If you've been paying attention to the wild world of hypercars, a new name has popped up in the last few years and sent tongues wagging: McMurtry Automotive. Based in the UK, the McMurtry team has blown minds and preconceptions with its Spéirling prototype. The electric hypercar delivers four-figure horsepower, but far more fascinating is the potential for over 4,400 pounds of downforce at zero miles per hour.
While the prototype has been busy blasting track records all over the globe, the team has been prepping the production version. Meet the McMurtry Spéirling Pure.
This car closely resembles the prototype, but McMurtry says the Pure features 95 percent new components. The battery pack is larger, rising from a 60.0-kilowatt-hour unit to a more usable 100.0-kilowatt-hour pack. McMurtry has reworked the driver's motors, adjusted the cooling system, tweaked the exterior design, and now says the carbon-fiber monocoque meets global motorsport standards while also allowing for more elbow and legroom for the driver.
All that is well and good, but with a technical masterpiece like this, we know you want to dig into the specs.
The Spéirling Pure uses a pair of electric motors but drives only the rear wheels. Power is rated at 986 horsepower, and it's enough to help the Spéirling Pure rip off a 0-60 mph run that requires just 1.55 seconds of your time.
With the 100.0-kWh pack, McMurtry claims the Spéirling Pure can handle a race distance of 25 to 31 miles at full LMP2 pace before needing to charge. Charge times get a bit murky, as McMurtry quotes a range of 20 to 60 minutes, depending on ambient temperature and charger capacity. But assuming a best-case scenario, you can be back on track in relatively short order.
The Magnificent McMurtry Fan System
You've likely seen the videos. McMurtry has enough trust in its Downforce-on-Demand fan system that it lets people experience the car upside down at zero miles per hour. This is possible thanks to the pair of high-speed fans mounted under the car, which work with a skirt system to generate over 4,400 pounds of downforce.
The dual-fan system is for redundancy, so that if one fan fails, the other will maintain a massive amount of downforce. And if a driver did experience a spin, the system would bring the car to a stop far more quickly than your plebeian hypercars devoid of such fan systems.
With the fans on full tilt, the Spéirling Pure can generate 3g during cornering and braking. That's a level of track toy few on this planet have experienced. And few will experience the Spéirling Pure, to be sure.
McMurtry plans to build just 100 examples. Each one starts at $1.3 million, and owners can add on optional factory support for any racing they plan to do with their Spéirling Pure. McMurtry says the Spéirling Pure will be allowed to compete in GT1 Sports Club and Global Time Attack events here in the US. European events include the Time Attack Masters series.
You'll be able to get a peek at the car if you happen to attend the upcoming Goodwood Festival of Speed. Otherwise, the car will arrive on US soil during Monterey Car Week.
Related News
