Check out these two vids on the Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) T.50:



Several times Gordon says that it has been designed with no compromises to be the best ever (road legal) driver's car, bar none.
And that every part of it is the best possible.
Guess what tyres it has!

 

for a road car yes

 

for a daily summer road tire yes, I love my PS4's. But on the track I would probably use R triple 8's, but they burn fast and are expensive, and F-type isn't a track car.

 

Since a lot of us seem to be running this tire, has anyone had to crawl home (or to the nearest shop) on them after a flat? I had a sidewall blowout (most likely from a rock on the shoulder) in the middle of nowhere with no cel service. Was a 10 hour adventure to get the car home. I spent most of this time in a hot car contemplating driving on the flat. The tow truck driver said I should have been able to creep along for several miles. Has anyone had to do this?

 

Yep, I had a blow out on my front left PS4S 10 months ago.
Long story short it was a six hour adventure, but I didn't have much hope of being able to drive on it!

 

That's a typical Michelin thing, not just the PS4S. When they go, they tend to just explode. I'm not saying it's common that they explode, but when they fail, that type of failure is typical.

 

Holy crap, was that a factory cast wheel?
I guess I’ve been lucky and never had anything like that happen to me (knock on wood) or (touch wood as you gents say).

 

That must have been a complete nightmare! I can’t compete with that but my wife called me as she tried to leave work a few weeks ago, her rear tire was completely flat. She called Jag roadside assistance and they put some wind in the Tire, she made it home.
The next day she took my car and left me with hers, I remembered the little inflator that came with the Car, in the Boot , it works pretty well. But the combination of a blowout with no spare ? Terrible.

 

Mine was not as impressive as OzFXR's, but I could put my hand through the hole in the sidewall. I guess I could have tried wedging the can of fix-a-flat in the hole.

 

I ran over something that punched a hole through the tread that I could pass a pencil through. I was going about 75mph and got a tire pressure warning within seconds. I started slowing as soon as the light flashed and called up the display. It was zero pressure by the time I got it up. I gradually slowed and got to the shoulder within half a mile, but it was about 1.5 miles more before there was a safe place to stop and get out to inspect. I'm sure I could have gone a fair bit farther before the sidewall started to come apart, had it been necessary.

I don't seem to have taken a picture of the sidewall, but I recall it looking not nearly as bad as I expected.

 

I switched to MPSSs (pre-PS4 production)as soon as I drove off the showroom floor. Within a couple hundred miles I ended up with a piece of angle iron through the sidewall driving through a construction zone on the freeway. TPMS alarm went off immediately, but the car proceeded without drama. Took about a half mile to safely pull off the freeway. No damage to the wheel, and the tire still looked like it could’ve gone a short way further without deconstructing. Not worth chancing it though.

 

AND...a proper gearbox no less. Where do I sign up? The window fan in the rear panel is a bit off-putting, but at least it’s super effective.

 

Yep, a factory Blade wheel (which is apparently forged not cast).
OK, here's the long story:
Cruising back home down the Freeway after dropping my daughter off at a function, doing pretty much the speed limit of 100 km/h, when I started to feel a bit of vibration from the front wheels. Straight away I suspected a minor puncture but my car doesn't have TPMS.
But I'm on a stretch of the Freeway where there is no emergency stopping lane so I have no choice but to keep going and take the first exit I come across, and then hopefully find somewhere to safely pull over
I pulled over into the far left lane (of three) which is mainly a truck lane and slowed right down to around 60 km/h. I couldn't go any slower than that without risking a truck up my clacker.
By now the vibration is getting steadily worse, just as I spot an exit ramp, and I have travelled about two or three km since the first hint of a puncture.
By the time I get to the exit ramp the vibration is really bad so I suspect I now have a completely flat tyre.
Of course there is nowhere to pull over and park on this exit ramp, it is in fact a narrow one way road leading to the old highway and a little town (Eagle on the Hill).
I had to go another roughly 3 km before I found a safe(ish) spot to pull over, by pure chance on a bridge over the Freeway.
By then the vibration, noise and steering were telling me I had a destroyed front left tyre.
I stopped on the side of the road as close as I could to the steel guard rail (that it what you can see in my pic with the tyre/wheel leaning up against it) so as to still leave juuust enough room to get the wheel off and a new one on. Even then the right side of the car was sticking out about 6" into the road, but luckily this is a barely used road and traffic is very light.
No spare in the car, it takes up too much room in the hatch and it sits in my garage.
One look at the tyre confirmed it was completely shredded so my next thought was "I hope the wheel is still OK as they cost a packet to replace".
So I am stuck with no access to a spare wheel/tyre. I am not a member of Jag Assist or the local auto club (RAA).
I eventually have a brainwave - phone my daughter and see if she can get someone to take her to my place (about 60 km away) where she can use her key to get in and fetch the spare wheel/tyre (one of those red/orange space saver monstrosities) and bring it to me.
Several phone calls later she has teed up for her mother (my ex) to go fetch her and then the spare.
So in the meantime I get to work removing the busted wheel/tyre.
Only around 45 cm of space to work in on rough gravel, it was not a fun job and my knees have never forgiven me!
Of course the ex and daughter are taking forever so I call my daughter and eventually work out that she (the ex) has taken the wrong road (despite me giving detailed directions/instructions) and she can't get to me (coz one way road) without going back to the freeway then many kms along the freeway to then turn around and get onto the correct exit road. She eventually rocks up some two hours later than she should have, but of course I can't complain.
Whacked the spare on and got out of there and eventually got home some 5 or 6 hours later than I should have.
But of course that's not the end of the story.
This all happened on a Saturday so I had to wait until the following Monday to call my local tyre shop (the same one I bought the new PS4S from) and order a new tyre, which took three days to arrive.
Took the car in and get the new tyre fitted, the wheel was completely undamaged (phew!).
BUT, long story shortened a bit, the new tyre does not seal 100% against the wheel rim and has a very slow leak. Because the burnt on rubber off the old destroyed tyre will not come off completely despite the tyre shop cleaning it three times now. So now I have my trusty 240 volt tyre pump permanently set up in the garage near that tyre and I pump the tyre back up to 35 PSI about once every one or two weeks - in two weeks it loses pressure down to about 25 PSI.
Bottom line - the old tyre was not defective, it was just circumstances and bad luck that led to it being destroyed.

 

Without checking either vid I believe only 50 (maybe 100???) will be made and the asking price will be some 2.6 million Pommy squid each (so around 3.4 million USD).
Very likely they have all been bought already by various squillionaires, so unless you win several lotteries (or are you a closet squillionaire?) and find a willing seller you have two chances of ever getting your grubby mitts on one.

Edit - for those unfamiliar with the Oz vernacular (so pretty much 99.99% of you Septic Tanks), see here for an explanation of "two chances": https://www.urbandictionary.com/defi...=Two%20chances

 

Dang OZ, that was one hell of day. Had to go back and look at the picture again, I thought the wheel was totaled, a closer look at what I thought was the edge of the wheel was just the remanence of the tire. I need a new pair of glasses.

 

And to make matters worse SWMBO now won't agree to any "country" trip unless I shove the spare back in the hatch.
Fair 'nuf I suppose but it's a hassle.

 

The video said 100 would be made, and 13 prototypes. But you're right about the eyewatering price - I'd have to sell 6 houses (I don't own 6) to get that! Interesting that he thinks skinny steering wheels are the way to go - I love my chunky one. And skinny tront wheels, and only 19"s at that.

 

Agreed on the steering wheel, lots of cool stuff on the car and that engine is awesome but honestly the overall look is kind of boring.
I think it's great that the goal was the best of everything and lightest power to weight ratio but the idea that it's the "ultimate drivers car" doesn't really make sense to me. It's too exclusive and expensive for anyone to seriously track it or road trip it, these cars might do a couple hot laps and then get locked up as an investment. Seriously doubt any of them ever get more than a few thousand miles put on in a life time.

 

Awesome, integrating this phrase into my vernacular immediately. Having been born in PA, spending almost 16 years in the south (TX, MS, AL, and FL) as well as time overseas in the military, I have heard all kinds of phrases that I think are great. Always funny when I use something not native to where I am and seeing someone light up or laugh because they know exactly what I’m saying or what I mean. Thank you sir!

 

It's always been "Slim and none, and Slim just left town" wherever I've lived.