McMurtry to launch road-legal version of Speirling fan car
A road-going version of the Spéirling will cost "seven figures"
Goodwood record-holder to spawn seven-figure road car “you can drive through London”
British start-up McMurtry Automotive will launch a road-legal version of its Spéirling electric single-seater fan car, Autocar can reveal.
The car, which features an unusual ‘powered downforce’ electric fan and ground-hugging underbody skirt, smashed Goodwood’s Festival of Speed hill climb record yesterday with a time of 39.08 seconds – 0.8secs quickers than achieved by the Volkswagen ID R in 2019.
And speaking exclusively to Autocar, the firm’s managing director Thomas Yates confirmed a road-going model will be produced, with similar power to its 1.5sec 0-60mph EV.
“We want to provide something that you can drive through the centre of London, and then take onto a track,” he said
“It will never be the most comfortable over speed bumps, but that’s not really the point. The point is you have this unbelievable, loud, exciting, electric really compact car that you know will be the fastest [car] at any track day you attend.
“It is also future proof, with no emissions and emits only the stuff that was on the floor before you got there.”
He added: “It is still early days in some regards, but we have a fully working proptype that is utterly amazing, but we are still writing the scope of what tweaks we need to make from this [the track] version to the road legal car, but we want to keep as much of it as we can.”
Just a handful of them will be made, and they will cost prospective buyers “seven figures”.
The fans, which take inspiration from the infamous 1978 Brabham BT46 F1 car, will be included on the road car, but it will only be able to be used as part of a Track mode. When activated it delivers 2000kg of downforce from a standstill – more than a Formula 1 car produces at 150mph.
It will get the same powertrain as the current track car, said Yates, which has a claimed power-to-weight ratio of 1000bhp per tonne with a 60kWh battery wrapped around the cockpit providing power to a host of electric motors.
Other differences from Goodwood’s track-going version will be around making the car legal to drive on the road, such as reducing the amount of aero, adding headlights, and windscreen wipers.
Yates also confirmed that thoughts are moving to the next McMurtry car, which will have a similar speed-oriented design, although it will be smaller than the already tiny single-seat Spéirling.
He said: “So the future is smaller. For this car [the Spéirling] the objective was to deliver something that was in no way wasteful, had no redundant space, and nothing was wasted, just a phenomenal, compact, lightweight driving experience.
“For us in the future that is the direction we want to continue to go in.
Yates added: “Everyone always asks if we will be building a two-seater, but there are so many two-seaters to choose from, but for now we are making amazing cars without that redundant space.”
A reveal date has not yet been announced, but interests can now be registered.