Flat Out In The £3m, 654bhp GMA T.50 V12 Fan Car | Top Gear

It's a little cold every day almost freezing you're not going to be skidding for grip yeah yeah and I love it okay I'm almost surprised it has a normal wiper. I've wondered if Gordon would have come up with a radical structure yeah yeah yeah okay so cards on the table with the wiper we made the world revelation launching a dynamic debut called Dynamic Debut at Goodwood um TC didn't work out at that time ABS no doesn't work and Gardens I knew you wanted to see this in 12-1 all the customers were there and it was raining the good news is it spins the tires in 12 1 no TC in a straight line traction control has taken since so he did a good job with that but the wiper had been done incorrectly and at about 120 mph it started coming off the windshield at which point nothing can be said and it was pretty clear it was coming off the windshield on TV too , so I got it to point up and then but um this is not about downforce which it should have it was designed to have no force and it's so powerful the wiper yeah that's a weird thing to say . but that's a big powerful wiper that puts out good downforce so it was basically put upside down and it was lifting up they were lifting it up yeah like I said the people who made it had designed the rear end incorrectly and it became on an airplane wing on a race car, yes, and you don't have storage space under the front end, do you?

Because you have the top for the Pods in the back but hey you have your tool kit there you have your emergency stuff um you have the top for your washer fluid in the front area it's pretty it's packed tightly in the front but you have more than enough yes in the back it's such a small car while we're standing next to it it's not just short it doesn't feel big you know the width of the length it's not a big car no and you saw going down here we are on these little roads you still you can move in your own lane, yeah, and you probably have one foot on each side, yeah, and you firmly forget it, it's packed and that was one of Gordon's obsessions, keeping this thing with a small Porsche Boxster footprint, but there's three of us in it, yeah yeah certainly not Porsche Boxster performance and speaking of which how's your tea? everyone was looking forward to seeing what the t50 was like in a narrow traditional british town oh a bit of a challenge here entering a village entering a village just the road is narrowing there are curbs there are bends there is traffic in the other direction metal yes but of Again, this is one of those things where they're in the center driving position.

It makes perfect sense. You talk about single-seater. I mean, I'm used to this. I grew up driving in a car that was in a completely symmetrical driving position. that this is gone and you know you can place it really well and that little scuttle gordon is always talking about a low scuttle height and i was like yeah yeah what does that really mean? and then you get this and you realize exactly yes you can see the road just a few feet in front of the car yeah here we go classic scene from English Village Defender a couple of guys go up a ladder fixing a sign it's a place so exciting to be sad yeah actually you have a lot more sense of things going on they talk about the driver centric car but actually for the passengers it's really nice but it's very docile in this situation but then, as you found out earlier when you open the Taps, it's quite interesting that Sally drove the valkyrie, yeah what would that be like? being close to petworth oh you just couldn't i really don't need a good thing i wouldn't have a problem with ground clearance yeah but in terms of noise and everything it would be impossible to drive and i kind of feel like a book you drive through a town like this in a bright orange Lamborghini and you know there's kind of an instant recognition of what it is oh that's one of those Lambos there's an intrigue when people see this car they know it's very , very special but it's wonderful to see his eyes try to wrap their brains yes what I'm seeing here is yes obviously Top Gear subscribers will instantly know it's a C50 do you feel exposed to your passengers operating the car in um do you feel like you're a bit in the offing just because it's you two yeah otherwise I'll be fine with that yeah and obviously your background is all single seater racing but as a road car it's tough adjusting to sitting in the middle no it just made a lot of sense right away yeah it really made that kind of symmetrical driving position because any car you drive is always compromised sitting to the side feels different from left to right especially a pillar gets gets in the way now with the thicker pillars of modern cars and it's just that yes it makes a lot of sense to me and the angle of the seat to my head to rest from acceleration yes yes it's absolutely perfect yes do you feel the benefits? of the fan helping to create additional downforce because I remember when Gordon originally told us about the idea for this car it must have been three four years ago now it was like imagining a car that legal highway speeds are actually producing sensing that or you're just feeling a car that feels planted.

I've driven a lot of these cars without any fans at all so early prototypes didn't have fans and stuff as we were developing that part separately and when you get into a mid speed low speed corner trust me you really feel the benefit of the fan on overall downforce but the balance of the rear end also makes it a bit better but I guess as a road car it's not as much about stability of the car as it is about downforce just using the fan to control the air a bit yeah you're giving it away window or performance so it's not like you have pitch sensitivity it's not if you're not getting corn on the brakes when you hit it you cook too much maybe just a fraction it's an event at any speed and that's it for me that's what cars are your numbers are great you say wins and all but it's about how it makes you feel yeah and it has to be because the roads are so busy nowadays and stuff is about how it makes you feel at any speed, it will have the performance that is clearly the right way to get to Goodwood and that was the ride. again and just to torment us even more Dario parked next to the Goodwood track we weren't allowed to drive on here's the plan Ollie I think you lock Dario in the toilets and I'll steal the keys what do you seems?

Sounds like a good place, it's quite frustrating to be here at Goodwood Circuit and not be able to drive this around the track. I know, and it's very appropriate that we're here because 30 years ago, this is where Top Gear TV filmed the original McLaren F1. The movie with Tiff, of course, I saw it the other day on YouTube. It's definitely still good, but it's all action. Now, look, obviously we can't talk about that. What did we learn today? Well, it's amazing to be there. I think there are some conclusions: the view forward from the two sides.

The seas are incredible. It is not a big car physically and on the road it feels compact and then well, the last one, I guess 660 horsepower, yes, more than enough, today I was saying that I have a bit of a hit in the press because it was not enough power, ok, let's confirm here. when your car weighs a ton it's less than a ton yes more than 650 horsepower is enough i'll tell you what else we learned yes Dario Franchitti or you can drive a little bit he can drive we'll give him that talking about which one where did you leave your car in Gordon Murray, yeah, mine's at HQ, Dario, we're going to need a list, okay? saddle up