Video: Watch the GMA T.50's first test drive

15th March 2021

Ethan Jupp

The Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 has hit the road, with a full near-production body and that V12 engine that will soon enough rev to beyond 12,000rpm. This is our first look at the car moving under its own power, with its true body, out in the world, as the boss himself took his first drive at the Top Gear test track in Dunsfold, Surrey.

Yes, in this video you are witnessing Gordon Murray himself get a first go in the T.50, the spiritual successor to the legendary McLaren F1. Near-on three decades separate Murray’s first drives in this seminal pair of supercars designed by his own hand. It was doubtless a day he’d been waiting for for some time.

“The XP2 prototype is currently running at considerably less revs than its 12,100rpm limit, yet the T.50 felt fantastic on my first drive,” Murray said of the test run.

“The car was responsive, agile and rewarding to drive. It was a fantastic experience to be sitting in the centre of the car once again with great all-round visibility and I can see how much the owners will enjoy this experience. Obviously, there’s still a lot of development miles to be completed and many more prototypes to build. But the trajectory of the T.50 development is where we want it to be.”

That trajectory will, if followed, lead to full production and deliveries beginning in 2022, just two years on from the car’s visual reveal in the Summer of 2020. Just 100 will be made, at a cost of over £2 million, plus local taxes, each. As a reminder of the tantalising recipe that comprises this car, the T.50 weighs just 986kg, has a 4.0-litre V12 that will be capable of revving up to 12,100rpm, sending 663PS (488kW) to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. We’ve no doubts about GMA’s claim that it’ll be ‘the most driver-centric supercar ever built’.

After this rather gentle first run, there’s a great deal of testing in a variety of conditions to be done before it’ll be revving at the top of its lungs. Though tantalising such a docile first glimpse was, knowing the potential within, we’ll be counting down the days before we can get another glimpse.