The God of Thoughtful Design
When companies create products, focus often tends to be on maximizing perceived value and profitability (within the respective value category). It’s like they are looking outward, being reactive (to competitors), and playing their part in a herd.
Yet every once in a rare while, comes a product that has been built so thoughtfully, you begin to question every other product across all product categories after that.
The chap in the pic here is one of my ultimate gods of design and brilliance, Gordon Murray. And the car, that is listed somewhere at the top of my shopping list, is the GMA T.50.
In the video interview that I have watched more than a few times over the years, and sat with friends and family and watched a few more times; he describes every aspect of the car. And in today’s noisy world filled with instant “wow’s” or the search for them, this one will leave you with a lot more slower, more reflective and admirable kind of “wow’s.”
Gordon speaks of how most of your top hypercars have been about increasingly bigger capacity engines and all the hype around top speed (when in reality, none of the owners will dare to go anywhere near the top speed).
And how most owners of hypercars or supercars take their cars out for a spin only once in a while. Such cars spending most of their time quiet in a garage.
In contrast, he envisioned the T.50 just like the McLaren F1 that he had designed over 20 years ago. To be among the best on a track, but also one that its owner can enjoy every day if they wanted to. Which meant a smaller more efficient engine, but plenty of power from a custom built engine and arguably the highest RPMs. And one that is pleasurable, light and useful enough to take to the local market, something Murray used to do often with his McLaren.
The T.50, while beautiful and incredibly powerful, is equally local market-ready, with its little storage spaces on the sides, which I thought were counterintuitively brilliant.
Gordon Murray’s philosophy on design, and the T.50 to me are, among the absolute best in clarity, purity and purpose-driven design.
Fun fact: Gordon is the same crazy genius who designed the Brabham BT46B fan car that was used in the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix.
And for those of you who weren’t aware of this car or the McLaren F1, both have a central seating position for the driver, to improve visibility and driving experience.
Watch!
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