T.50: opvolger van de McLaren F1

[Robin]

Mooi kleurtje

[Robin]

[Kadett]

Zit hem toevallig te kijken, dacht even die Harry heeft echt munten zat maar het is dus een pers auto?

[Robin]

Ja is een 'gebruikt' ding

[BMWDennis]

Gaaf he, wat een engineering/techniek. En ondanks die V12 nog mooi onder de 1000kg.

[Robin]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DTsXR ... tid=wwXIfr

I just watched the new Harry’s Garage episode, where he test drives the GMA T.50 for the first time. It was, as always, a great watch with proper honest opinions from a true legend of the automotive journalist world. However, it left me with mixed feelings.
In short, I’m left with one single thought: The T.50 really lives up to its figure, as I think it is exactly 50 times too expensive.

Before you start commenting, please read my explanation: The T.50 is beyond doubt the pinnacle of driver engagement. A manual car with manual steering (only assisted under 9 mph), with the most intense engine ever produced. A V12 with a glorious, belching sound, revving to the moon and back. Power? All you will ever need. Speed? More than you can use on the road. Lightweight? 1100 kgs fully fueled as tested. Practical? Seats three people with luggage. As a properly usable enthusiast car, it really does tick all the boxes.

And then there’s the price. The car, as tested, is 2.8 million GBP, equivalent to 3.3 million euros or around 3.8 million dollars. That is, if you are one of the lucky 100 that snatched a reservation. Buying one of the existing cars used, you’re looking at between 5 and 6 million GBP. That’s 5.5 to 7 million euros, or 6.7 to 9.3 million dollars.

For this completely ridiculous price, you’re not buying a car at all, are you. You’re investing in an asset. Which is fine, but then that’s what it is. It will see minimal road use and probably only showcased at events, and, of course, auctions.

But what if you look at it from a road car perspective? From the video, I can see some clear issues that would drive me nuts. First of all, the constant suspension rattle and clonks. From a multi-million pound/euro/dollar hypercar. “Because wheels are almost directly connected to the carbon tub”, Harry states, comparing it to his 1987 Countach, a car that’s nearly 40 years old. And then never mentions it again throughout the video. Really?

And then there’s the car’s party piece, the Cosworth V12. An extremely responsive, high-revving engine. However, its brilliance is also its downside. Being so responsive, it’s obviously very challenging and demanding to rev-match, since the revs drop to zero in a fraction of a second. And all those revs are all but unavailable above second gear on any legal road except the Autobahn. The rest of the trip, you’ll just pootle around in the lower revs, still being bombarded by sounds at a noise level above 90 decibels.

From 1,000 to 7,000 RPM’s, to my ears it’s hard to differentiate the exhaust note of the T.50 from a Lotus Exige V6 with an aftermarket exhaust. The last 5,000 RPM is of course an entirely different experience. Power wise it’s got lots of BHP, which of course is delivered on top of the rev range. The surge towards the redline must be completely intoxicating. However, as you’ll only get to use those revs in first and second gear, most of the time you’ll be tootling along in the lower rev range. In which the power levels are fairly modest. Its peak torque is 479 Newtonmeters at 8,000 RPM, which was almost exactly the same as in my old Exige after a Komo-Tec 460 tune.

Well, you will obviously enjoy the steering, right? I suspect not. As a previous Lotus Exige owner, I cringed seeing how Harry struggled with keeping the car going in a straight line as the wheels tramlined around the cambers of the road. Yes, the steering communicates… everything. Which is really fun, sometimes. But you really don’t want that all the time. Not with a pushrod racing suspension and alignment, at least. I can’t imagine that being especially enjoyable on anything except a smooth racetrack-like surface.
As Clarkson stepped in as a passenger, my impressions were cemented once again. Yes, the engine is brilliant. But the car is way too noisy when you’re not on it, and not particularly pleasant as a mode of transport over longer distances.

So, what are you left with? A mid-engined car that’s hard to get in and out of. Twelve cylinders with a power band that’s hard to access and enjoy. Rubbing shoulders with your passenger, shouting as you try to have a conversation with a passenger you can’t even properly see as they’re seated slightly behind you. In other words, it’s a car that’s made for exactly the sort of customer that wants to buy it: People with way too much money that wants to place some of that money in a safe asset that they can take out on a track once a year.
If you want the (arguably) best V12 noise in the world, then it’s yours to buy if you’ve got several million pounds/euros/dollars lying around. You’ll essentially be purchasing a musical instrument on wheels. A gilded petrol-fed trombone clad in carbon fiber, that seats three people with luggage.

If you want 95 percent of the driving experience – both the pleasures as well as the struggles and gripes – as shown by Harry Metcalfe in his test, then go buy a Lotus Exige V6. You can buy fifty of the very best ones for the price of one GMA T.50.