Watch A 3-Cylinder Test Mule For The Gordon Murray T.50 V12 Revving Like Mad
This is not the mighty, 3.9-litre naturally-aspirated V12 due to power the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50. Nope - it’s a quarter of it.
This tiny little unit - dubbed ‘GMM-IC3’ - is a three-cylinder mule. It’s been undergoing dyno testing at Cosworth, the company which will be developing the full 12-cylinder monster for Prof. Murray’s highly anticipated McLaren F1 successor.
Technical details for the test engine haven’t been revealed, but we can see the figures flash up on the dyno screen showing that it revved beyond 12,000rpm and hit around 150bhp during the test. In the brief moment we see it being put through its paces in the video, it certainly sounds like the three-pot revving its little heart out. At the end, we hear an even shorter clip of something with rather more cylinders, giving a taste of what’s to come.
The V12 - which will be a semi-stressed member of the T.50’s chassis - is set to benefit from Cosworth’s learnings from its 6.5-litre Aston Martin Valkyrie engine project. It’s set to be considerably more responsive than the V12 used in the McLaren F1, with Murray telling CT in a recent interview that in neutral it’ll be capable of 28,000 revs per second compared to 10,000 for the BMW 6.0-litre.
It’ll also rev a lot higher than the engine found in his seminal supercar, with a 12,100rpm ceiling. When you reach that point, changing gear will be done using a manual gearbox.
The T.50 will be revealed at some point this year before production begins in 2020.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
This 3 Cylinder engine sounds like a banshee….Multiply that sound by 4 and you then get the rough idea of what 4 Banshees sound like screaming for their lives! this V12 is going to sound truly epic when we finally hear it at full chat at 12,100rpm!
Really want Gordon to succeed in his new adventures! Can’t wait for the T.50!
12150RPM: 235PS.
If it uses the same bore and stroke as the V12, that would mean the test mule is a 0.97L (1.0L) inline-3.
235PS/L is an amazing power ratio. Personally i’d rather have that inline-3. These test mules should be put in production, imo.
Like, that’s absolutely incredible.
Imagine having that engine in a hatchback or something.
So by that maths 235PS/L at the 0.97L I3 so we would be looking at a 3.88L V12 maybe 940-950PS range for a 3.9L engine, so thats with an error range there since the maths comes to 3.88L from 0.97L if you carry the maths…
Koenigsegg three cylinder produces at least 600 horsepower
That Koenigsegg engine has two Turbos and is of 2000cc displacement this is a 970cc engine without turbochargers
All I can think is that they should put that engine in a Fiesta (or hell, even the Puma if Ford is that serious about crossovers). Who wouldn’t be excited about a modern Cosworth RS?
….why not all 12???
Its easier to develop a small quarter sized test Mule than develop all 12 at one time, the cost to build a smaller engine is far cheaper than going straight to a 3.9L V12 engine