Watch A 3-Cylinder Test Mule For The Gordon Murray T.50 V12 Revving Like Mad

This is not the mighty, 3.9-litre naturally-aspirated V12 due to power the Gordon Murray Automotive T.50. Nope - it’s a quarter of it.

This tiny little unit - dubbed ‘GMM-IC3’ - is a three-cylinder mule. It’s been undergoing dyno testing at Cosworth, the company which will be developing the full 12-cylinder monster for Prof. Murray’s highly anticipated McLaren F1 successor.

Technical details for the test engine haven’t been revealed, but we can see the figures flash up on the dyno screen showing that it revved beyond 12,000rpm and hit around 150bhp during the test. In the brief moment we see it being put through its paces in the video, it certainly sounds like the three-pot revving its little heart out. At the end, we hear an even shorter clip of something with rather more cylinders, giving a taste of what’s to come.

The V12 - which will be a semi-stressed member of the T.50’s chassis - is set to benefit from Cosworth’s learnings from its 6.5-litre Aston Martin Valkyrie engine project. It’s set to be considerably more responsive than the V12 used in the McLaren F1, with Murray telling CT in a recent interview that in neutral it’ll be capable of 28,000 revs per second compared to 10,000 for the BMW 6.0-litre.

It’ll also rev a lot higher than the engine found in his seminal supercar, with a 12,100rpm ceiling. When you reach that point, changing gear will be done using a manual gearbox.

The T.50 will be revealed at some point this year before production begins in 2020.