Gordon Murray’s T.33 Spider is a £1.8 million hypercar head-rush
If you have a 617hp Cosworth V12 that screams to 11,100rpm, you’ll want to enjoy every last rev in glorious, unfettered surround-sound. In other words, you’ll want a T.33 Spider from Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA). Well, join the queue.
Based on the existing T.33 coupe, the Spider’s carbon composite bodywork is unique from the A-pillar backwards. Two lift-out roof panels can be stowed in the front luggage compartment – or you can leave the roof in place and simply retract the rear window.
The Spider will be hand-built at GMA’s new facility in Windlesham, Surrey, with first deliveries due in summer 2025. Production is limited to 100 cars, priced at £1.8 million apiece – some £500,000 more than its hard-top sibling.
Seeing the light
Incredibly, the open-air T.33 weighs just 18kg more than the equivalent coupe. A painstaking focus on weight reduction involved shaving ‘single grams from every component’.
Tipping the scales at 1,108kg, the Spider weighs approximately the same as an Alpine A110 – a car Murray himself owns and admires. It’s also nearly half a tonne lighter than a Porsche 911 Cabriolet.
Its pretty, slightly retro body panels are bonded to a carbon fibre monocoque chassis supported by extruded aluminium tubing. Designed as a convertible from the outset, GMA promises there are ‘no compromises to structural integrity’.
Simple pleasures
Inside, the T.33 Spider looks like a glowed-up Lotus Elise: minimalist, gorgeously tactile and totally driver-focused. A ‘defiantly analogue rev counter’ is flanked by a pair of small screens for climate control and infotainment – the latter with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.
A stubby, ball-topped gearlever takes centre-stage, controlling the six-speed Xtrac manual ‘box. The T.33’s carbon fibre steering wheel houses buttons for the wipers and indicators, in place of traditional stalks. The switchgear and pedals are machined from aluminium alloy.
Two carbon fibre bucket seats are trimmed in leather and Alcantara, and positioned beneath a huge ram air scoop that feeds the hungry V12. A pair of 90-litre stowage compartments are hidden in the rear haunches, increasing combined luggage capacity to 295 litres – on par with a small hatchback.
Totally tropical
The heart of the T.33 Spider, is, of course, that almighty engine, with its 12 cylinders, four throttle bodies, 24 injectors and superbike-style redline. Maximum power of 617hp arrives at 10,250rpm, while 75 percent of the 333lb ft of torque is available from 2,500rpm. It wears yellow cam covers inspired by the Murray-designed 1972 Duckhams Ford LM race car, too.
No performance figures are quoted, but reckon on 0-62mph in around three seconds and a top speed north of 200mph. If you want to go even faster, you’ll need the full-house 663hp GMA T.50 with its rear fan and ground-effect aero.
Lastly – and best of all – we’re told the T.33 Spider will be available in some very eye-catching colours, ‘acknowledging Gordon’s love for a tropical shirt’. It seems even Murray, a famously obsessive and serious engineer, isn’t afraid to have a bit of fun.
Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research