Gordon Murray’s T25

Rumors abound that T25 will soon be launched, with a Smart-worrying price tag, and that a production line is limbering up for action at Gordon Murray’s HQ in the UK. Alas there is no factory, and the car is a mere shop display, a concept not even of a car, but of a manufacturing process known as iStream (see the Murray interview on page 62). But don’t dismiss T25: it could be a new direction in motoring. The idea of the T25 started life one morning in 1993 when Murray was stuck in traffi c on his daily commute through London traffi c to McLaren’s HQ. “I looked around me at all these big cars with just one person in them and I thought, ‘One day someone’s going to take my freedom away from me’. Now, I like my freedom, and I love driving, so I started looking into why more people didn’t make A-segment and sub- A-segment cars, and the reason is that they don’t make money.” In iStream, Murray is confi dent he has found the path to profi tability, and products similar to the T25 could soon be on our roads. “We wanted to build one running prototype of a vehicle of our choice to demonstrate iStream,” says Murray. “It just so happened that for years and years I’ve had this concept of a little car that would suit UK and European roads and their congestion problems. The car is just a physical entity to sell iStream.” However, if a company buying the iStream process wants to use the design, it can.
“It’s great fun to drive. Because it’s so light, it changes direction like a go-kart,” says Murray. The fun may also derive from its motorsport-spec development. “For example, for the monocoque section we used very similar programs to those used in designing race cars. It is truly F1 technology and F1 operational thinking for pennies, for all of us to share – not just someone who can afford a US$320,000 sports car.” We were refused a test drive, not because of the prototype’s estimated US$10 million value, but because it is not in a state in which Murray would be willing for it to be judged: “T25 has had no development. I never let people drive prototypes that aren’t sorted.” That’s not to say it doesn’t run well, though, as it competed in the Future Car Rally, with Murray at the wheel. “We built and ran it, and it felt good.

There are things we know we’d have to change, and if a customer is interested we would recommend an immediate three-month program just to sort out the dynamics. “We tested everything in our labs, so we had a pretty good idea that the car would handle as we want, and the ride and handling has proved absolutely right. It drives well, but it could be better.” If a customer does instruct Murray to advance the car to the full prototype stage, that will trigger a 24- month development program comprising 60 prototypes, hot- and cold-weather testing, durability cycles, etc. “All that sort of stuff wasn’t in the funding,” says Murray, “and won’t ever happen unless someone writes the program. We’re happy to, but we don’t currently have the funding or time.” The reason for the lack of time is intriguing. Murray and his team are working on “another six cars with customers to bring them to production and get a licence”. Even if the T25 never becomes a reality, its spirit almost certainly will. Watch this space…