Niki Lauda RIP

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#61

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

Bottom post of the previous page:

GMA T.50s Niki Lauda: Track day tribute for F1 legend

I was wondering where to. post an article regarding the launch of the new Gordon Murray designed Track day version of his T.50 Supercar.... given the car is named in honour of Niki Lauda and was launched on the anniversary of Niki's birthday, this seemed an appropriate place.

I have to say it looks a sensational car, and typical Murray it features a fan hanging off the back as a throwback to the Brabham fan car. Hate to have to pay for one, but.....

It is a bit spartan inside.... a central driving position as Murray's McLaren F1 of old, but as the aim is for the best driving experience. Mind you with a V12 behind you revving to over 12000rpm, who needs a stereo! Thats music enough.

Only 25 to be made, one for each of Murrays car GP wins, and each car will be sub named with one of those races. The first chassis will be called Kyalami 1974, which Carlos Reutemann won in the Braham-Ford BT44. I guess they will be a chronological list, but I would have thought chassis #1 would have been "1978 Swedish Grand Prix" given the unique nature of the win, the fan featured on the car and it was a Niki win.

Oh and the 25 cars will each come with a specially commissioned book about the specific race it’s named after with Murray’s memories of the event.

A fitting tribute the the great man it is named after. :bow:

Cant wait for the planned Le Mans hypercar version of it. :mrgreen:

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GMA T.50s Niki Lauda: Track day tribute for F1 legend

Legendary Formula 1 designer Gordon Murray has unveiled a fitting tribute to a legendary F1 driver. Murray has taken the wraps off the track-only version of his T.50 supercar, calling it the T.50s Niki Lauda.

Murray worked with Lauda during his time at Brabham, so Murray chose the late Austrian’s birthday as the launch date for his latest Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) creation, unveiling it online overnight from his UK headquarters.

“The T.50s is named in honour of Niki to commemorate his famous win with the Brabham BT46B fan car in the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix,” Professor Murrary explained. “Niki was a great racing driver and he was also a good friend and it is absolutely fitting that we are launching the T.50s Niki Lauda on his birthday. Niki would have appreciated the innovation and engineering detail in our car.”

Murray also sought and received the blessing of Lauda’s family for the new car.

“We are proud that Gordon Murray Automotive has named its new car after Niki,” said the Lauda family in a statement. “He would have been extremely honoured to have been associated with a car designed and engineered by Gordon, with whom he had such a long association and friendship.”

The goal for the T.50s was relatively simple but grandiose – create an “on track experience like no other car to date” that would “define its era”. In the same way the T.50 was designed to be the best driver’s car on the road – with its lightweight construction, free-revving naturally-aspirated engine and central driving position – Murray wants the T.50s to be the most enjoyable track car money can buy.

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“The T.50 is the ultimate road-going supercar, but I always dreamed of taking it one step further… to build a version that will deliver an ontrack driving experience like no other car in history,” he explained.

Murray added: “We had no interest in achieving the ultimate lap time or creating an over-tyred and over-downforced spaceship at the expense of driver involvement, because ultimately you have to possess an F1 driver level of skill and fitness to get the best out of them.”

“Instead, I laid out some parameters to create the ultimate driver’s car and experience on track: a central driving position, a V12 just behind your ear revving to over 12,000rpm, producing over 700-horsepower (560kW) and with an even faster response time than the T.50, downforce limited to 1500kg and a weight of under 900kg. Plus the ability to turn up at any track, make a few basic checks and have fun, without the need for an entire support crew.”

Tech specs

The specifications of the T.50s Niki Lauda make for some stunning reading. As he targeted, the 3.9-litre V12 engine makes 540kW (725hp) thanks to a new RAM air-intake, and the overall weight of the car has been kept to 852kg; a whopping 134kg less than the ‘regular’ T.50. That means the T.50s has a power-to-weight ratio of 614kW/tonne better than an LMP1 car.

Without road regulations to worry about, the Cosworth-built engine now breathes through a straight-through exhaust that the company claims makes it “one of the greatest and most characterful sounding cars ever made.”

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It sends its immense performance to the rear-wheels via a six-speed paddle-shift transmission built by racing gearbox experts, Xtrac. This replaces the six-speed manual ‘box in the road-going T.50. GMA will offer the T.50s with two sets of gear ratios, one that can deliver a top speed of more than 320km/h and another that are closer for better response of shorter circuits.

The brakes are unchanged, with track-spec Brembo carbon ceramic discs (370mm front, 340mm rear) clamped by six-piston calipers taking care of slowing the T.50s.

New look, more downforce

While based on the T.50, Murray and his design team have developed a completely new body for the T.50s Niki Lauda, with not a single panel carried over between the road and track versions.
However, the unique 400mm fan that helps generate stable downforce remains, now working with a larger rear diffuser and fixed rear wing. There’s also an LMP1-style central fin running down the back of the car from the roof-mounted airbox.

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At the front there are new barge boards and a new splitter with dive planes to generate suitable downforce. Murray admits they actually reduced the downforce the car could generate, from a possible 1900kg to 1500kg, to make it “more manageable” for drivers who aren’t used to high-downforce track cars.

The T.50s gets a unique suspension set-up that is 87mm lower at the front and 116mm lower at the rear. The springs, dampers and anti-roll bar have also been re-tuned for track performance with no consideration for open road driving.

Spartan cabin

Inside the cabin Murray’s trademark central driving position remains, but there’s only a single passenger seat available (or can be optionally deleted if you don’t plan on taking your friends for a ride) on the left-hand side. The right-hand side seat has been removed and replaced by a fire extinguisher system and a switch panel.

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The steering wheel is “a lesson in simplicity” according to Murrary, slim and rectangular in shape it only has the essential buttons (traction control, launch control, radio and neutral) to meet the designers exacting standards.

“I used to make my drivers take their watches off, partly for weight, but also because it adds to the steering inertia,’ Murray explained “Big wheels with lots of switches are quite heavy from a steering inertia point of view, so for the T.50s I wanted to keep the wheel small, clean and simple.”

Unique builds

GMA will only build 25 examples of the T.50s Niki Lauda, with each set to be made to the buyer’s personal taste. Not only that, but each of the 25 chassis will be named after an F1 win from Murray’s career; the first chassis will be called Kyalami 1974, which Carlos Reutemann won in the Braham-Ford BT44. In addition, each car will also come with a specially commissioned book about the specific race it’s named after with Murray’s memories of the event.

While Murray has designed the car to be used for private track days, he’s also planning on hosting specific track day events for those lucky enough to buy one of the 25. And while his goal is to make it able to be run alone, GMA will provide track support to any owner who wants it.

“It was essential to me that the T.50s Niki Lauda is easy to live with and enjoy,” Murray said. “You will own the car, you will be completely in control of where and when you enjoy it. My vision is that owners will take it to a circuit, check the tyre pressures, climb in, fire it up and have fun. That’s the way it should be.”

Murray is also working on a possible Le Mans hypercar entry with the T.50 and says he’s in discussions with GT sports car racing czar Stefan Ratel about a possible ‘GT1 sports club’ for similar track-only supercars with a view to a future racing category.
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#62

Post by White six »

Lol at the fan at the back

Is this why seb is selling up a few cars? You could hear his missus jabbering 'you're not buying one of those Sebastian....'
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#63

Post by Michael Ferner »

Central driving position. I wonder why somebody would pay a hell of a lot of money to find that he has to perform acrobatics every time he enters the car? Maybe they're not meant to be driven...
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#64

Post by MonteCristo »

That thing looks... disgusting.
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#65

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Michael Ferner wrote: 3 years ago Central driving position. I wonder why somebody would pay a hell of a lot of money to find that he has to perform acrobatics every time he enters the car? Maybe they're not meant to be driven...
I'll put your name down for the 'adapted' version Michael
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#66

Post by Michael Ferner »

Hold your horses. I don't need a car, and I certainly don't need a sports car. The most superfluous thing on earth.
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#67

Post by jimclark »

Michael Ferner wrote: 3 years agoI wonder why somebody would pay a hell of a lot of money to find that he has to perform acrobatics every time he enters the car?
Maybe they're not meant to be driven...
Maybe because it ain't s'posed to be climbed in and out of and often goes like 'ell..... :)
And, nope. Not on the street. :wink:
Michael Ferner wrote: 3 years agoHold your horses. I don't need a car, and I certainly don't need a sports car. The most superfluous thing on earth.
Fine. Just transfer your order into my name, I'll take over from there.
And please...let them know I want the full downforce version. Thanking you in advance..... :mrgreen:

(Now, if only I could bring back the "Bridge"(hampton Raceway).....I'd be all set to have some r-e-a-l fun..... :rockedover:)
Last edited by jimclark 3 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
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#68

Post by Aty »

Michael Ferner wrote: 3 years ago Hold your horses. I don't need a car, and I certainly don't need a sports car. The most superfluous thing on earth.
:agreepost:
Sounds like someone who subscribes principles found in some Eastern philosophies. Interesting to find thouights of this kind on motorsport forum.
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#69

Post by jimclark »

Drat. I just realized there's no shifter and third pedal. Disregard my previous post. :annoyed:
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#70

Post by PTRACER »

Sadly this is just a toy for the rich. Like pretty much all supercars it will be bought and used by people who don't even know how to drive it.
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#71

Post by jimclark »

PTRACER wrote: 3 years agoSadly this is just a toy for the rich. Like pretty much all supercars it will be bought and used by people who don't even know how to drive it.
On the flip side, however, is that their mere existence because there are those that can afford them, is reason enuff for them to exist.
Otherwise such lovely machines wouldn't. ;)

(BTW, how much is the sucka' ?)
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#72

Post by Everso Biggyballies »

jimclark wrote: 3 years ago
PTRACER wrote: 3 years agoSadly this is just a toy for the rich. Like pretty much all supercars it will be bought and used by people who don't even know how to drive it.
On the flip side, however, is that their mere existence because there are those that can afford them, is reason enuff for them to exist.
Otherwise such lovely machines wouldn't. ;)

(BTW, how much is the sucka' ?)
I looked to no avail.... I guessed then it is one of those "If you have to ask you cant afford it" type things that I seem to run into a lot.

Edit: OK I was right. Mr Google tells me it is a snip at US$4.3 million.

But there are no optional extras....
"There are no rip-off extras," says Murray, who notes that some mega-dollar track-day car builders then charge six-figure sums for pit equipment and engineering support. "I hate that, I really do," he says. "Our car comes with a complete tool kit, all the refueling equipment, jacks … everything you need to run it." A Trackspeed package, included in the price, offers training for a technician and a day on the circuit with one of GMA's test drivers.
I did like this little (Gordon) Murray quote I found:
Murray talks of being at Le Mans in 1972 and hearing the 3.0-liter V-12 Matras flat out on the Mulsanne Straight, which in those days had no chicanes and stretched for 3.5 miles. "They revved to 12,000 rpm and I just remember thinking that was the most beautiful sound I've ever heard," he grins. "If you told me then that I would one day make a car with a V-12 that revved that high, I wouldn't have believed you.

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#73

Post by DoubleFart »

Comes with refuelling equipment? Can't I just have a standard nozzle for some super unleaded?
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#74

Post by XcraigX »

I love it! Just like all of us on here, I don't think I'll ever be able to afford it. But I'm glad it exists!
I'm actually quite curious in some of the negative reactions about super sports cars in general. Of course they are ridiculous and insanely expensive and not practical. That's almost their point. But we all need something to dream about right?

To me this is just a modern day McLaren F1 (the road car). The styling is subjective, but this is no different from all the other offerings in this category. Personally I think it looks better than some of the offerings from McLaren and Aston, but I would imagine a Ferrari hypercar will look better than this.
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#75

Post by jimclark »

Everso Biggyballies wrote: 3 years ago
jimclark wrote: 3 years ago(BTW, how much is the sucka' ?)

Edit: OK I was right. Mr Google tells me it is a snip at US$4.3 million.
Oh, is that all? :suspicious:

In that case, I'll just have to take two. Each with a different box so I don't have to change it for different circuits...... :thumbsup:
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#76

Post by PTRACER »

XcraigX wrote: 3 years agoI'm actually quite curious in some of the negative reactions about super sports cars in general. Of course they are ridiculous and insanely expensive and not practical. That's almost their point. But we all need something to dream about right?
I dream about things I can afford :haha:

I kind of feel the same about supercars. The Ferrari I drove still felt like a perfectly ordinary road car, even if it did have amazing abilities, but I don't need those abilities 99% of the time.

If I had £100,000 then better to spend £10-£15,000 on an ordinary road car and the other £85,000 on racing (since I don't need a road car that can do 200mph, and the race car I buy would be much faster on track than the Ferrari anyway).
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