Gordon Murray's new S1 is a 690hp McLaren F1 tribute built for the open road, not the racetrack
Gordon Murray built a 690hp McLaren F1 tribute made for comfortable road trips, not track days.
Gordon Murray Special Vehicles unveiled the S1 at The Quail during Monterey Car Week, positioning it as the “touring” counterpart to the track-focused S1 LM revealed at the same event a year earlier. Where the LM leaned on extreme downforce and was limited to just five cars, all originally sold to the same customer, the S1 trades that aggression for comfort and mechanical grip across a production run of 64.
Every panel is new, but the F1 references are everywhere
GMA says every exterior panel on the S1 has been redesigned and is unique to the model, removing the LM's large fixed wing, deep side skirts and front splitter for a cleaner silhouette built around an integrated active rear aero system instead. The McLaren F1 references remain deliberate throughout: four round LED rear lights, five-spoke wheels, and a high-set rear-view mirror with a digital camera view, a nod to an F1 detail that had to be altered for road-legal regulations at launch. Separate low-set main-beam lighting in the front bumper's air intake references the 1992 Monaco Grand Prix F1 show car, a detail that never reached the original production version.
A V12 that still revs to 12,100rpm
Power comes from a 4.2-litre naturally aspirated Cosworth V12, a revision of the LM's 4.3-litre unit, producing 690hp and roughly 500Nm of torque, with 80% of that available from just 2,500rpm. It still revs to 12,100rpm. Gordon Murray specifically highlights the six-speed manual gearbox, complete with an overdriven touring sixth gear, with straighter cable routing engineered to deliver what the company calls a “rifle-bolt” shift feel. A 24-carat gold heat shield and a polished Inconel exhaust, both details lifted directly from the original McLaren F1, sit around the engine bay.
Same footprint as the LM, but built to go further
The S1 carries over the S1 LM's width, track and tyres, but rides 10mm higher with dampers retuned for more compliance. GMA is targeting a weight below the T.50's 997kg dry figure despite the added refinement, sticking with lightweight construction throughout. Inside, the central driving position from the LM is retained, but wrapped in leather with what Murray calls “touring-level seat comfort,” plus a lightweight audio system, improved acoustic insulation and a revised infotainment screen.
64 cars, no price, and no shortage of ambition
Only 64 examples of the S1 will be built, fewer than the 100-strong T.50 run, with each car individually commissioned and specified by its owner. GMA has not revealed pricing, only confirming it will undercut the roughly £20 million an original McLaren F1 now commands. Gordon Murray described the car's philosophy directly: “This is a car you could drive along the coast from Los Angeles to Monterey in real comfort.”
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The S1 LM existed to prove Gordon Murray could still build something more extreme than the T.50. The S1 exists to prove the opposite, that the same engineering can be dialled back into something you would actually want to drive for hours, not just around a track, echoing the same instinct behind McLaren's own return to a manual gearbox elsewhere this week.
Stripping away the LM's big wing and splitter to lean on mechanical grip instead is the more interesting decision here, not the horsepower figure. Choosing to build a visually calmer car on purpose, when 64 buyers with effectively unlimited budgets would happily take more downforce, says more about what Murray actually thinks a road car should do than any spec sheet does.
