Murray, who now runs Gordon Murray Vehicles (GMA), has set his sights on creating the final word driver’s automotive and the result’s two-fold: the outstanding road-going T.50 and utterly-mind-blowing, track-only T.50s Niki Lauda.

Murray’s engineering genius was accountable for a few of F1’s most iconic automobiles, together with the Brabham BT46B, which featured a fan on the rear of the automotive designed to extract air from beneath it and considerably improve the automotive’s ground-effect aerodynamics.

In its solely outing earlier than the fan know-how was banned, Lauda drove the BT46B to victory on the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix by an enormous successful margin of 34 seconds.

Murray went on to design essentially the most dominant F1 automotive in historical past — the 1988 McLaren MP4-4 — and the legendary McLaren F1 highway automotive, which stays some of the fascinating road-going autos on the planet.

His newest enterprise, GMA, is because of begin manufacturing of 100 road-going T.50s in 2022 earlier than 25 T.50s Niki Laudas are constructed from 2023 onward.

Each automobiles function a fan on the rear impressed by the BT46B, and Murray felt it was becoming to call the track-focused automotive after Lauda, who died in 2019.

“The T.50s is known as in honour of Niki to commemorate his well-known win with the Brabham BT46B fan automotive within the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix,” Murray stated. “Niki was a fantastic racing driver and he was additionally an excellent good friend and it’s completely becoming that we’re launching the T.50s Niki Lauda on his birthday.

“Niki would have appreciated the innovation and engineering element in our automotive.”

The automotive will function an upgraded model of the T.50’s bespoke V12 Cosworth engine, which is able to produce 725bhp and rev to 12,100rpm.

The T.50s Niki Lauda will weigh simply 852kg and can be capable to produce as much as 1500kg of downforce — a quantity capped by Murray to maintain efficiency ranges in an accessible vary for non-professional drivers.

“We requested ourselves what could be the good factor to drive on monitor and what would create a monitor driving expertise like no different automotive in historical past?” Murray stated.

“We had little interest in attaining the final word lap time or creating an over-tyred and over-downforced spaceship on the expense of driver involvement, as a result of in the end it’s a must to possess an F1 driver stage of talent and health to get the perfect out of them.

“As a substitute, I laid out some parameters to create the final word driver’s automotive and expertise on monitor: a central driving place, a V12 simply behind your ear revving to over 12,000rpm, producing over 700 horsepower and with a good quicker response time than the T.50, downforce restricted to 1500kg and a weight of below 900kg. Plus the flexibility to show up at any monitor, make just a few primary checks and have enjoyable, with out the necessity for a whole help crew.

“In my opinion, it would not get higher than that and is driving in its purest type. The T.50s Niki Lauda will give a visceral connection between driver, automotive and monitor, the like of which has not been skilled to this point.

“I can simply think about going spherical your favorite circuit, sitting within the center with that unsilenced V12 screaming simply behind you — the driving expertise will likely be one thing particular. With a power-to-weight ratio higher than that of a naturally aspirated LMP1 automotive, it’s also going to be searingly fast and, with such a low weight, will change path like an F1 automotive.

“With the path of journey of the automotive business, it is onerous to think about that there’ll ever be one other automotive fairly like this. Particularly not one with a central driving place, a high-revving naturally aspirated V12 engine and that’s so light-weight. I imagine it’s going to go on to outline its period.”

The T.50s Niki Lauda will value £3.1 million earlier than taxes and every of the 25 automobiles will likely be named after a grand prix at which a Murray-designed F1 automotive took victory. The primary automotive will likely be designated the Kyalami 1974 and additional automobiles will likely be named after the 24 subsequent Murray wins in chronological order.