“Why not start with the road car?” we ask McMurtry managing director Thomas Yates, while we stand next to the long-awaited, and recently revealed, track-only production model of the motorworld-shaking Spéirling.
This is the sibling to the car that, just over a year ago, almost silently catapulted itself up the famous Goodwood hill, to demonstrate what electric cars were really capable of when unleashed into the world of motorsport.
But it wasn’t the single-seater’s electric powertrain that shocked the onlooking petrolheads: it was the fans that sucked the car to the asphalt. It’s a technology reminiscent of the banned Brabham BT46, but the McMurtry uses a pair of fans that can produce two tonnes Of ground-effect downforce from standstill – that’s more than a Formula 1 car at 150mph.
The McMurtry’s performance was the talk of both the motorsport and the general automotive worlds, but it begged the question of why the technology hadn’t been revived sooner. Another question soon followed: “When can I buy one?”
When Max Chilton pushed it to a record-breaking 39.08sec time, the British firm announced that a production Spéirling was to become a reality and the excitement immediately started to build.
But read the launch paperwork of the 1000bhp, £1 million (ish) Spéirling Pure and you would see something missing: it was for use on track only.
“Much of that decision was taken on gut feel,” reveals Yates. “We didn’t want to be one of those car makers that takes years to bring their car to market – which would have happened if we waited to homologate it first.”
The biggest issues would have been around the fan. “Technically, there are no restrictions,” says Yates. “It could be used on the road, but it would be great to not flag it as something regulators want to regulate.” This would add years to a production timeline.