McMurtry Spéirling Pure: 1000bhp Goodwood record holder goes into production

If you have a spare £984,000 burning a hole in your pocket, you can now own McMurtry’s track-only electric rocket ship, complete with revolutionary ‘Downforce-on-Demand’ fan and a sub-1000kg kerb weight.

With its peculiar proportions and futuristic fans, the original prototype Speirling left us all stunned when it blitzed the record at last year’s Goodwood Hillclimb. Taking just 39.09 seconds to complete the course, McMurtry’s tiny electric missile went down as the fastest car in the history of the hill. To put that into perspective, some previous record holders include: a McLaren F1 car, the Jaguar XJR8/9 Le Mans car, and fellow electric monster VW's ID.R.

And now, as promised, the Cotswold-based startup is offering the opportunity for private individuals to experience the other-worldly performance. Limited to just 100 units, the Speirling Pure will retain (and in some cases even improve upon) the astounding performance of the Goodwood version. So that’s 0-60 in scarcely believable 1.5 seconds and a 190-mph flat out.

Amazingly though, those numbers only tell part of the story. Where the Speirling truly moves the game on, is in the bends. Taking inspiration from the old Brabham F1’s ground effect fan, McMurtry’s patented Downforce-on-Demand system uses a large fan to suck the air from under the car — creating two tonnes of downforce even when stationary. Since the record-breaking run, McMurtry’s engineers have also managed to squeeze another 15% efficiency from the system in order to create truly Scalextric-style handling.

Range, on the other hand, is not a major selling point. However, the ability to do 10 hot laps around Silverstone before requiring a recharge is relatively impressive given how light the Pure is for an EV.

Despite its diminutive dimensions, the McMurtry has also been designed to accommodate drivers up to 6ft 7” tall and 150kg. So, provided their wallet is heavy enough, almost anyone would be able to take it for a spin.

At this point, prospective buyers might be wondering where they could even use such a machine, but as Speirling’s exclusivity opens doors they needn’t worry. McMurtry’s creation is eligible to take part in the GT1 Sports Club: a hypercar driving programme with stops at some of the world’s most prestigious circuits.

McMurtry has even hinted that a fully-road legal version is in the works. Quite how they will manage to get it homologated for road use we will need to wait and see, but it would be quite a sight to witness a Speirling whizzing past on the way to work. Although, commanding a seven-figure price tag, it probably won’t steal many sales from the Vauxhall Corsa E as a daily runabout.