OV9

Anybody buying one of these is going to have loads of other cars they can use for those longer trips. It was the combination of the steering busy-ness and the noise levels that I just didn't appreciate before.

I do still like that Clarkson has his opinions on stuff like this and the F1 and isn't for changing his mind easily.

Mito Man wrote: Mon Mar 09, 2026 10:19 am Watched the video up until he said it costs £6 million and then lost all interest.
The noise sounds like straight cut gears. It sounds exactly like a Caterham from the inside

It doesn’t, or didn’t, it cost around £2 million, they are selling for around £5 million ‘used’. Still insane money though.

dan wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 10:15 am I think thats a throwback to the olden days before people like renault and ford invented their fancy uprights that moved the KPI so that the effect of putting huge wheels and tyres didn't increase the scrub radius to the point where it wants to rip the wheel out of your hand. PAS mitigated the effects a little but you can't defeat physics.

The fancy uprights are a clever development for cars with McPherson struts aren't they? I'd much rather have an HPE Elise/Exige than a T50 anyway. I bet you can do one with a central driving position, not that I want that.

As an original T50 hater, these developments in opinion please me

Weren't the original S1 Motorsport cars central driving? Not sure I've really understood the point of it in a road car, to be honest...I also noticed that in the T50 I hope your very well aquanted with the passenger on your right

ZedLeg wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 2:50 pm As an original T50 hater, these developments in opinion please me

You seemed to be a fan at the time

ZedLeg wrote: Wed Aug 05, 2020 9:14 am I like it, V12, clever tech, fast as fuck. Sounds ideal.

ZedLeg wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:58 am I’ve finished watching Harry’s video about it and I still think it’s great.

It’s interesting to see how he uses 20 odd years of technological advancement to make something that still fits in with the design philosophy of the F1.

Matty wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 4:16 pm Weren't the original S1 Motorsport cars central driving? Not sure I've really understood the point of it in a road car, to be honest...I also noticed that in the T50 I hope your very well aquanted with the passenger on your right

Yes I race one of them, albeit with 400 supercharged honda horsepower nowadays. The central seat is a pain in the backside, it makes driver changes cumbersome. The elise is so narrow anyway I barely noticed the difference when driving.

Jobbo wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 4:48 pm

ZedLeg wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 2:50 pm As an original T50 hater, these developments in opinion please me

You seemed to be a fan at the time

ZedLeg wrote: Wed Aug 05, 2020 9:14 am I like it, V12, clever tech, fast as fuck. Sounds ideal.

ZedLeg wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:58 am I’ve finished watching Harry’s video about it and I still think it’s great.

It’s interesting to see how he uses 20 odd years of technological advancement to make something that still fits in with the design philosophy of the F1.

Hmm I wonder when I started disliking it then

I remember watching a video and thinking it sounded annoying.

Jobbo wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 4:48 pm

ZedLeg wrote: Tue Mar 10, 2026 2:50 pm As an original T50 hate

You seemed to be a fan at the time

I don't think the noise comes across very well at all in the video, it's sounded much nicer in the official videos.

Dave!

I still think the looks are lame. To have all those exotic materials and know how, and then go and make something that looks like a cheap kit car with no interesting shapes or drama.

The blue body and silver wheels help a lot, but the headlights, wiper and overbite still look crap to me too.

The interior looks pretty low on design too, with the wing mirror screens looking again “kit car” like. the 3 seats look about as practical as my Elise (not very.)

i do however quite like the noise, though the epic rev limit must be difficult to get used to.

I appreciate the engineering, but have no real want for one. I like the size, and proportions, but think it’s both a bit plain and a bit messy at the same time.

Why are the front lights so big? The shape reminds me a bit of the mk3 mr2 and the big visible surround looks a bit kitcar. Would look better if the top (which contains no optics) didn’t extend up quite so far. I know he wanted to make the fan a feature, but it looks very stuck on. The whole thing looks a bit weird from the back, a bit tall and skinny.

I’m sure it sounds great in real life, but on camera it just reminded me of a rotary, just very smooth, loud and lots of rpm, not a lot of depth or tone variation.

Barely any mention of the fan until right near the end of the video.

Yep agree with all the above. No want for one and absolutely certain I'd not have one over a LaF (which seems to be valued similarly (or lower)).

and the cheesy “Super Stuka” wings either side of the fan look awful to me.