Monterey Car Week wrapped up this past weekend, and admittedly, we were pretty impressed with how many rad releases were revealed at The Quail. And while we’d be hard pressed to pick a single favorite, Gordon Murray was certainly a serious conteder.
For the uninitiated, Gordan Murray is man who gave the world the McLaren F1. It’s also spent the last three decades politely declining to remake it. Well, all of that changed this past week when he gave us the Gordon Murray Special Vehicles S1.
Sixty-Four Is Not a Coincidence
Last August, Murray’s Special Vehicles skunkworks unveiled the S1 LM. It was a five-car homage to the F1 GTR’s 1995 Le Mans win. To the surprise of no one, they were incredibly sought after, and one of them promptly sold for a record-setting $20.6 million at auction.
The reaction, per Murray himself, was a flood of customers all asking some version of the same question. What would this look like with the wings and splitters stripped away?
Well, the S1 is his official answer. Every carbon fiber body panel is new, the fixed rear wing and deep side skirts are gone. What remains is a silhouette that feels unmistakably like an F1. Production will be capped at 64 cars, which just so happens to be the exact number of road-going McLaren F1s ever built.
The Church of 12,100 RPM
So what are those 64 owners actually getting here? Behind the driver (who sits dead center and flanked by two passengers) lives a 4.2-liter naturally aspirated Cosworth V12 that rips to an absurd 12,100 rpm on its way to 681 horsepower. The motor features titanium valves, titanium rods, and dry-sump lubrication, feeling more like a road-race car than a street legal machine.
But since this one is built for touring rather than lap times, 80 percent of its 369 lb-ft arrives from just 2,500 rpm. The six-speed manual also gains a slightly taller sixth gear for cruising on the highway. The heat shield is even plated in 24-carat gold, which is a wink at the gold foil lining the original F1’s engine bay.
Lighter Than a Miata, Somehow
GMSV is targeting a weight under 997 kg, or roughly 2,198 pounds. For context, that would put this three-seat V12 supercar in Mazda Miata curb weight territory.
The rest of the changes are all geared towards comfort and daily driving. Ride height climbs 10mm over the S1 LM, the dampers are softened for compliance, and the new dihedral doors get real drop-down glass instead of the LM’s race-style Lexan ticket window. An active rear aero system helps handle high-speed stability now that the big wing is gone.
Also, those low-mounted auxiliary lights in the nose and the new wheels both trace back to Murray’s 1992 Monaco show car, which is an F1 design study that never reached production.
Spec Sheet
Model: Gordon Murray Special Vehicles S1
Engine: 4.2-liter naturally aspirated Cosworth V12
Power: 681 HP (690 PS) at 12,100 RPM
Torque: 369 lb-ft (80% available from 2,500 RPM)
Transmission: 6-speed manual with touring sixth gear
Chassis: Carbon fiber monocoque (S1 LM-derived)
Aerodynamics: Integrated active rear aero
Target Weight: Under 997 kg (~2,198 lbs)
Seating: 3, central driving position
Production: 64 units worldwide
Pricing & Availability
GMSV isn’t disclosing pricing, though the S1 LM’s $20.6 million auction result gives you a rough sense of the neighborhood. Not that it matters, since all 64 build slots were reserved before the car was even publicly revealed.
Recap
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles S1
Gordon Murray stripped the aero off the S1 LM and landed on the closest thing to a new McLaren F1 we’ll ever see, a sub-2,200-pound manual V12 capped at 64 cars.
