Gordon Murray Special Vehicles S1 debuts in USA

Last year, Gordon Murray Automotive wowed the world when it pulled the wraps of the S1 LM. That was an homage to the most extreme of the McLaren F1 road cars. Just when fans thought it could not get any better the company has shown the GMA S1, a more overt nod to the McLaren F1. Fittingly, just 64 will be produced.

With the S1, we wanted to show how much beauty and purity there is in this design when the more extreme aerodynamic elements of the S1 LM are stripped away. It has the same intensity, response, and engineering integrity, but has been tuned for a different purpose. This is a car you could drive along the coast from Los Angeles to Monterey in real comfort, still enjoying every gearshift, every corner, and every note of the V12 when the road opens up. It is exclusive, analogue, and deeply driver focused, but also more elegant, more refined, and more usable over distance
– Professor Gordon Murray, CBE, group executive chairman, GMA

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An evolution

The S1 commission is the latest model from Gordon Murray Special Vehicles. It’s first works were the S1 LM and Le Mans GTR. This third evolution of the new platform is the least extreme and most user-friendly. The S1 removes the S1 LM’s large, fixed rear wing, long front splitter, and deep side skirts; every exterior body panel is new.

A new active rear aero system is integrated into the bodywork, adapting to the demands of high-speed stability and braking. S1 retains the S1 LM’s width, track, suspension and wider tyres, but ride height is increased by 10 mm and the damping is retuned for greater comfort. Both the last facts underline the envisioned use of this car as a road car rather than a track machine. The same central seating position of the S1 LM, GMA T.50 and McLaren F1 has been retained in the S1.

Cosworth Power

Under the rear clamshell is a further development of the naturally aspirated V12 engine that is built by Cosworth, exclusively for GMA. The engine now displaces 4,2 litres, which makes for a fatter torque curve and bring the peak lower down the rev range. That peak figure is 500 N.m, 81 percent of which is available as low as 2 500 r/min.

The engine still has an appetite for revs, spinning to a dizzy 12 100 r/min. In the process it develops 508 kW of peak power. As per the recipe, GMA fits the S1 with a six-speed manual transmission that sends power solely to the rear axle.

Nod to the past

Keen observers would have noticed a few styling touches that are undeniably close to the original McLaren F1. Among these are the mirrors mounted halfway up the A pillars. In this newer car they integrate a rear-view camera system. Other nods to the past are the wheel design, taillamps, air vents on the flanks,, dihedral doors the Inconel exhaust and 24-carat gold-plated heat shield.