Dario Franchitti eclipses GT3 benchmark to sign off production T.50s

Dario Franchitti has dramatically surpassed the Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) team’s GT3 race car benchmark to approve the T.50s Niki Lauda track supercar for production.

The team picked the Bahrain International Circuit for the final T.50s prototype Production Approval Test, which saw the four-time Indycar World Champion and triple Indy 500 winner wipe seven seconds off the Circuit’s fastest GT3 lap time. Following the test, Dario approved the T.50s for production, which will see all 25 T.50s customer cars completed by mid-2026.

Dario Franchitti: “The T.50s is the most engaging car I’ve ever driven. For pure fun factor, it surpasses all other track-only models, my favourite supercars of all time, and even the race cars I drove to multiple world championship wins.

“Gordon set out to create the greatest on-track driving experience ever. The team has more than delivered. The feedback, responsiveness, performance, sound, visibility, braking, stability… everything… it’s just perfect.”

The Gordon Murray team chose the Bahrain International Circuit for the final T.50s prototype test due to the extreme thermal and mechanical stresses it places on the car. The track enables engineers to assess how a car responds to repeated hard braking (Dario logged a 3G longitudinal peak), punishing tyre wear, and low grip – enabling fine tuning of the chassis set up. Engineers also locked in aerodynamic profiles and assessed high-speed stability – during the test, Dario exceeded 184mph and recorded lateral G-force peaking at 2.7G during high-speed cornering.

The GT3-beating lap came on the final day of testing – Dario’s 1:53.03 lap being more than seven seconds quicker than the GT3 benchmark established in 2001. Dario’s lap delivered definitive proof of the T.50s supercar’s production‑ready status.

The comprehensive testing regime was the conclusion of a meticulous process of development, review, refinement, and perfection of every characteristic of the car. With an unwavering objective of achieving Driving Perfection, every decision made by Dario and the engineering team was centred on the driver and the experience of being behind the wheel.

Back in the UK, customer car production is already underway with four models all-but complete and more set to join the build programme. With Dario’s definitive sign-off, final calibration can take place with suspension, brakes, engine management, throttle response, and more fine-tuned in the production models to match his approved set-up. All 25 T.50s models will be complete by mid‑2026 with customer allocations across North America, Europe, and the rest of the world.

Professor Gordon Murray, CBE, Executive Chairman, Gordon Murray Group: “This car was never about setting lap times. We simply designed the lightest, optimally-powered, most driver-centric track car possible – with the right formula, speed comes naturally. T.50s is designed from the ground up to deliver the greatest possible on‑track driving experience, without compromise.” 

Gordon named the T.50s after his close friend Niki Lauda, the three‑time Formula One World Champion whose legendary 1978 Swedish Grand Prix victory in the Brabham BT46B fan car remains a defining moment in engineering‑led race car design. Each of the 25 cars carries a unique commemorative name linked to one of Gordon Murray’s first 25 Grand Prix victories, a naming convention that honours the designer’s racing heritage and reinforces the car’s deep connection to motorsport history.

Professor Murray: “Naming the car after Niki was deeply personal. He was a great friend and a remarkable racing driver, and I believe he would have appreciated the purity, focus, and engineering integrity that define the car we named in his honour.”

The T.50s sits in a category of its own. Weighing less than 900kg and powered by a 3.9‑litre Cosworth GMA V12 producing 772PS at 11,500rpm and revving to 12,100rpm, it delivers an exceptional power‑to‑weight ratio and instantaneous throttle response. A bespoke Xtrac six‑speed paddle‑shift gearbox, central driving position, and fully adjustable aerodynamic package generating up to 1,200kg of downforce combine to create an immersive, highly focused on‑track driving experience. Almost every major component is unique to the T.50s, including its carbon fibre monocoque, bodywork, suspension tuning, and race‑optimised systems, underscoring its clean‑sheet approach.

Designed and engineered from the ground up as an uncompromising track machine, T.50s is the most focused expression yet of the brand’s driver‑centric philosophy. Each model is meticulously hand-built in the UK in partnership with championship‑winning motorsport engineering specialists Multimatic, benefitting from the combined expertise of both teams.

If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow us on Microsoft Start.