Although the McLaren F1 is widely regarded as the greatest automotive creation of the modern era, its designer Professor Gordon Murray has never shied away from pointing to its few foibles. The T.50 by Gordon Murray Automotive captures the purity of the F1 but improves upon the breed in the pursuit to become the greatest driver’s car of all time.

With the new hypercar in its design phase, the Gordon Murray Automotive team could be extremely nimble to realise its ambition without compromise. The T.50 is compact, holding a footprint extremely close in size to that of a Porsche Boxster. This helped achieve an incredible dry weight of just 997 kilograms and makes the car more usable on the public roads. Unconstrained, time and funds were directed to shaving 300 grams from the pedals and 800 grams from the titanium gear linkage. This obsession with reducing weight created a virtuous circle. The T.50 uses standard-size tyres to lower costs and ensure availability will continue long into the future, again addressing feedback from McLaren F1 owners.

Murray describes the pure, unadorned styling of the T.50 as a “return to beauty”. At the front, this is encapsulated by the inlets below the lights. While incredibly discrete to not break up the design, they feed the air conditioning and cool the latest generation of LED headlights. Bulky wing mirrors have been replaced with cameras, whose mounts also house airflow sensors. Unlike so many modern hypercars, the T.50 is a paragon of focus and restraint.

The most prominent feature at the rear is the fan, an evolution of the ground-effect McLaren F1 and the Brabham BT46B that dominated the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix before it was withdrawn for the good of Formula 1. In the T.50, it pulls air from the top surfaces to reduce drag by 12.5 per cent and interacts with the diffuser to increase downforce. Simulating a ‘longtail’ effect, the fan removes the need for a prominent rear wing to retain the T.50’s elegant silhouette. The cowling neatly housing a reversing camera, the fan alone creates 15 kilograms of forward thrust.

Then, mounted in the middle of the T.50 under the gullwing engine cover is a 4.0-litre V-12 developed bespoke by Cosworth. Naturally aspirated and unencumbered by hybrid systems, it is the lightest engine of its type at 178 kilograms. Yet it boasts a phenomenal pickup speed, capable of 28,400 revs a second. Howling to 12,100 rpm, the powerplant breathes through a ram air roof scoop above the driver’s head, sends its 661 horsepower to the rear wheels via a six-speed Xtrac manual transmission, and exhales though a titanium and Inconel exhaust.

For the interior, as the spiritual successor to the McLaren F1, the T.50 naturally relies on a three-seat layout. A true driver’s car, there is little in the cockpit to serve as a distraction. The carbon fibre wheel is uncluttered, a left-hand screen displays car data, while the right screen controls the infotainment. But the focal point is the exquisite, machined aluminium tachometer that zips round to the car’s astonishing red line.

Testament to the appeal of the T.50, half of the allocation was sold based only on Murray’s ballpoint pen sketch and an initial description. Two-thirds were spoken for before the car was revealed, and all had found buyers within 48 hours of the global premier.

Offered here is chassis 035 from that limited run of 100 production road cars. Specified by the owner in mid-2022, it has been elegantly configured in Harrier paint with Gloss Carbon, while the exterior is accented by Dark Grey gloss wheels and Black callipers for the Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes. Unlike most manufacturers, Gordon Murray Automotive did not charge additional fees for optional extras. It presented customers with the chance to create their unique T.50, with no two cars identically configured, all for the list price. This car’s bespoke finish includes body-coloured lower surfaces, Silver script on the engine plenum, glass roof panels, and Heritage Orange (a nod to the colour of Murray’s first design, the T.1 race car) enamel badging and springs. It was also specified with the Touring sixth gear ratio.

The focused interior meanwhile features Charcoal Alcantara for the dashboard, lighter aluminium surrounds for the tactile switchgear clusters flanking the instrument binnacle, and Matrix Orange for the glovebox pull tabs, and Lozenge Spine embroidery running up the cabin. Most notably, the two passenger seats are trimmed in Chromite Black Bridge of Weir Leather with Charcoal Alcantara centres, while the driver is cocooned in Matrix Orange hide.

Delivered new to Denmark in 2025, this car has been very sparingly driven so displayed a mere 217 kilometres at the time of cataloguing. It is accompanied by a four-piece fitted luggage set designated for this chassis, a tool chest, and a diagnostics tablet computer.

The T.50 has no direct rivals. None of its contemporaries have been engineered with such forensic attention on lightweight construction, while doing without forced induction or hybrid assistance, and having been designed from start to finish—above all else—to be the ultimate road car. In that sense, it is a unique proposition.

RM Sotheby’s is delighted to offer this example, chassis 035, the first T.50 to surface for public auction. Its sale presents an unmissable opportunity for enthusiasts and collectors to obtain an instant icon of the car world.