Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 review

First you’ve got to open it up. There’s a button on the wing camera that does that, but it’s more fun to press and hold the unlock button on the chunky-but-lightweight key. That sees both doors and rear engine/luggage covers pop open simultaneously, a lovely bit of theatre.

Getting in is a bit like being a gymnast on a pommel horse – your hands have to support your weight and move you across the cabin, while your feet merely scurry across the flat floor. The pedals and steering wheel can be adjusted with spanners, the carbon seat slides and has interchangeable foam panels that adjust the shape and firmness. We make an audible ‘ahh’ when we drop in for the first time. It’s the perfection of the position, the slender rightness of the almost circular steering wheel, the latticework pedals, the gearlever’s stark simplicity, the clarity of the instruments and layout. There’s no fanfare, just an anticipation of operation.

AND WHAT IS IT LIKE TO OPERATE?

Tactility incarnate. The steering wheel is flanked by rotary controls for the heating, aero, lights and wipers. The aim was to mimic the precision of a Leica camera. It’s ASMR heaven. Inside there are a pair of screens operated by corresponding rotary controls. The left gives you car info (fan speed, tyre temp etc), the right does infotainment. Phone integration is seamless and wireless, an iDrive-style clickwheel behind the gearlever provides better navigation through menus.

There are no flashy graphics or other foolishness (are you listening BMW, Mercedes et al?) The screens are white on black: crisp and legible. Pride of place goes to the big rev counter. It’s lit from the side and looks stunning at night. It’s a fitting reflection of the engine itself, a condensing of all that musicality, response and grace into one needle. There’s a single orange warning light set within it. That’s the oil temperature. So good is the T.50’s cooling that on motorway stints the light sometimes comes back on. Doesn’t matter. It just drops the rev limiter a bit. You’ve still got more than enough to play with.

WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO PLAY WITH?

As far as driver controls go, all you’ve got is Sport mode, accessed by twisting another rotary control on the gearlever spar. It gives zestier throttle response. We didn’t often use it. It’s zesty enough already.

Our favourite is the little red lever that operates the reverse lockout. You’ll play with that when you’re sat in traffic. Too satisfying for words.

The Arcam hi-fi is impressive. Sound quality is great, but you don’t get any real surround sound effect due to the positioning of the speakers ahead of you. It’s a small thing. However, because the driver is sat so centrally in the cockpit, road noise and general hubbub hits you from all around. Surround sound noise, but not tunes, then.

WHAT’S THE RIDE LIKE FOR PASSENGERS?

You can find out much more about that here. We had a ride in the car earlier this year. In a nutshell you don’t want to be too tall, and you definitely don’t want to be wide. The seats are narrow, but the view of the driver and outside is unparalleled. It’s a wonderful car to be a passenger in and conversation is much easier than we expected – the passengers can speak behind the driver’s head.

THE MCLAREN F1 FAMOUSLY HAD PRETTY WEAK AC. IS THIS MUCH BETTER?

It’s OK, but it’s not up to much. On a sunny 27 degree Spanish day we had to run the AC flat out to have much effect. GMA specified the smallest AC unit they could get away with. Because weight, obviously. The large glass area does have significant solar heat soak – worse for passengers than driver as they only have a single vent on the door to supply cool air. The driver has two mounted discreetly above the dash screens.

If you’re concerned, you can have the roof panels in carbon instead of glass to reduce the solar impact – which also saves a handy 4.5kg. We wouldn’t. Maximum light wins. And we live in the UK.

HOW’S THE SEAT AND DRIVING POSITION?

As we said up top, you can fine tune the seating position and GMA offers switchable seating pads (they just Velcro in and out) that offer different shapes and firmnesses. However, the basic seat shape doesn’t suit everyone.

The slender, vertical headrest is a strong signature when you look through the car, but it curves your back. We found it was fine for the first couple of hours, but aches set in after that.

YOU MENTIONED GOOD STORAGE SPACE?

There’s 30 litres of space split between four main cubbies: one under each passenger seat, another above where their feet would be. The latter are still large enough to contain wallet, phone, sunglasses, cap and other trinkets and hold themselves closed magnetically. Everything is within surprisingly easy reach of the driver.

The side lockers open either on the key or releases inside the door jambs. Fitted luggage is supplied as standard to make the most of the 114 litres on each side. And yes, you do get heat soak through from the engine – we found it’s worse higher up in the compartment than lower down.

There’s no storage under the bonnet, but that’s where the towing eye, screenwash filler, and titanium toolkit live. The tools are miraculously light. You’ll be looking for an excuse to use them.

Just one more thing to add. There are no cupholders…

NO CUPHOLDERS? WHY ON EARTH NOT?

Firstly, where would you put them? There’s not a lot of spare space in here, and secondly we were told by chief engineer Nik Hoyle that, “there are two things Gordon loathes above all: rear anti-roll bars and cupholders”. Still, the car is quick enough to dry your mouth out – perhaps an F1-style on-board drinks system could be considered?