Life after motorsport was unexpectedly friendly for Dario Franchitti. The Scot had to retire in 2013 after a terrible accident at the Houston IndyCar race and retired with three Indy 500 wins, four IndyCar championships and a huge question mark about where he would find his second act.
Over time, he developed four new avenues that would fill his annual calendar, including starting a family, becoming a broadcaster, coaching drivers at Chip Ganassi Racing, and channeling his love for high-performance road cars into development assignments at Acura and Gordon Murray Automotive.
For the latter, the notorious perfectionist used his energy with GMA’s glorious T.50. In an interview with Road & Track, Franchitti leads us into his world as a test driver and consultant for the new company of the renowned Formula 1 and McLaren F1 super sports car designer.
Gordon Murray Automotive
Dario Franchitti: It is an interesting thing! I worked a little with the Honda R&D team in Ohio on the last NSX and that was really cool. But there are always compromises. Like many others, Gordon is one of my heroes. And I was sitting there one day reading Maurice Hamilton’s Niki Lauda book, and no bullshit, I was reading the chapter on Niki and the Brabham BT46 fan car that Gordon designed and my wife Ellie comes into the room and says, ‘ Gordon’s on the house phone. ‘ She says, ‘There’s someone Gordon, I don’t know who, but he sounds nice.’ And I asked, ‘Who is calling a house phone?’ Nobody, right?
Anyway, I pick up the phone and it’s Gordon Murray! “Gordon, that’s creepy … I’m reading about you and your fan car right now …” So we have this conversation, he said he’d like me to help me bring his new car to market, which by sheer chance has the same thing Fan- Car technology from the BT46 … He said we get along, we think alike … I said, ‘I don’t think we think alike, because you’re a genius and I’m an idiot.’ But anyway. So we have this chat and he said, ‘Come and help me get started.’ And I said, ‘I would like to do that, but I want to be a part of it. Really involved, not just at startup if you want me. ‘ So he wanted to think about it, came back and said he loved the idea, and that’s how it started and it’s a multi-faceted thing for me.
Richard pardon
It comes from being a serial buyer of cars like the T.50 and knowing the good and bad things about those cars and the buying experience and getting involved in helping them get what customers want. So we came up with the videos we’d make on the trip, and then I can make driving really fun. And that’s the development that helps a whole development team with engineers and other test drivers who are mega. I come in every now and then and jump in and say my thoughts and Gordon gives his thoughts. That’s part of it.
With a permanent grin on his face, Franchitti was shown circling Goodwood in a video released a few months ago in the Cosworth V12-powered T.50. The presence of rain and the screeching spin of the wheels and the reverse locking it caused only added to the experience.
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Franchitti: What people saw on the Goodwood video was the car’s first public appearance, no limits, for the first time in full noise, revs at 12,100. That was a pretty high pressure situation because it is one of 12 cars in existence. And they’re all very busy at Gordon keeping to the schedule so I didn’t want to mess things up and set the project back by cramming it into the barriers that first day. But everyone could hear this thing in a T.50, which was an early development vehicle, even in the wet in full conversation. The TC (traction control) has not been fully programmed, so it can spin the wheels in fifth gear with all 650 hp.
And the power to weight ratio on this thing is ridiculous. As we are still developing the car, the final tweaks have to be made, but it was really nice to drive. And then the next day at Goodwood it was dry and I really had to start pushing a little. It’s amazing, everything I hoped for. I placed my own order so am a very keen observer.
Richard pardon
You can find all kinds of analog legends in Franchitti’s supercar collection. What is missing, however, are the modern creations that rely heavily on hybrid electric propulsion and driver aids to produce their speed. Unsurprisingly, Franchitti was drawn to Murray’s overarching approach to the T.50, which maintains the purity of man, woman, and car interactions.
Franchitti: Driving the damn thing tickles all of your senses in the right way. That’s one of the reasons I bought one … because they aren’t cheap so it does a lot of things better! And it does. It’s about the driver’s involvement. This is Gordon’s whole mantra in a car. Put it on a racetrack and it won’t necessarily be the fastest, and it won’t necessarily be the fastest from zero to 60, and it won’t have the highest top speed of any of those cars because Gordon isn’t aiming to set some records that everyone strives for.
But you get in and experience the best things about driving. You really do. That is the mantra. Every time I get in I think of what it will do on one of those beautiful Scottish highlands roads. This car will put the biggest smile on my face. That is his goal. And that is exactly what the entire Gordon’s team strives for.
We don’t need racing cars on the road. We need the best road car and it has a six-speed H manual transmission. It has traction control and ABS, but they don’t run your life. You have to drive this car; it doesn’t do your job for you. And it’s not a skateboard, it doesn’t bounce from lump to lump; it has conformity. And it has some really tricks like the fan and the way it helps aerodynamics. Some people think it’s like Gordon’s Brabham F1 fan car, pulling in air under the car to increase downforce.
Richard pardon
What it actually does is create all of these different aero modes that keep the ground from stalling and losing downforce since it’s a very aggressive ground with a very aggressive angle. And if it weren’t for the fan, it would stop. And then you get things that it can do like create a virtual long tail that changes the pressure on the rear of the car so it gets more top speed and helps with braking. But it still drives like a real analog car.
With the upcoming regulatory changes in F1 and IndyCar, which saw the introduction of additional safety components and robust energy recovery systems, the fighting weights of the cars Franchitti once drove are nearing the 2,000-pound mark. It makes Murray’s featherweight approach to the T.50 and its 2,174-pound shape another area in which an achievement has been made.
Richard pardon
Franchitti: The cars I love all fall in that direction. It’s lightweight at 980 pounds, and if you try to figure out how they got the number down so far, you look at the engine, and the engine is tiny. You see the technology Cosworth put into it, and 10 or 15 years ago it would have been at the forefront of Formula 1. It’s all carbon for the chassis, obviously. There is no compromise on weight.
The first thing it has of course is a huge advantage because it is so light. And so everything just works. You are not fighting gravity or physics by building a heavy car and trying to overcome the weight by throwing great force on the thing. Gordon did the opposite here.
Murray at the wheel of the first T.50 prototype.
Richard pardon
And we’re just starting to tune the chassis balance, and the bones of the car, the basic balance right out of the box, is pretty darn close. And inside, it’s just phenomenal. Sitting in the middle of the car just feels right.
Franchitti’s testing and development skills will also be used when merging the T.50 S, which is only available on the racetrack. With more than 3,000 pounds of downforce earmarked for the S model, it’s another number that dares some of the fastest open-wheel machines he drove to victory.
Franchitti: This will be tested soon and I can’t wait. I had to go to the gym to get my neck muscles back in shape, which I haven’t had since IndyCar. But for the standard T.50, I love that it doesn’t have crazy spoilers and huge wings because that’s what Gordon doesn’t want in a street car. This is an elegant solution. There is usable downforce on the road from a low speed.
Richard pardon
Gordon is known for building cars for the driver. He doesn’t chase the trendy things. Nothing compares to what he does and no one can do what he can. And I’m allowed to drive the cars he has come up with, and there is more to come. I am a very happy boy.
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