When we think of a sports car, a two-seater car comes to mind -at most four (2 2)-. However, there are also models for three people, which are the most exclusive and are even current.
The McLaren Speedtail and the Murray T50 are two of the most coveted large hypercars of the moment: they have a mid-engine, develop spectacular power, offer amazing performance and are inordinately priced. The Glikenhaus SCG004 falls steps below, but it’s a supercar. All three have one detail in common: they offer three seats.
A three-seater sports car? Yes. There are not many models with this configuration and perhaps they would not exist if Gordon Murray, founder of the Gordon Murray Group and former McLaren engineer in Formula 1, had not devised the McLaren F1 GT, for many the best GT ever. The McLaren Speedtail is McLaren’s vision of what an F1 GT would look like today. The Murray T50, as Gordon Murray would design it now.
Everything was born from an idea by Gordon Murray when he was studying automotive engineering at the University of Durban (South Africa). There he drew many sketches of cars, in many cases with a unique feature: the driving position was central. The reason for adopting this solution was purely technical. By placing the driver in the center, mass balance was obtained longitudinally; at least when the driver is traveling alone, which is most of the time.
The driver also had an identical view to both sides of the car. He was even more protected in the event of a side blow, although that was possibly less important then.
When McLaren gave Gordon Murray carte blanche to develop the F1 GT – it was a way of retaining the best F1 engineer of the day, who wanted other challenges – Gordon recaptured his old student dream: three-seater with central driving position.
Murray didn’t want to make the fastest GT, but the best. The big difference with its competitors must be that it offered enough comfort and versatility to be used every day.
This implied some requirements, such as that the access to the central seat had to be comfortable, that the three occupants had to feel wide enough and that the driver had to retain his total freedom of movement. The solution was to place the three seats at the vertices of a triangle. The driver was thus ahead of his two companions
The McLaren F1 was marketed between 1982 and 1988. Only 160 units were manufactured, some of them for competition, and it went on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Its lines were fluid, still current; it had a 650PS BMW 6.5-litre V12 engine and some units were even made with a “long tail” to commemorate the triumph at Le Mans.
However, the McLaren F1 was not the first 3-seater sports car in history. The first of all should have been a Ferrari, but Enzo Ferrari decided to abort the project presented to him by coachbuilder Pininfarina because V12 engines were reserved for front-engined Ferrari GTs.
The Ferrari 365 P Speciale was designed by Pinifarina in 1965. It had the same aesthetics as the Ferrari Dino, although it was slightly wider. It was based on the competition Ferrari P2 in terms of chassis and central engine, a 4.4-liter V12 and 380 hp. Only two copies were made.
The two current interpretations of the McLaren F1 are authentic hypercars, the most exclusive, with prices that exceed 2 million euros before taxes.
The McLaren Speedtail is a tribute to Murray’s F1 victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans but also to show what it would look like today. And it maintains the long aerodynamic tail that favors top speed. It maintains the interior layout of the original, with the driver in the central position and the triangular layout of the seats.
The power unit is made up of a McLaren biturbo V8 engine aided by a hybrid system, which can offer 1,050 hp and exceed 400 km/h. Production is limited to 106 copies, all of them sold in advance.
The Murray T50, presented four years ago and whose production has now started, also has all the expected 100 copies sold for a long time despite a factory price of around 3,000,000 euros.
It is not as powerful as the Speedtail, “settling” for a 670 hp Cosworth V12 atmospheric engine, without a turbo or hybrid support system. But on the other hand, it is a ‘ground effect’ car: a large rear extractor fan, like in the F1 Brabhan BT46 that Murary, a project in his day, creates a “void” under the floor that sticks the car to the asphalt.
In front of them, the Glikenhaus SCG004 looks “modest”, despite the fact that it will cost half a million dollars before taxes. The car is the work of two filmmakers, producer-director Jack Glikenhaus and famed director James Cameron. Both have partnered to create a car brand.
The SCG004 has a 6.2-liter Chevrolet V8 engine, in versions of 520, 650 and 850 CV, the latter supercharged, for a weight of less than 1,200 kg. Of course, the chassis is carbon fiber.
Currently, there is another 3-seater sports car available, the Aeon GT3. This company was created in the year 2000 with the purpose of designing and building three-seater sports cars, although today it offers classic restoration services.
The GT3 Spyder, launched in 2003, is a Kit car, that is, it is sold by parts and the client assembles it in his garage and has the possibility of assembling his own mechanics. Kit cars are popular in Great Britain and also in the United States.
