its design is obviously a Redux of F1. For me, it’s just without inspiration and cheesy, and not even very beautiful.
You still?
I like a lot of modern supercars in retro style, such as Aston Martin Valor and Lamborghini Countach, and I am a big fan of a well -done restaurant, like what the singer and the Eccentrica Font. I think that my problem is that instead of taking the design of F1 and evolving it and modernizing it significantly, the S1 LM looks like an F1 with different lights and slightly more refined aerodynamics. But it is not actually an F1, he uses the chassis and the t.50 motorcycle group, although upgraded. The T.50 already looks like an evolution of F1, and even if I don’t like it very much, at least it feels fresh. The S1 LM does not do so.
Each body panel is new and made of carbon fiber, and GMA says that the roof line is lowered compared to T.50. His front bumper looks like a modern interpretation of the F1 GTR bumper, with thin LED headlights under what looks like F1-shaped blankets. The greenhouse looks like F1, but with a more interesting roof scoop and rear configuration. The shape of the body and the front wing vents are the same as the F1, just smoother and with a contribution in front of the rear wheels as on the F1 GTR. There are four ugly round rear lights behind a grille, similar bumper vents and a diffuser which looks very cool by housing four exhaust tips. The large rear wing is your large typical wing, and the wheels are like the wheels of the F1 GTR. There are cool surfacing treatments and little design flourish, but overall, it seems exactly what I expected that a slightly modernized F1 spoken.
People who worship F1 will probably like this thing (I’m not a guy from F1, in fact, I always found that it was a bit ugly), but I think the S1 LM is simply boring. I understand, the real McLaren F1 are so expensive and rare that even Murray himself would surely never make a restaurant based on one, but that is also why it is disappointing that it looks so much like an F1. Making a modern car with a more directly retro F1 style is a good idea that could have caused something cool, but it does not have the impression that Murray tried to itter the design here. Why do F1, but new, if you don’t really feel new? And with an estimated cost at eight digits, the guy who buys all five can certainly buy a real F1 (and I am sure that already one). If you want an F1, get an F1!
The interior is cool, at least
The interior is quite cool, however, with an inspiration design and a skeletal architecture of inspiration for fighter planes. There is much more carbon fiber than on a T.50, with new door panels completely made from the substance. Although the gauge cluster is the same as the T.50, the dashboard has a unique floating design with pill -shaped air vents and an impressive quilted model. GMA gives no details on the Airbag Rad -free steering wheel, which looks like a racing wheel from the 90s but has integrated controls.
As for the T.50 (and F1), the S1 LM has a three -seater provision with a central driver’s seat. This pilot obtains a race seat with intense cases, a lot of mesh cutouts and padding that seems straight out of a science fiction film from the 70s. Each passenger is in a less intense but always enveloping seat placed a little further. One of the specifications that GMA has shown the driver’s seat covered with silver quilted leather, while the other has green, white and red tartan.
Don’t worry, there is gold paper
The supply of the GMSV S1 LM is the same V12 designed by Cosworth as the T.50, but is bored up to 4.3 liters. It is more than 690 horsepower, placing it between the T.50 and T.50S track model, and the engine returns to 12,100 rpm. The S1 LM has an exhaust of tailor -made incavantication wrapped in a thermal shielding in 18 -carat gold leaf, such as F1, and the engine has a higher compression ratio and lighter interns. Its manual transmission uses the T.50S case with T.50 interns, and GMA says that it delivers “short rifle bolt”. The S1 LM also has a unique lower suspension configuration with a new geometry and shock absorbers. I am sure it will be quite spectacular to drive.
In the press release, Gordon Murray would have said: “I love timeless design. I never want us to join the race to make the most scandalous supercar at the expense of balance, beauty and proportions. Look at the result, the car is timeless and beautiful.” You already don’t want to start the “timeless” design, but I think that’s the problem. Murray has just made his greatest success again, to continue this top, instead of doing something even a little more interesting like the other GMA models. Of course, the only important opinion here is that of the guys who ordered them. What do you think?