Britain’s new £2million topless supercar: GMA T.33 Spider unveiled
Feast your eyes on the latest supercar entering the market – and it’s designed, developed and built in Britain!
Called the T.33 Spider, this is the fourth model released by Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) based in Surrey.
It is the brand spearheaded by – and named after – the automotive genius behind Brabham and McLaren F1 cars of the past as well as the legendary McLaren F1 road car.
It will cost from around £1.9million before taxes, has a pair of hidden storage compartments and should be able to top 200mph flat out – and only 100 will be made.
Britain’s new £2million supercar: This is the stunning new Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) T.33 Spider – a limited-run performance model built in Surrey
As with its other road-going cars, production will be strictly limited to 100 examples and it will be built by hand.
This is to ‘ensure exclusivity and offer a highly personalised customer experience’.
It is being made at GMA’s new global headquarters and technology campus in Highams Park in Windlesham, Surrey.
While the price tag hasn’t been officially confirmed, it is expected to ring in at around £500,000 more than the £1.37million coupe model (before local taxes) it is based on – which is already sold out.
That means the total cost for a British customer – inclusive of VAT – will be around £2.25million.
GMA has revealed that around half of this latest topless car already have deposits, meaning potential suitors might want to dust off their chequebooks sharpish if they want to secure one.
It is the fourth GMA model to launch. As with its other road-going cars, production will be strictly limited to 100 examples and it will be built by hand. This is to ‘ensure exclusivity and offer a highly personalised customer experience’
British stamp: It is being made at GMA’s new global headquarters and technology campus in Highams Park in Windlesham, Surrey
While the price tag hasn’t been officially confirmed, it is expected to ring in at around £500k more than the £1.37m coupe model it is based on – which is already sold out. That means the total cost for a Britons will be around £2.25m with VAT
That might sounds like a substantial premium for a pair of removable carbon-fibre ‘Targa’ roof panels, but the Spider has been fully reworked.
The design from the A-pillar (the windscreen pillars) backwards is completely new.
It will use a mid-mounted 3.9-litre, naturally-aspirated Cosworth-developed V12 engine with a maximum power output of 609bhp and 451Nm of torque linked to a six-speed manual gearbox.
It makes three quarters of its full power at low revs of just 2,500rpm, which should make it a usable – if not very expensive – supercar.
The T.33 is powered by this 3.9-litre, naturally-aspirated Cosworth-developed V12 engine. It has a maximum output of 609bhp, 451Nm of torque and is linked to a six-speed manual gearbox
The British car company has said that around half of the T.33 production run already have deposits on that. That means potential suitors might want to dust off their chequebooks sharpish if they want to secure one
The Spider is based on the T.33 coupe, of which all 100 are already sold. But it’s not just a topless version. Instead, the design from the A-pillar (the windscreen pillars) backwards is completely new
The car as a whole weighs just 1,108kg, which is a mere 18kg more than the hardtop model and around the same as Toyota Aygo city car.
The engine itself tips the scale at just 178kg. That makes this the lightest production V12 powerplant slotted into a road car.
Like the price, GMA has not disclosed the performance figures, but a top speed in excess of 200mph is very likely.
The T.33 Spider is the fourth model released by Gordon Murray Automotive – the brand spearheaded by – and named after – the automotive design genius behind Brabham and McLaren F1 cars of the past as well as the legendary McLaren F1 road car
The naturally-aspirated 12 -cylinder petrol engine makes three quarters of its full power at low revs of just 2,500rpm, which should make it a usable – if not very expensive – supercar
Is it really a supercar unless it has bonkers doors? The T.33 Spider fits the brief with a pair of dihedral doors
Unveiling the new motor on Tuesday evening, Professor Gordon Murray CBE said: ‘When drawing a car I imagine what it’s going to feel like to sit in, and how it will feel to drive.
‘So from the first sketch I knew that, with its open cockpit and the incredible Cosworth GMA.2 V12 engine right behind you, the T.33 Spider would deliver a truly involving driving experience that’s quite unlike anything else.
‘And while it’s still a mid-engine supercar I wouldn’t accept any compromise on usability: this is why the T.33 Spider is unique in the supercar sector in delivering both onboard roof storage and a 295 litre luggage capacity.’
And it’s the luggage compartments are definitely a worthy talking point of this car.
The car as a whole weighs just 1,108kg, which is a mere 18kg more than the hardtop model and around the same as Toyota Aygo city car.
The engine itself – which sits directly behind the two seats – tips the scale at just 178kg. That makes this the lightest production V12 powerplant slotted into a road car
Like the price, GMA has not yet disclosed the performance figures – but a top speed in excess of 200mph is very likely
That’s because there are two hidden in the rear haunches of the T.33 Spider.
Push a button and – when the dihedral doors are open – a pair of 90-litre compartments pop open.
‘The mechanisms through which these doors and stowage compartments open are works of engineering art and design ingenuity – their seamless operation being vital to ensure that T.33 Spider is a truly usable supercar,’ the Surrey brand says.
It also has a small amount of luggage space (180 litres) under the bonnet to provide baggage space on par with a Vauxhall Corsa. The front boot will fit the pair of removable roof panels if you want to go with the top down mid journey – but there is no roof for anything else if you make that decision.
The T.33 features a pair of wonderful side-mounted storage compartments hidden in the car’s haunches. They open mechanically at the push of a button
Each side luggage compartment has 90 litres of space, while the front boot also offers 180 litres of bag room. Combined, it has much storage space as the boot of a Vauxhall Corsa
Inside, Murray wants this to be a supercar that sticks to business. That’s why it has a simple – not distractingly busy – cabin with a central rev-counter in the instrument cluster.
There are two separate displays – one to control the infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability, and one for the climate controls.
Racing-style seats and skinny – uncluttered – steering wheel are made from carbon fibre but wrapped in leather for better comfort, as well as a few dashings of Alcantara for that sports car feel.
Production will likely begin from the middle of 2025 and start once the 100-model coupe run has been completed.
Inside, Murray wants this to be a supercar that sticks to business. That’s why it has a simple – not distractingly busy – cabin with a central rev-counter in the instrument cluster
There’s a simple – not distractingly busy – cabin with a central rev-counter in the instrument cluster. This is flanked by a pair of screens. One is infotainment and the other climate control
The gear stick and control buttons all have a retro, tactile-focused, design to them. It will look and feel wonderfully high end
Who is Gordon Murray?
by Ray Massey for This is Money
The supercar automotive empire that bears his name may be growing. But over more than five decades Prof Gordon Murray has always cut a dashing and distinctive figure in the automotive world – from the jet-set F1 racetracks to friendship with the late Beatle and car fan George Harrison.
But it is the cars he has created that stand as testimony to his talent.
Murray was born in Durban, South Africa in 1946 and gained a Mechanical Engineering Diploma from Natal Technical College. He designed, built and raced his own sports car (the IGM Ford) in the National Class in SA during 1967 and 1968.
In 1969 he moved to the UK and joined the Brabham Formula One Team as Technical Director, winning two world championships (1981 and 1983) during his 17 years with the team. Murray joined McLaren Racing as Technical Director in 1988 and three consecutive championship wins (1988, 1989 and 1990) followed. In 1990, he moved away from Formula One – after 50 Grand Prix wins – to enable him to concentrate on establishing a new company for the group, McLaren Cars Limited.
The company’s first project, the F1 road car, is still regarded as one of the world’s best engineered cars. A racing version won two world sports car championships and the Le Mans 24-hour race on its first attempt in 1995. McLaren Cars then completed several other successful projects culminating in the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren programme.
Murray left McLaren in 2005 to set up his new company Gordon Murray Design Limited, later creating Gordon Murray Automotive, to manufacture supercars in Surrey. Along with Gordon Murray iTechnologies, and Gordon Murray Heritage, which now come under the umbrella of the Gordon Murray Group.
At a special event in 2017, named ‘One Formula’ Gordon Murray also celebrated the 25th anniversary of the McLaren F1 road car entering production, and his 50th year of car design and engineering.
In May 2019 he received a CBE to recognise his contributions to motorsport and the automotive industry over the past 50 years.
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