Gordon Murray Creates Cheaper Carbon Fiber Replacement

Gordon Murray is among the greatest race car designers in history. He is responsible for in insane Brabham BT46B fan car and the championship winning BT49, BT52 and McLaren MP4/4. After leaving Formula 1 design he penned the McLaren F1 super car. For the last several years, Gordon has been attempting to revolutionize small cars the way he did for racing cars. Now, he thinks that he has cracked the code and developed a new lightweight, composite material that he calls iStream that is 25 times cheaper to produce than carbon fiber. 

Gordon uses iStream to produce the chassis of his small car called the T.25. The plastic body panels are then fitted to the composite chassis. The material is not only significantly cheaper than carbon fiber, but it eliminates the steps of pressing a steel frame and welding it together. 

"Essentially, we've been making motor cars the same way since the Model T, and that model is breaking down," said Murray.

Gordon predicts that it he could make 100,000 cars for 85% less money than a conventional car. He also plans to license the technology to other automakers.

The T.25 is powered by a 51hp, three-cylinder engine with a top speed of 100mph and weighs 550kg. It uses 2.9l/100km of fuel. The other version is the T.27 with a 25kW electric motor and a 160km range. 

Source: Automotive News Europe