The first customer-spec T.50s Niki Lauda makes its public debut, honouring Gordon Murray's first F1 win in 1974The $20.6 million S1 LM - the most expensive new car ever sold at auction - makes its European debutTwo more V12 prototypes, the Le Mans GTR and T.33 Spider, complete a four-car lineup built entirely around the sound of naturally aspirated engines Most of the car industry is racing toward silence. Gordon Murray is doing the opposite. This year at Goodwood Festival of Speed, his company is bringing three naturally aspirated V12 engines to a single hillside, and the result will be one of the loudest, most unapologetically analogue showcases the event has seen in years. Read More New 2026 Ferrari 12Cilindri Special Edition Coming Soon The First Customer T.50s Niki Lauda The headline act is chassis number one of the T.50s Niki Lauda, the very first customer car, making its global public debut by actually running up the hill rather than sitting still for photographs. The car honours Gordon Murray's first Formula 1 victory, secured at Kyalami in 1974. Its white body carries a South African flag-inspired livery, with a gloss black race number 7 referencing the Brabham BT44 that Carlos Reutemann drove to that win. The T.50s is the track-only sibling of the road-going T.50, and the differences run deep. There is no air conditioning. No stereo. Thinner bodywork throughout. The result is a car weighing just 1,985 lbs, powered by a 3.9-litre Cosworth V12 producing 761 hp at 11,500rpm through a six-speed paddle-shift gearbox. Active aerodynamics generate up to 2,645 lbs of downforce, and the driver sits dead centre, McLaren F1-style. During testing, GMA driver Dario Franchitti lapped Bahrain International Raceway in 1 minute 53.03 seconds, a full seven seconds quicker than the circuit's GT3 lap record. Only 25 examples will ever exist, and every single one has already found a buyer at $3-4.1 million each. Each car is named for the date of one of Murray's first 24 Grand Prix wins at different circuits, with the 25th and final car honouring the McLaren F1's overall victory at Le Mans in 1995. The $20.6 Million S1 LM If the T.50s proves there is still demand for analogue extremity, the S1 LM proves just how much collectors are willing to pay for it. Making its European debut at Goodwood after a global reveal at The Quail in California, the S1 LM made headlines last year when one of its five examples sold at RM Sotheby's in Las Vegas for $20,630,000, the highest price ever achieved for a new car outside of a charity sale. The car is a tribute to Murray's Le Mans-winning McLaren F1 GTR, powered by a 4.3-litre Cosworth V12 producing over 690 hp, built with silicon carbide-coated pistons, titanium valves, and titanium connecting rods. Only five will ever exist. The example heading to Goodwood is a display model only; it won't be running the hill, but simply seeing one in person remains a rare opportunity in itself. Two More Firsts on the Hill Rounding out the four-car lineup are two further prototypes making significant public appearances. The Le Mans GTR XP1 previews a future production run limited to 24 examples, its design drawing inspiration from Murray's own longtail endurance racers, with visual echoes of the Porsche 917, Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/3, and Matra-Simca MS660. It remains road-legal, though its suspension is tuned firmly toward the circuit. Making its first public appearance anywhere is the T.33 Spider validation prototype, known internally as VP12. Finished in a striking green for the occasion, it strips the roof from the T.33 coupe and adds a periscope air intake between the headrests, not long after the same car was spotted undergoing cold-weather testing in the Arctic. Read More The Corvette ZR1X Is Going After Pikes Peak's Toughest Record Behind all four cars sits a company that has moved remarkably quickly. Last year, Gordon Murray Automotive received a $120 million strategic investment from Halo Cars Group, and in just six years since unveiling the original T.50, the company has designed, built, and delivered 100 customer cars to owners around the world. As Murray himself put it, this year's Goodwood presence is about "sharing the unique soundtrack of multiple V12 engines driving up the Goodwood Hill", at a moment when almost nobody else is still building anything that sounds like this.
