Every car gets old, but the joy each gives us never does. There’s always something new to discover, a detail that fascinates us, an experience that reminds us we will always have a passion for cars. I’ve learned that myself and I see proof of it in the newest Jay Leno’s Garage in which Leno learns about the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50.
Four-time IndyCar champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, now the Director of Product and Brand for Gordon Murray Automotive, shows Leno around one of the prototypes. There’s a reason it’s parked next to Leno’s McLaren F1: although the T.50 isn’t a product of that company, it was created by the man behind the 1990s megacar. That explains the similar shapes and the three-seat configuration with the signature centrally mounted driver’s seat.
Even the engine and transmission combo is similar to that found in the F1: a mid-mounted V12 connected to a six-speed manual gearbox. However, unlike the McLaren’s BMW-sourced 6.1-liter V12, the GMA T.50 uses a Cosworth-built 3.9-liter V12 that redlines at a stratospheric 12,100 rpm and generates 660 horsepower and 353 lb-ft of torque. Output is channeled though an Xtrac six-speed stick.
Thanks in part to its slippery shape and rear fan that pulls air from under the car and routes it out the back, the T.50 glides to a top speed of 226 mph. Perhaps the T.50’s most impressive number is its weight: approximately 2,200 pounds, all in a carbon fiber package the size of a Porsche Boxster.
Unfortunately, since the T.50 in Leno’s garage is a prototype, he has to be a passenger while Franchitti drives. There, in his seat that is very much like one in the F1, he hears what Franchitti calls the “lovely resonance” of the T.50’s precisely tuned induction system. He also learns about the T.50’s fully defeatable stability control and strategic use of power steering, which is engaged at low speeds, such as parking, then shut off at higher speeds. Franchitti tells Leno about the T.50’s GT and Sport driving modes, the latter of which provides an immediate response at throttle lift-off that was influenced by Murray’s desire for the T.50 to feel like a carbureted car.
It’s Leno’s response to Franchitti putting his right foot down hard that shows a car enthusiast’s love of automobiles never gets old. I’ve watched plenty of Leno’s videos, but I’ve never seen him so elated and clap the way he did when Franchitti let out the T.50’s raspy, digital wail.
