Gordon Murray’s new company, IGM, is making no bones about what its upcoming supercar, the GMA T.50, is supposed to be: the spiritual successor to the McLaren F1. The F1, of course, is Murray’s most famous creation, a superlative supercar that paired outrageous performance with unusual practicality and blew everyone’s socks off in the 1990s. The T.50, from what we know, seems to be what the F1 supercar might have evolved into had it continued being made until now—instead of killed off in 1998. And the heart of the T.50 is an engine from legendary outfit Cosworth.
Let’s take a closer look at that engine, shall we? The new V-12, known as the Cosworth GMA, is seen here working on the dyno during an early proving session. It doesn’t reach anywhere near its claimed 12,000 rpm limit—that’ll come later. But even 1,500 rpm sounds delicious.
This engine features 3.9 liters of displacement, and it is naturally aspirated. Even so, it should make a very healthy 650 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque—and 50 ponies more when the roof-mounted ram air induction system is active. Given its mission to be the ultimate analog sportswear, the GMA will channel power through a traditional six-speed manual designed with Xtrac of the U.K.
While the T.50 has been referred too as a “GMA T.50″—a name reflected in the Cosworth engine—Murray has also been talking about a less ambitious car known as the T.43 under the IGM brand. It’s not clear if IGM will supersede GMA, or not. In any event, the car world should be a lot more exciting if both of these models make it to production.
