Gordon Murray's Ground-breaking Fan Car

Back in the 90s, the McLaren F1 debuted to set the whole world on fire. It blasted well past the 200-mph mark into unknown territory when it set a production car top-speed record of 240.1 mph (348 kph), which was about 23 mph (36.8 kph) faster than the Jaguar XJ220.

The legendary racing designer Gordan Murray who happens to design the McLaren F1, had unveiled his latest hypercar project which he says is the “modern successor” of the McLaren F1, the T.50’Fan car’ Hypercar. The car was revealed in December last year.

While the first official renders released by the Gordan Murray Automotive (GMA) doesn’t show us the full facia of the T.50 Hypercar, it does show a big fan like structure similar to the Brabham BT46 that was designed by Gordan Murray for the Brabham team for the 1978 FIA Formula 1 season.

Just like the Formula 1 car, the fan in the back of the T.50 has an aerodynamic purpose. The fan accelerates the air flow underneath the car creating the Venturi effect which helps generate more downforce without producing much drag and hence, improving the cars aerodynamic efficiency.

Another role played by the fan is keeping the engine cool. GMA claims that the fan at the back can produce downforce and cool the Cosworth developed 3.9-litre NA V12 that puts out 650 hp and 450nm. Its 12,400 rpm ‘hard limit’ means that its is the highest revving road car engine of all time. For reference the Aston Martin Valkyrie’s NA V12, also developed by Cosworth, revs to 11,100 rpm.

I bet it sounds MONUMENTAL..!!

The V12 is mounted very low in the T50’s all-carbon fibre tub, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed H-pattern manual gearbox built by Xtrac. At the front of the engine, a 48V integrated starter/ generator connects directly with the crankshaft. It acts as a starter motor, then converts to a generator to produce the power needed to spin the lightweight 400 mm fan at speeds of up to 8000rpm.

All the aero components of the car are being developed in collaboration with the Racing Point Formula 1 Team (formally known as the Force India Mercedes F1). The final form of the car is being developed in the team’s wind tunnel facility at the Silverstone, England. This would allow Gordan Murray to mature the car’s revolutionary aero package.

A three-seater with central driving position, mid-rear engine NA V12 hyper ’fan’ car combines the looks of an ultra-lightweight early 90s hypercar and the revolutionary aero-efficiency and downforce of a Formula 1 GP winning Brabham BT46, two of the most iconic creations from Murray’s illustrious 50 years career.

The first of the planned 125 cars (out of which 100 road cars and 25 purely track are assigned) is expected to reach its new owner at the beginning of 2022 and production would continue for a year at Murry’s new Dunsfold factory. This seems unlikely due to the Covid-19 outbreak around the world. We expect a delay of a year and a half to the previous target.

The car is expected to have a base price of around $2.8 million (₹20 crore, exclusive of taxes in India).

- Kunal Jain