The GMA T.50 is one of the most exciting cars in the world right now. It’s got an incredible Cosworth engine, a striking design, and it marks Gordon Murray’s return to the center-seated sports car concept that brought us the McLaren F1. As it turns out, it also sounds fantastic.
This past weekend marked the 78th Goodwood Member’s Meeting, and the first time we’ve been able to hear the full range of the T.50's Cosworth V12. We previously heard a limited, test tune of the engine, but now the 11,500 RPM genie has officially left the bottle. Goodwood posted video of the car’s full run on YouTube, and you have my official permission to open it in a second tab behind whatever spreadsheet you’re working on:
That sound. The T.50 has a relatively tiny displacement, compared to the number of cylinders it keeps hidden away under its rear cowl, which is what permits the car’s five-digit redline. Call it the sound of a classic F1 car, a TIE fighter, or a swarm of angry literbikes, but you can’t call it boring.
The T.50 may not look as wild as its competitors from Italy, with its MR2 Spyder headlights and fivehead cabin, but its exhaust note makes for an excellent last gasp of the naturally aspirated supercar. With turbochargers becoming increasingly prevalent in high-horsepower applications, it’s only a matter of time until exhaust notes across the board share a tame, muted quality.
True, the whooshes and psssh-es of a big turbo are their own brand of fun, but the T.50's sound stands apart. It’s uncorked, unmuddled, a callback to the sights and sounds of a racing era long since past. When all cars are turbocharged or electrified, the T.50's wail will still be out there.
That is, if any owner can pull one out of their climate-controlled garage long enough to start it.