Second GMA supercar ditches fan-driven aerodynamics but retains 3.9-litre Cosworth V12
Gordon Murray Automotive has already sold out all of its T.50 three-seat hypercars, including the more track-focused T.50s Niki Lauda. Now the Surrey-based manufacturer has revealed its more accessible two-seater, the T.33, which will enter production in late 2023 before hitting roads in 2024.
To reflect its more conventional seating layout, the T.33 gets its own chassis made from carbon fibre and aluminium, and loses the fan-based aerodynamics of the T.50, resulting in a neat, clean shape devoid of splitters or adornments. “It’s really a look that’s been in my head for many years – actually from just after we did the McLaren F1,” designer Gordon Murray told us. “It’s absolutely not retro but there are a lot of small influences from my favourite sports racing cars of the sixties – the likes of the Ferrari 206 Dino SP, or the Porsche 904. All of those cars are timeless, really, and that’s what we want to achieve with the T.33. In 20 years’ time, we think it’ll still look good.”
The T.33’s key features include vertically stacked headlights, incorporating neat ‘hard points’ designed for corner impact testing, simple round LED-based tail-lights, and pronounced haunches over the rear wheels. The body colour and the finishes on the ‘blade’ behind the door shutline and the roof-mounted ram-air intake will all be configurable by the customer – leading GMA to suggest that no two examples will be alike. Murray says that the buyer’s experience and level of involvement in the T.33 will be “almost identical” to that enjoyed by T.50 customers, who have, on average, spent more than six hours each in consultations with GMA on their car’s specification.
The new arrival is 4,398mm long – a single millimetre longer than the current Porsche Boxster, but four centimetres longer than the T.50. It retains a version of the hypercar’s Cosworth-developed, 3.9-litre, normally aspirated V12 engine. Weighing just 178kg, the remapped unit has new camshafts, a bespoke ram induction intake set-up and a different exhaust – enough for it to earn a different designation, GMA.2 V12.
The motor’s rev limit has been reduced only slightly from the T.50’s, to 11,100rpm, so it produces 607bhp at 10,500rpm and 451Nm. GMA claims that 75 per cent of this torque is available at just 2,500rpm and says that with a weight of 1,090kg, the car will have a power-to-weight ratio of 556bhp per tonne, delivering “superlative performance”. As with the T.50, however, the firm has declined to offer any estimated top speed or acceleration figures, since the focus is on a pure driving experience and involvement instead of lap times.
Unlike the manual-only T.50, the T.33 will be offered with a choice of transmissions – both developed by Xtrac. The standard gearbox will be a six-speed manual, but an auto will also be available; it’s a pre-selector configuration which, Murray claims, will offer seamless shifts with no interruption in torque delivery. It weighs just 78kg, four kilos less than the T.50-derived manual.
The suspension set-up is lightweight double wishbones at the front and rear, and the car sits on forged-aluminium alloy wheels measuring 19-inches (front) and 20-inches (rear). The car is designed to be user-friendly, so it has a realistic ride height of 120mm at the front and 145mm at the rear. The T.33 will be offered in both left- and right-hand drive, and be approved for sale in global markets, including the United States.
Inside, there’s a simple instrument layout with a large, central, analogue rev-counter, and all of the main switches are machined from aluminium alloy. Each car will have its pedal and seating arrangement individually tailored to the customer’s requirements. The T.33 features side storage lockers, like the T.50, along with a front luggage compartment; the combined boot capacity is 280 litres, roughly equivalent to that of a Ford Fiesta.
Unlike the T.50, which is being made at Dunsfold, the T.33 will be manufactured at Gordon Murray’s new technology campus in Windlesham, Surrey. Despite being a more ‘mainstream’ offering, the new model will stick to GMA’s promise to never produce more than 100 examples of any variant.
However, Murray is said to already have pre-orders for more than half of this car’s production run, so we should expect three editions of the T.33 in total: the ‘regular’ version seen here, an open-topped edition that could well be a Targa, and a more extreme T.33s that will be lighter and have a greater track focus. This expanded total of 300 cars, to be made between 2023 and 2026, is one element that has helped GMA to deliver the car at just over half of the price of a T.50. It’ll cost £1.37m before local taxes.
V12 power to go hybrid in future GMA models
The remarkable V12 engine from the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 and T.33 is all but certain to feature in the Surrey-based firm’s first generation of hybrid models, according to Murray himself.
The former F1 designer revealed to Auto Express last year that the T.33’s three derivatives – likely to be the newly unveiled edition, plus an open-top and a hardcore track-focused version – will be the final models from GMA not to feature some form of electrification. Their production will run until the end of 2026.
However, Murray has now revealed that GMA’s Cosworth-sourced V12 – a 3.9-litre unit that can reach 12,000rpm – is still in his plans beyond that date, as the company pushes towards hybrid assistance. “Our promise to customers is that when we do a hybrid car, it will be the lightest, the most fun to drive, the least amount of hybridisation, and still the most involving,” he said.
When asked directly if that meant keeping the V12 at the heart of the T.33’s successor, Murray replied, “Correct. Yes, we’ll do that. We are not going to do a V6.” He also suggested that the 48-volt starter/generator, which is carried over from the T.50 to the T.33, could prove a useful component in any mild-hybrid configuration.
Murray says that GMA has a model plan extending through until 2033; based on the T.33’s 36-month plan running out at the end of 2026, that could mean that two further vehicles, along with derivatives, are already in the pipeline.
Now read our list of the Best supercars…
Keyword: New 2023 Gordon Murray Automotive T.33 V12 supercar revealed