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Gordon Murray’s newest moves in the supercar space may be only a few years old, but that has not stopped his brands from leaving a clear impression on the industry. At last year’s Monterey Car Week, the celebrations featured the wildly desirable GMSV S1 LM, a five-car tribute to Murray’s most famous creation: the McLaren F1 GTR. After a year of requests from customers, GMSV has returned to Monterey in 2026 with the more restrained S1.

As its name suggests, if the S1 LM pays homage to the McLaren F1 GTR, the S1 is intended as a tribute to McLaren’s much-loved road car. Woking would probably rather that description went no further. The architecture beneath this new road-going model is taken directly from the S1 LM, although Murray and his team have carried out a considerable amount of work to turn it into a machine better suited to street use.

The bodywork is entirely bespoke, with only the roof panel shared with the LM. A few styling cues have been drawn from the original McLaren F1 Monaco show car from 1995, including the lamps in the front bumper and the wheels. The more obvious aerodynamic elements have been removed and replaced with new active features, giving the car a cleaner look than the track-focused version. The team has also worked extensively on the suspension to maximise mechanical grip, and the setup has been softened slightly compared with the LM variant. There is also a 10-mm increase in ride height to make the car a little easier to live with on a proper road trip.

Beneath the rear clamshell sits a bespoke 4.2-litre naturally aspirated V-12 engine developed by Cosworth, sharing its lineage with the unit used in the S1 LM. The engine produces 680 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque, but the standout number is its 12,100 rpm redline. That is partly down to competition-grade internals such as silicon carbide-coated lightweight pistons, titanium valves, titanium connecting rods, and a dry-sump oiling system.

GMSV does not believe in half measures, so the engine is paired exclusively with a six-speed manual gearbox—there is no dual-clutch-with-a-wiggly-stick imitation here. Sixth gear will be standard in a touring specification, which suggests that a shorter gear set may also be offered. A straighter gearbox cable routing is also expected to improve shift feel compared with other GMSV models.

“This is a really good example of the reason behind why we started Special Vehicles, because the GMA products, we have quite a sort of a ... not rigid, but we have quite a strong formula that doesn't allow us to do anything slightly wacky or different that maybe we want to do, or a customer has inspired us to do, or customers commission us to do,” Gordon Murray said at the S1’s reveal event. “So, Special Vehicles gives us a bit of a sort of a licence to do whatever we wanted, and this is a really good example.”

GMSV will build only 64 examples of the S1, and every one of them has already been accounted for. Pricing is therefore largely irrelevant, but GMSV is not disclosing it in any case. Even so, considering what the cars that inspired this machine command today, it is safe to assume the figure was astronomical. It is also probably worth every penny.