It can beat an F1 car on a track, provide downforce standing still, and leaves an automotive journalist speechless.
Henry Catchpole is a laid-back automotive journalist who doesn’t often appear overwhelmed or at a loss for words – but that’s what the Speirling will do to you.
This fan car is closer perhaps in spirit to the McLaren F1 supercar than any other car has been, the GMA T.50 notwithstanding, which like the McMurtry Speirling, also uses fan technology to create downforce.
The Speirling is a racing car, that as Henry says in the video, has an accelerative ability that is a byproduct of what the car is, like the McLaren F1’s top speed was a product of its engineering.
As we’ll see, this electric performance car uses cutting-edge engineering to provide cornering ability that’s just out of this world, and that is what Catchpole is there to experience, to show that the Speirling is more than just a one-trick pony. Here’s the video courtesy of Hagerty on YouTube.
The McMurtry Speirling Makes Racing An Art Form
McMurtry’s British-built racing car, like the McLaren F1 before it, pushes boundaries, expectations, and challenges preconceptions. Like the F1, it features up-to-the-minute engineering and uncompromising design, and as the McLaren did, becomes a winning Top Trumps card.
As Henry finds out, any preconceptions we might have about EVs lacking fun or not having a place in motorsport get challenged. He is on a special testing ring, completely flat, where the Speirling can race around a ring, and figure-of-8, to prove its handling ability.
It’s more of a focus on grip, where the twin fans, sucking air from beneath the car at up to 23,00 rpm, create a partial vacuum thanks to skirts underneath and offer up to 4400 lbs of downforce, without the need for speed. Henry does have a need for speed, though, and shows off its 1.3-second 0-60 mph time, as well as its 0-113-0 mph time of 6 seconds. It’s insane, the Speirling.
How Much Does The McMurtry Speirling Cost And Can You Buy One?
A highlight of the video is where Catchpole illustrates the 2.8 G capability of the machine on the loop, the 2200-lb, carbon-fiber monocoque Speirling hanging on in the perpetual corner for far longer than a human can handle. The fact that it is a rear-wheel-drive vehicle is incredible.
This is a tense, adrenaline-filled segment even through the lens of YouTube, and you can almost feel his surprise as he gets left lost for words, breathing heavily, overwhelmed. Not the Henry we get to see often.
Like the Chaparral 2J, it is novel for its downforce system, but it is also so much more than that, it is a pioneer for EV technology in the racing world and its 60-kWh battery can even offer up to 300 miles of range, while its straight-forwards approach and accessibility means anyone can drive it.
Anyone (with means) will soon be able to drive one, too, as the spokesperson in the video says that public examples for the road will come to market in the future. The track car has a value of around $2.5 million.
