10 Best Gordon Murray Cars – They are Really Sporty

There are very few car designers who when they announce a new model or new car launch, the world stops and give attention to.

And perhaps one of the greatest car creators who have the whole world in his hands when it comes to creating newer, powerful cars is Gordon Murray.

Murray’s latest creation, a 3-seater v-12 sports car with over 600 horsepower called t50 is a great example of what he can do when the right motivations are aligned.

But which Gordon Murray cars are some of his very best?

In this list you’ll find the 10 best Godon Murray cars of all time:

1. Brabham BT46B

It is perhaps the ultimate example of a ground effect formula one car one with an interpretation of the rules so advanced it came across as a bit of an unfair advantage.

When you put a big fan on the back of a racing car, what happens?

It sucks out all the air from underneath the body making the car stick to the ground like a turbocharged limpet, which allowed one of the greatest drivers Nikki Louda to dominate his competition.

When the car was introduced in the Grand Prix of Sweden, Nikki came first but this led to a lot of rumors and speculations with many people even shouting it’s unfair.

Yes. This car truly was unfair for its time.

2. Brabham BT49

The BT49 is the car in which Nelson Piquet won the 1st of his 3 titles, making it one of Murray’s greatest cars as well.

One of the biggest, thought-provoking changes Gordon made in this car was removing the v12 Alfa Romeo engine with aging, out of its time but reliable Cosworth DFV engine. 

If that wasn’t enough, then in 1981 Gordon also fitted hydropneumatic suspension a system that lowered the car below the

regulated 60-millimeter ride height to increase the ground effect.

And boy it made the car fast when it worked.

3. Brabham BT52

The BT52 is arguably one of the most beautiful racing cars of all time.

Its unique arrow-shaped design is seldom seen in racing history. But, it came with some regulation problems and Murray had to redesign everything in it in just 6 weeks if they were to run this car again.

In the process, Gordon ended up fitting the famous and powerful M12 four-cylinder engine of BMW which spits 1000 horsepower at the peak.

Was it all worth it?

In 1982, Piquet ended up at the podium winning the title in the BT52.

4. Brabham BT55

The BT55 never did any worth mentioning on the race track.

But its low-line amazing design is worth a mention itself.

The overall look of the car is as beautiful as any car out there.

But because its low line was so low, that to get that massive mM2 BMW motor into it they had to remove a lot of other parts of the car which resulted in poor oil management and a ton of broken BMW motors.

Making the car a complete trash project.

5. McLaren MP4/4

This car was created in Murray’s first year as technical director at the McLaren brand.

And it followed the same aerodynamics principles as the BT55.

Focusing on a low body so the car gets out of the way of the air, making it way faster and giving it strength.

That plus a very potent powertrain from honda led to arguably one of the greatest performances in history.

16 races. 15 podiums. 15 wins at the top.

6. McLaren F1

This car is one of the most unique Gordon Murray cars ever built.

During the creation of this car, Murray teamed up with BMW again to use their v12 620 hp engine inside this car giving it one of the craziest road car sounds ever.

Three seats, the fastest car during the time of its creation. 

The McLaren F1 had it all.

7. McLaren F1 GTR

No matter how much Gordon tried to leave the race track out of his life.

But as with anything. You never really forget your first love, do you?

And even though Gordon was insistent to never use the McLaren F1 as a race car. he did end up using it in the GTR.

They had the same mechanics as the F1. Just added a splitter and a big wing at the back.

Voila. The F1 GTR was ready.

And? It won in its first attempt.

And the GTR today is one of the priciest cars in the world.

8. Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren

There is so many great Gordon Murray car that it’s difficult to put this SLR on the list.

But here’s a worthy argument in its favor.

The SLR was never a proper race car nor a supercar.

But it was such a fine-tuned machine that it could match any supercar or race car in performance even though it wasn’t designed to do so.

9. LCC Rocket

Before joining McLaren Gordon Murray founded his own car company with Chris Kraft called Saint Nietz.

And that company created only 1 car during its life span.

The Rocket.

It didn’t focus on a crazy design or aerodynamics like a normal Murray car.

But it is the exact vision of a car Murray always wanted to design.

A lightweight car with above-average horsepower but so perfectly designed that it matches the horsepower of some of the biggest and most powerful cars in the world.

10. GMA T.50

The Gordon Murray Automotive T.50 is a mixture of four decades of everything Gordon Murray has learned combined into one.

It is fitted with a super-high revving Cosworth V12, has an arguably lower weight than imagined, and has a fan at the back. 

Remember the Brabham BT46B?

Yes.

This car is a Brabham BT46B plus McLaren F1 plus the Rocket all combined into one.