McMurtry Spearing's Fun Car Will Shake Your Senses for $1 Million
The McMurtry Spéirling, built by a small British startup, is an electric circuit car that outperforms most pedigreed supercars. Now you can own one too.
McMurtry is building 100 customer cars, dubbed Spéirling Pure, with prices starting at 820,000 British pounds ($1.04 million at current exchange rates). According to the company's press release, pre-production is scheduled to begin in 2024, with delivery in 2025. No mention was made of U.S. sales.
The company has previously discussed plans for a road-going version of the Spéirling, but the Spéirling Pure still appears to be primarily focused on circuit driving. It incorporates most of the features of the original Spairing Engineering Demonstrator, which was used by racing driver Max Chilton to set a record time of 39.08 seconds at the 2022 Goodwood Hillclimb.
These features include a fan-driven ground-effect system that McMurtry claims is a first for a production car. The fan system works in conjunction with the sealing skirt to generate low pressure under the car and suck it into the track, which the company claims allows for 3g of grip "at an accessible speed" during cornering.
Peak output is 1,000 hp, sent to the rear wheels in vehicles weighing less than 2,200 pounds. The same combination of high power and low weight enabled the original Spéirling prototype to achieve 0-60 mph in 1.4 seconds and the quarter mile in 7.97 seconds.McMurtry did not list the latest figures for the Spéirling Pure, but the new gearing allows a top speed 190 mph was possible, he stated.
The Spéirling Pure's battery capacity is 60 kwh, the same as the first prototype, but a new thermal management system and changes to the cell and pack casings reduce weight by 3% and 15.5%, respectively. Other components such as wiring, wheels, braking system, pedal box, and power steering unit were also targeted for weight reduction.
McMurtry plans to begin testing the Spearing Pure validation prototype in the UK and Europe later this year, in parallel with a further record-breaking campaign.