While car designer Gordon Murray will always be best known to automotive enthusiasts as the originator and key designer of the concept which eventually became the McLaren F1 supercar, he is quickly reinventing himself from the ground up. Several years ago Murray assembled Gordon Murray Design, a boutique design and consulting group. Murray could use this small outfit to make a comfortable living as a consultant to supercar outfits and F1 teams, but instead he has grown into the role of the visionary. His latest vision, the T.27 electric city car, is so revolutionary, so altering of the concept of what may be possible, that soon cars like the Nissan Leaf and the Toyota Prius will seem like relics of a past noble attempt quickly surpassed by a superior genius and sense of invention.
Gordon Murray Design’s T.27 electric city car achieved a clean sweep in the second running of the RAC Future Car Challenge on Saturday. The T.27 competed against more than 65 entries including the latest technology from 11 major car manufacturers. The lightweight city car won ‘Most Energy Efficient Small Car (Prototype)’, ‘Best Overall Pure Electric Vehicle’ and ‘Best Overall Entry – RAC Future Car Challenge Winner’.
The T.27 covered the 57.13 miles from Brighton to London carrying 2 occupants, inside the allocated time using less than 64 pence worth of energy – Equivalent to 350 MPG (0.81 litres / 100 km) and only 37 gm CO2 / km. On a full charge, taking only 4 hours, the T.27 can do more than 100 miles.
Gordon Murray Design chose the RAC Future Car Challenge to be the T.27’s public running debut after the car’s launch in July this year as “The World’s Most Efficient Electric Car”. The RAC Future Car Challenge is the most relevant event in the world to demonstrate new automotive green technology as it is run in real world traffic conditions producing easy to understand results and bypassing all the advertising hype.
What sets the T.27 apart from all other “competitors” is its weight. Gordon Murray comes from the world of racing design, a world which is based in weight efficiency, which depends on stripping away all excess for the sake of maximum efficiency. It was here, in the world of F1 racing, where Murray received his PhD in efficiency. Murray said in a press release:
“Lightweight is the most powerful tool we have in our armoury in the fight against emissions and fuel consumption. This is true of all cars and especially so with electric vehicles! A lightweight car means a lightweight battery increasing the levels of safety and reducing the retail price dramatically.”
Phoenix Valley auto and tech enthusiasts should seriously consider taking a road trip out to Los Angeles in late November for the LA Auto Show, a popular platform for the worlds leaders in design, engineering, and electronics to debut their most cutting edge concepts and developments.
Phoenix Valley auto enthusiasts should also plan on attending the Phoenix Arizona International Auto Show to learn about the most recent concepts and innovations from the F1 and electric vehicle world, as well as the rest of the auto industry, taking place at the Phoenix Arizona Convention center over Thanksgiving weekend.
