A high-revving V-12, a 6-speed manual, and the wind in your hair. It's an intoxicating combination, and one you can have in the new T.33 Spider that was revealed on Tuesday.
The T.33 Spider is the latest creation from Gordon Murray Automotive, the new car company of legendary road and race car designer Gordon Murray, and it's just under 40 pounds heavier than its T.33 coupe counterpart shown last year. The dry weight is 2,443 pounds.
According to GMA, the minimal weight gain was achieved by developing the T.33's carbon-fiber tub from the onset for the open-top car. Another key design choice was to skip a complex and heavy automated roof in favor of a two-piece carbon-fiber panel that can be stored in the front trunk.
Behind the roof is an air intake that feeds cool air to the car's V-12 engine, and below this is an electronically controlled glass window that drops down to allow even more engine noise to enter the cabin.
GMA T.33 Spider
GMA T.33 Spider
GMA T.33 Spider
The V-12 is a 3.9-liter unit developed by GMA in partnership with Cosworth. The engine is shared with the company's first supercar, the T.50, and in the T.33 is rated at 608 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque. Though that's lower than what's offered in the T.50, the engine still screams to an 11,100-rpm redline and delivers a claimed 208-mph top speed for the T.33 Spider. Buyers also have the choice of a 6-speed manual transmission or a paddle-shifted automatic unit, though orders for the paddle-shifted gearbox in the coupe are reportedly a mere handful.
The cabin of the T.33 features two seats, unlike the McLaren F1-style three-seat layout of the T.50. A benefit of the two-seat layout is that GMA was able to certify the car for the U.S. market. This isn't the case for the T.50, which needs to be brought in under Show and Display rules.
Like the coupe, the convertible will be limited to 100 examples, and build slots are still available, though they are likely to fill up fast. Production of the coupe is scheduled to start in 2024, with the convertible to follow starting around mid-2025. Production of the T.50 started in March, following a sign-off drive by Murray himself.
Originally, GMA had envisioned the T.33 as its last supercar to be powered purely by a V-12 (although it's actually a mild hybrid), as future models, while still retaining a V-12 engine, would feature hybrid powertrains. However, Murray in an interview with Autocar published on Tuesday hinted that the company might develop one more pure V-12 model. The car is expected to arrive around 2027, or about a year after the arrival of a planned track-focused T.33 along the lines of the T.50s Niki Lauda.
