By the standards of the current crop of supercars and hypercars, the GMA T.33 from Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) looks meek, even low-key for something that comes for close to $2 million a pop. There is so little drama about the car — no giant spoiler wings on the rear deck, no winglets, no splitter, no airdams, no side skirts, nothing! Hell, there isn’t even a bonnet scoop for all that money.
But then, it is meant as a regularly usable car for just 100 lucky owners who would like to keep things reasonably quiet but still burn rubber should push come to shove; maybe when going on a cross-continent holiday — with the necessary luggage too. This is a practical piece of kit.
The T.33, a name sort of randomly picked because it sounds good, says Gordon Murray, is the second supercar in about as many years from his company, which has so far been mainly into creating white bodies for other makes. Murray, of course, is an old hand — he is pushing 76 now and has been designing cars for about 50 of those — at making slippery shapes having cut his teeth building Grand Prix cars. It isn’t entirely surprising then to see the sweeping curves, smooth outlines and subtle ridges of the poster cars of his youth reflected in shape of the T.33. One of the more obvious ones is the stacked headlamps, common in Le Mans cars of the past.
And while it doesn’t sport the obvious modern ‘fast car’ visual cues, don’t be fooled even for a second into believing this is a slouch. It is powered by the same 4-litre Cosworth V12 that’s in the T.50 but makes a little less power here. It still has the ram air intake and will hit the high notes at 11,100rpm. But it will potter around town if you want it to. Murray is not a great one for turbo boost.
Driver focus is completely evident in the cockpit-like controls behind the steering wheel and the central big tachometer
The car is built on a newly developed carbon and aluminium super-lightweight architecture. Stuff that keeps it stuck on the road are hidden away, like the little air intake below the headlamps to keep the brakes cool and a design that rather than push radiator air out through a bonnet vent guides it out under the car, which rides subtly higher at the back than in the front.
Yellow provides relief in the otherwise dark interiors. It is also the colour visible on the engine’s cam covers.
The only ‘flashy’ bits are the yellows on the driver’s seat and the engine. Of course, colours can be customised. As for details, there’s a place for the reg plate so that it doesn’t mess with the aeros. Murray doesn’t miss much.
Pictures: Gordon Murray Automotive
T.33 IN NUMBERS
What: 2-seat coupe supercar with rear-mid engine, rear wheel drive
LxBxH (mm): 4,398 x 1,850 x 1,135
Wheelbase (mm): 2,735
Weight (kg): 1,090
Engine: 3,994 cc, V12, RAM air Cosworth GMA.2 petrol
Peak power (ps@rpm): 615@10,500
Peak torque (Nm@rpm): 451@9,000
Maximum rpm: 11,100
Power to weight ratio (ps/tonne): 564
Production run: 100
Price: £1.37 million (about $1.9 million)
Deliveries: Starting in 2024
