Designer behind McLaren F1 goes small
in a big way with T.25 city car concept
Gordon Murray, the man who designed
championship-caliber Formula One cars and the legendary McLaren F1 road car,
says his latest challenge is to fundamentally change vehicle production and
build small, hyper-efficient cars.
Gordon
Murray T25
His vision of the car of the future – the
T.25 city car and the T.27 electric is under development at Gordon Murray
Design, located southwest of London. The plastic-and-metal-tube, 1,200-pound
T.25 seats three, like the McLaren F1. It’s being created by essentially the
same team as the F1 with similar design values and driver-oriented dynamics.
The T.25 prototype is capable of 96 mpg, with the same power-to-weight ratio as
the typical 2.0-liter compact, and it’s passed European crash tests without
cabin intrusion. The price target is “the low end” of U.K new cars.
The
plastic-and-metal-tube, 1,200-pound T.25 seats three, like the McLaren F1.
Yet Murray expects – hopes – that the
biggest change in cars will be how we build them. These days, he devotes much
of his energy to a proprietary manufacturing process called iStream. The
technology could allow complete production in 20 percent of the space occupied
by a conventional automobile plant, with a significant reduction in cost and
energy required to build a car.
Gordon
Murray T25 side
“As cars get more efficient and emissions
decline, the relative impact of production will, by definition, increase”, he
says. “Production hasn’t evolved much from stamped steel since the revolution
of the Model T. That process has served us well, but it’s sort of falling
apart, starting with the cost of tooling.
“With iStream, 80 percent of the tooling
is software, so we can change it almost at will. We think we can reduce capital
investment 80 percent and energy consumption 60 percent, with better energy
absorption in the finished vehicle. The T.25 is really a working entity to
demonstrate and validate the process”.
Murray’s
focus on small transportation devices and efficient production doesn’t mean
he’s forgotten his F1 roots or the appeal of incredibly fast cars
Murray’s focus on small transportation
devices and efficient production doesn’t mean he’s forgotten his F1 roots or
the appeal of incredibly fast cars.
“As long as they are not legislated out of
existence, there will be demand”, he says. “I have one more supercar in me. If
it can’t do 250 mph, then so be it, but I guarantee that it won’t be anything
like the F1”.
