Saying Goodbye to the V12: Why the GMA T.50 is a Fitting Tribute to a Legendary Powertrain
We are in a unique moment in automotive history…
T.50 represents something more significant that other supercars; it is the end of an era. With shifts to hybrid powertrains, this IS the last hurrah! of a truly driver focused, naturally aspirated V12 supercar.
For many, the Mclaren F1 is the greatest car ever built. Nothing has really come close to its mission achieved in driving perfection, in every sense.
Designed by Gordon Murray, after almost 30 years, it is still the benchmark…
Looking back at the supercar rulebook:
- SPEED!
- Manual Transmission
- NA V12 (loud)
- Precise handling and throttle responsiveness
- Central driving position (fighter pilot)
- Visually attractive
- Comfortable
- Usable for daily driivng
From the first touch of a throttle pedal, every input should be met with instant feedback, allowing for a complete and refined experience, whilst being comfortable and usable.
Approaching the 30th anniversary of F1, the brilliant mind has come again, with his founded company, GMA (Gordon Murry Automotive), to accomplish the same task that the F1 was set to achieve.
T.50 — The Greatest Driving Car Ever To Be Made:
“…a car created to improve on the F1 formula in every conceivable way. With 30 years of technological and systems advancement, now, the time is right to design the greatest analogue driver’s car. I believe no other company could deliver what we will bring to market in 2022, producing this British supercar will be my proudest moment.” — Murray.
“To be truly remarkable, an engine needs to have the right characteristics: highly-responsive, an amazing sound, engaging torque delivery, free-revving, and it has to be naturally aspirated. For all those reasons, the engine in the T.50 was never going to be anything other than a V12.” — Murray.
“With the design of our T.50 supercar, we are taking the same focused approach that was applied to the design of the McLaren F1. Thanks to modern materials and 30 years of development, we have been able to deliver a far better all-round car in the T.50, while setting its weight at just 986kg, a full 150kg lighter than the F1.” — Murray.
Cosworth’s Challenge
You see, V12s are HEAVY.
I mean… very heavy.
Most Ferrari V12s are over 300kg, with the car weighing over 1500KG.
With Gordon’s lofty targets for the V12; quickest, highest revving, lightest; there was only one choice of manufacturer. . For high-revving engines, Cosworth are THE best in the business. They have been awe-inspiring F1 engines for decades, so they know how this stuff works.
From winning Grand Prix in the 70s, to sharing a dream, Cosworth holds a close relationship to Gordon.
Some quick stats:
- 3.9L (3,994cc) 65-degree naturally aspirated V12
- Max Power: 654hp @ 11,500RPM — (exceeded to 670hp)
- Max Torque: 354lb/ft @ 9,000RPM (71% @ 2,500RPM — woah!)
- Peak RPM: 12,100RPM (F1 levels right there)
- 178kg (wow!)
Ok, yeah, so this is REALLY DIFFICULT!
Packing this much power density, into such a lightweight mould can lead to opportunity costs in drivability and overall comfort. Focusing on driver engagement, these targets of weight must be met efficiently, with a low centre of gravity. More on this later…
Technical Nitty Gritty
- Racecar Tech — Gear Driven Engine:
Many of the hurdles Cosworth has had to overcome, leading to its innovations, is due to the incomprehensible loads. 12,100 RPM is literally Formula 1 levels.
Timing belts and chains are now impractical due to their susceptibility to get caught, stretch, or snap. Racecar technology is now passed down, in the form of gear-driven timing drive. The result is huge costs, given the precision tools needed for ultra-tight tolerances and reliability, but a wonder to stare at. It’s design is a work of art.
Inspired by race car engines, it uses gear-driven ancillaries for lightness, with the added benefit of a clean and uncluttered engine bay. Murray was determined that the engine should be devoid of unsightly belts. All of the ancillaries are carefully positioned out of sight leaving the block heads, primary exhaust manifolds and inlet trumpets centre stage.
You don’t need to know anything about engines to know something amazing happened here.
2. The Crank:
To achieve the proposed driving dynamics of T.50, a low centre of gravity and lightweight build take priority.
To achieve this, Gordon targeted a 125mm crank height. As they did with the horsepower target, Cosworth managed to overachieve on this goal. The crank now just sits at 85mm from the bottom of the engine.
Murray determined a 65-degree bank angle to be the optimum. With a 65-degree bank angle, piston firing orders are now regular. Each side of the engines power stroke is evenly balanced, leaving no rocking motion.
The general formula for deciding engine bank angles goes as:
720/number of cylinders = optimal bank angle
Although a precise bank angle for V12s isn’t too big of a deal, the entire crank itself weighs only 13KG! Impressive.
The low centre of gravity means less pitch during cornering and braking, less squat and dive, plus better transient handling, meaning the T.50 will remain composed and balanced even at the extremes of performance.
3. Semi-Structural Engine Mounting:
What does that mean?
When attatching an the heaviest component to the car, we must consider its weight distribution, rigidity, ease of access, and loads to the wheels and transmission. Your usual, front wheel drive car, will be mounted as a “non-stressed engine”, with the engine sitting in some cradle, mounted to a subframe. This allows for easy access and low vibrations, but increases weight and reduces handling.
There are 3 usual methods of mounting engines:
- Non-stressed: Separate subframes with anti-vibration mounts = low vibration.
- Fully-stressed: RACECAR EXCLUSIVE; Bolted directly to the chassis, as an active structural element = high vibration.
- Semi-stressed: Bit of both.
The Cosworth GMA T.50 engine is mounted to the chassis, semi-struturally, providing it with similar ridigity and weight-saving found in race cars.
Having the engine sit semi-structually is an engineering decision, to boost its agillity and responsiveness. An engine bolted directly to the chassis can sit lower, and reduces any inertia, transmitting all torque forces to the drivers seat.
To cope with vibrations, the engine sits on anti-vibration mounts to prevent unwanted noise and vibration entering the cabin, while enabling the effective management of braking, acceleration and cornering forces. This saves 25kg of chassis weight at the rear of T.50, compared to a traditional engine mounting system.
T.50 has managed to find the perfect compromise in weight saving, stiffness and responsiveness, whilst avoiding vibrations and harsh ride quality typically found in similar cars.
4. Vibration Management — Torsional Issues with V12s:
You might not have thought of the issues I am about to say, but remember engine RPM at 12,100 is incomprehensible. If you have ever seen a video of piston motion acceleration, you know its at ultra speed when the pistons look like theyre moving in slow motion…
Ok, V12s are long.
In that long line of pistons, the power being driven to that crankshaft has to travel to the flywheel. For some pistons, that’s not a short distance, but for the cylinders further at the back, this could be a while. The power generated has to travel a long distance. This creates what is called as a “long lever arm”, and this is an issue.
Further note, that the crank twists back and forth slightly with each cycle.
These are both an issue at high RPM, as all rotating pieces are not getting along together. This leads to more vibrations, harsher ride quality, and possible fatigue failure.
INNOVATION:
Ultra-thick camshaft lobes, to maintain rigidity, and Cosworth-own hydraulics mini-dampers on top of the camshaft, to settle any smaller vibrations (black spots on top).
Spotlight — Gordon Murray CBE:
- F1 Technical Director (1969–1990)
- 5-Time F1 World Champion (1981, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1990)
- Visionary behind the legendary McLaren MP4/4, McLaren F1, and McLaren Mercedes SLR
- Widely known as one of the greatest automotive engineers of all-time
“Today, the enjoyment of driving has been lost as so many supercars only come ‘alive’ at the upper ends of their performance capabilities… chasing a top speed only adds weight (notably through ever-more powerful engines), so the future of true performance cars lies in shedding weight intelligently.”
