Gordon Murray Is About To Unveil A New Supercar That Might Finally Honour The Original McLaren F1

In a recent development, Gordon Murray Automotive has revealed its intentions of pulling the covers off a new limited-run supercar this Friday. So far, the single teaser image released signals that it will pay homage to the road-going McLaren F1, a car that is still regarded as the greatest supercar to have ever seen the light of day by many.

In a recent development, Gordon Murray Automotive has revealed its intentions of pulling the covers off a new limited-run supercar this Friday. So far, the single teaser image released signals that it will pay homage to the road-going McLaren F1, a car that is still regarded as the greatest supercar to have ever seen the light of day by many.

A Different Kind Of Tribute

GMA's Special Vehicles arm has so far produced two cars — the Le Mans GTR and the S1 LM — both inspired by the McLaren F1 GTR, the Le Mans-winning race car Murray developed in the mid-1990s. The new model appears to break from that pattern. The teaser shows a car that shares the S1 LM's rear haunches, door-mounted air ducts and roof scoop, but notably lacks its large rear wing and aerodynamic addenda. That absence of track-focused bodywork points to a road-biased car rather than a racer, and by extension, to the original F1 rather than its GTR sibling.

If the theory holds, it would mark the first time GMA's Special Vehicles division has turned its attention to the road car that started it all, rather than the racing version that has inspired the brand's output until now.

A Lineage With A Record-Breaking Price Tag

Whatever emerges on Friday will do so against a striking backdrop. Only five examples of the S1 LM are being built, and one of them recently sold at auction for $20.6 million (about £15.2 million), setting a record for the most expensive new car ever sold at auction. That sale places the new car in rarefied company before its specifications have even been announced.

The unveiling will take place alongside the Le Mans GTR and several customer examples of the T.50, GMA's debut supercar powered by a naturally aspirated V12 producing 664bhp. It is a similar four-car format to the one GMA ran at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June, when it brought the T.50s Niki Lauda, the S1 LM and the Le Mans GTR prototype up the hillclimb — suggesting Murray sees Monterey Car Week as the fitting stage for a reveal of this scale.

For now, the full picture rests on one carefully cropped photograph. But given how closely GMA's previous teasers have matched what eventually rolled out, there is little reason to doubt that Friday's reveal will live up to the billing.