Back last month when we had a chance to sit down with Sir Gordon Murray himself, we asked if there was perhaps an intention to put the T.50 on a fitness regimen to prepare it for racing. The word then was that there would be 25 additional series production track cars with an intent to possibly start a supercar racing series. We didn’t get many details then, but now the cat is out of the bag. Codenamed T.50S, this is the first glimpse of said track version. It almost looks ready for Le Mans.
Where the road-going version eschews big wings and splitters for a simplified supercar design, the racing edition cranks everything up to eleven with a large stabilization ‘shark fin’ leading to a huge rear wing and an even more aggressive floor aero system with a huge diffuser out the back.
“With an unwavering focus on performance, and free from road-going legislation and maintenance considerations, the T.50S will achieve astonishing performance on track, demonstrating the full extent of the car’s capabilities,” says Murray. “We’ve thrown everything at pushing this car beyond the levels of anything that’s been done before – it’s a celebration of British engineering and our team’s extensive motorsport experience.”
“I’d like to organise a series of racing events as part of our Trackspeed package to ensure the T.50s is driven regularly by owners. There will be nothing like the experience of driving this car. And hearing it… well, that will be something else! I’d like each of the 25 cars to be completely unique from set-up to paint finish.”
This new racing version is a full 211 pounds lighter than the road car at just 1962 pounds. That makes The T.50S just about 30 pounds heavier than Toyota’s Le Mans-winning TS050 LMP1 car. A few tweaks to the car’s Cosworth V12 have granted some extra ponies, too. With some cylinder head work and a free-flowing race exhaust, the T.50S now puts about 720 hp down altogether when at speed, because of the ram air effect, you see.
If you were hoping to buy one of Gordon Murray’s glorious $2.6 million road cars, you’re out of luck. They sold out within 48 hours of the car’s official announcement. You can still get one of these 25 track-only versions, however, if you’re quick and lucky, for a cool $3.9 million.
