Gordon Murray is sitting on T.50. I knelt at the door. It feels a bit like I worship on an altar. Today’s first reading is taken from the pedal book.
“I calculated the stress on the pedals, and I said to the designer,’Look at the F1 pedals, but it won’t reduce their weight’.” But then I decided to go too. I realized that the anti-skid required by the regulations might be pedals. Sharp edges. As a result, they have lost 300 grams. ”
Gordon Murray is telling a story. Most of them include the term “kg”. What is really special is “gram”. Once he even mentioned one tenth of a gram. He will not deny that he is addicted to weight, but the word I chose to use is “English”. It is more compatible with the semi-religious symbol system.
This is a three-seater V12 supercar that weighs less than a ton. But weight is only one aspect of the car and Murray’s pursuit of engineering perfection. Because, like all car brands with the image of Messiah over their heads (see also Horacio Pagani and Christian von Koenigsegg), cars embody this man.
When he was sitting in the cockpit, I asked Gordon to point out some other interesting points. “Well, I want to think that everything is engineering art. There is a good line between engineering beauty and bling, there is no burden here. Everything is customized. F1′s customization is about 98%, with some portable switches and Ventilation holes, some of the switches have a little effect on the spindle, I hate it, absolutely hate it, and the touch on the switch is too soft. This time, we started with an aerospace parts manufacturing company from scratch. They spent a lot of money That’s a lot of money, but now the sense of touch is definitely in place. I always say to designers, “Think about high-end cameras”, but even the owner will never see things that are works of art.
“The one thing we let them see is the chassis. It is installed in front of the gear rod, but in fact we will send it to customers in the demo box soon because it is a great tool to show all of our content. It is made of titanium and has a thickness of 4.5 mm, which looks heavy, but when you turn it over, its back is only 1 mm thick from the back, so the weight is only 7.8 grams. You hold it in In my hand, I can’t believe how light it is.”
“It is forbidden to use touch screens in express cars. When you are driving fast, trying to puncture the screen is absolutely absurd.” Instead, the T.50 uses a small simple click wheel on the steering wheel to control the screens on both sides of the central tachometer. On the right are satellite navigation, media and infotainment systems, and on the left are cars, engines and aviation information systems. The vent is hidden under the hood.
“There are no fancy dancing graphics on the screen. It took a lot of time to go home with the supplier. I just want simple, clear black and white information.”
Famously, F1 is equipped with a lightweight Kenwood high-fidelity audio system, weighing 8.5 kg. This time we cooperated with Arcam, the whole process-amplifier, 10 speakers and 700 watts of power-only 4.3 kg. ”
“We have three different seats, and I think we have 43 different people in and out. In F1 this is not easy because our main carbon fiber chassis beams slide down the sides of the driver’s seat. This time, I put them Moved to a more traditional position on the door sill, which also helps with crash protection and torsional stiffness, but more importantly for customers, it means your feet can slide straight into the foothole.”
The seating position is perfect, the foreground is neat and symmetrical, and is mostly interrupted by a ridiculously numbered tachometer. “However, the center seat and the fact that I moved everything forward as much as possible (the driver sits 250mm forward on the T.50 than the F1) does give us the problem of the mirror placement. Let them sit The only place to get down and comply with the regulations is to put them on top of the front wheel arches… I basically shoot at my feet. I don’t particularly want the camera, but the mirror size has almost increased due to F1 (legislation) Doubled, so the decision to choose a camera is more aesthetic than aviation. It really helps. And reduces wind noise.”
“Everyone is talking about how well F1 is stored around the cabin and side lockers, but the area around the cabin is not covered, so if you brake hard, everything will fly out and those lockers will It flew out because it was not easy to use because it was bent over to lift the bag.
“With the T.50, we have 30 liters of cabin stowage-two lockers under the exterior seats, and another pair in front of each passenger under the dashboard-which is more than many SUVs. Now you can access the lockers from above. We have two huge butterfly wing doors on the central pivot that can be lifted to reveal the engine and side lockers. We will provide luggage. I’m not sure about us Who to work with, although I have a few thoughts, this will be provided with the car. That’s another thing I don’t like – when you buy a car and then a battery charger, car cover and all other items , These are redundant.”
When Gordon used Cosworth to set engine parameters, there were two main rules. None of them are figures of power or torque. No, he wants a high-speed and high-speed engine. “I know that the engine will be powerful, but what is more important to me is how it feels. It must be naturally aspirated, and I hope it will rotate higher and faster than my other two cars. When you are in F1 When you step on the accelerator, it can increase 10,000 rpm per second. I hope the T.50 can outperform it, and I hope it can rev even higher than the LCC (Light Car Company) rocket.”
We should point out that this is the highest-revving road car ever, powered by a 1.0-liter five-valve four-cylinder Yamaha bicycle engine that can reach 11,500 rpm. “So we did all the basic work with Cosworth, and there are some things I don’t understand-how they offset the torque of the injection under the action of the ignition timing. My goodness, the engine’s heat dissipation is really smart. But then, This small email landed in my inbox: 12,100rpm and 28,400rpm per second!”
There is no flywheel, and F1 does not have a flywheel, so when you step on the accelerator while idling, it will reach the red line in 0.3 seconds. Imagine the sound. These are the claims: the highest speed in the world, the fastest response speed, the largest power density and the lightest naturally aspirated V12. He said: “It weighs 178 kg, and then add it” (Aston Martin developed by [Cosworth)) Valkyrie V12 has nothing in common, it is indeed the next generation product . And a dial that encapsulates all these functions for the driver? "The tachometer is of course mechanical.
"In the 1960s, you had speed or torque. You can't have both. Now you can. For supermarket trips, we have two switchable maps-one that limits you to 9,500rpm, 600bhp. Then single Click and enter the high-speed mode, but at 2500rpm, you still have 71% of the maximum torque. Excellent."
"Not many people seem to know this, but F1 has two 140mm fans in the diffuser. I'm not sure about this technology, so I didn't try too hard – I think their downforce has increased by 5%, but first of all, Not much.
"This time, the fan is more powerful and can draw air through the engine compartment and out of the diffuser. There are six modes, four of which are available for the driver to choose. The main purpose is not downforce, but stability. For example, , We can stabilize the rear under severe braking, so that it can scrape 10 meters from the braking distance of 150-0mph.
"The fan rotates at up to 5,000 rpm and moves a lot of air-enough to generate 15kg of thrust. The most fashionable mode is the lite mode. In this mode, we close the valve to the ground, reduce the wing angle to minus ten degrees, and change from Air is drawn from the engine compartment. This reduces our resistance by 12.5%."
The weight of each headlight package is 2.1 kg, including the radiator and cooling fan. The radiator is hidden underneath, but I think it looks cold, so I ask it to be visible. "
I tried to attract Gordon by asking if there is a style on the car instead of a design. The answer is: "Absolutely not." But I thought I had something: these small gaps cut into the rear lampshade. I'm wrong. "Actually, those are used to direct cooling air to the taillights."
If you are weird enough, you might know that F1 has a titanium toolbox. It is manufactured by a French company called Facom. "I want T.50 to be British as much as possible-use British design and engineering and demonstrate this-but I also hope that certain partnerships can continue. So I called Facom and that guy is British. , He said, "Will you come to the headquarters to discuss it? ". I definitely said whereabouts, hoping that he would say things like Paris, and then he said "Slough". It turns out that Black and Decker have acquired Facom, so it is now a British company."
You may remember that F1's user manual was drawn by hand, "This is another thing we will do again. All this is to honor and improve F1."
Gordon said: "It will have the best shifting performance of any car," Gordon said before detailing the beam angle ("a typical car is only 9 degrees at 15 degrees"), ratio selection and how to adjust the feeling of entering and exiting. . Per slot. I told him that the best manual I have ever driven is the Honda NSX Type-R. He replied: "I copied F1's NSX", "It is very smart, they speed up the cable, so it is not slack at all."
The six-speed car is the H-type manual of racing expert Xtrac, who built the gearbox for half of the F1 car. "The joystick is mounted on a hybrid cantilever of carbon and aluminum, so you can see the mechanics of the suspension at the bottom. These are all titanium, which is 800 grams lighter than F1."
"No one really cares about steering because it is so difficult. It drives you crazy... You walk around the house with steering and never stop. What you have to deal with is the pneumatic path, to The offset of the contact surface, the angle of the casters, the inclination of the kingpin and the Ackermann, they all interact. You get one place, and the other places are out of fashion.
"But I'm very happy that I have the perfect geometry-and it has no power assist. We just grabbed assistive devices with speeds below 10 mph to help parking." The system has been patented.
"Because of the weight of the car, we don’t need wide tires. We think that weight distribution requires 225 seconds before and 295 seconds after [42:58]. Michelin did a calculation and said that we should have 235 cars in front. The tires and wheels are increased by 10mm Weight, but we did it.
“Usually, I choose smaller wheels with higher sidewalls. I am unhappy with the Alpine [A110] release because it uses larger wheels, but the tire technology has improved a lot in recent years. We have selected relatively low-profile tires for the T.50 above. Obviously, this can improve steering response, but the bead breaker in the tire is now too low and you can get really good compliance on the sidewall.
“F1 is equipped with magnesium wheels, but the technology has changed dramatically. Cast magnesium is now heavier than forged aluminum. Castings are porous, so you need more metal, and now, through analysis, you can Tap out the strength.
“We have about 20 different designs, but I really like this one. It is also the lightest.” So is it the most attractive? “Yes it is.”
“We have actually run some dynamic benchmarks on the T.50 against the Alps. The only thing I don’t like is the steering. When you start to rely on it, it won’t weigh very well. You jump back to Lotus Elan, like It’s the same magic. And the steering wheel rim is too thick. Why? My fingers are very long, and in high mountains, my hands cannot go around the steering wheel.”
It is famous that certain elements of F1 Gordon are unpopular, and this is a compromise he must make. “The spine of the book is too wide 50mm, the headlights are like fireflies in a jar, the air conditioner is hopeless, the brakes are creaking, the clutch needs to be adjusted every 5,000 miles, and the fuel tank bag needs to be replaced every five years. It is really good to put your luggage in the locker. Pain. It’s all stuck in my mind.”
He has XP3, which is the oldest F1 in existence until recently. “I think I drove about 30,000 miles in an F1 car. I sold it because it became untenable. When the value rose to £20 million, it was just the price of insurance…
“Before that, I used to take it out on Sunday morning. But if you have a £20 million car, you would think twice, put someone in the rain and show them fourth gear Gear, so even if I don’t want it, make me think twice.
“I have been running on an open pipeline for 3 years. It is great to go through the tunnel at 7,500rpm, but it is a bit cumbersome for MOT because I have to change it back every time.”
“When McLaren announced the three-seater competition, I was going to stop the plan. I called the team and said, “I don’t think we will do it.” I told them they have a legacy and can do it, but When I saw Speedtail, I realized it was different at all. We are back.
“I didn’t see us (in the same area as the Valkyrie). I doubt it will be a great car, but I can’t see anyone driving it to the limit. And it’s much heavier.”
Only 100 cars were produced (half sold according to the ballpoint pen sketch), each with £2.36 million plus local taxes. “However, this is not £20 million like F1, so I pointed out to customers that this is a car that provides the same experience, but has better performance in all aspects and enjoys an 80% discount.”
Customers will select cars in Gordon Murray’s Dunsfold store. “It will be very personal. At the handover center, they will be surrounded by some of my own cars…I have 39 cars weighing under 900 kg.”
When I looked around the T.50 for the first time, I kindly suggested to Gordon that the front and rear badges (obviously enamel) are not a lightweight solution, so where else did he let the odd number of moles sneak in? The strong response was “nowhere to escape”, followed by a detailed description of the badge design and how it is impossible to use enamel thinner. “It’s all about applying the right technology in the right way. I don’t need black carbon blocks or stickers. I want something deeper, but I need to engineer it to convey my story. If you start lighting , Everything else will get better.”
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Post time: Mar-22-2021
