Watch the McMurtry Speirling Fan Car Pass GT3 Racers Like They’re Miatas
To car engineering nerds, the McMurtry Speirling needs no introduction. The million-dollar, thousand-horsepower electric fan car that made the crowd at the Goodwood Festival of Speed sound like it's from Wii Sports hasn't been in the headlines lately, but it never went away. In fact, it recently visited Silverstone Circuit, where it shared the track with some GT cars—and absolutely wiped the floor with them.
McMurtry Automotive uploaded a video of the Speirling lapping Silverstone during what appears to be a test day for GT3 cars. (There's a winged Lamborghini Huracan, of which there is no GT4 version.) Driven by former Formula 1 driver Max Chilton, the Speirling was apparently set up to generate only 80 percent of its potential power and downforce. That's still enough to demolish practically any car on track as the onboard video shows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deuVULlnvNU
Chilton laid down a lap of 1:40.92, which needs some contextualization. That's not quite in the same league as an F1 car, with the 2023 British Grand Prix's pole time being 1:26.72, making the 107-percent qualifying time a 1:35.141. But it would qualify among the WEC's old LMP1 cars, slotting between the sixth and seventh-quickest times in qualifying for the 2018 Britcar 6-Hour.
The Speirling did this while dealing with traffic, too. That second car must have held it up by at least a second or two, while the others would've docked it several tenths apiece by forcing suboptimal lines. Chilton also could've pinched a couple of apexes a little tighter, though that's not to discount how good of a lap it still was. Suffice it to say, between the track conditions and the Speirling's restrained performance, we haven't yet seen what it can do. Maybe it could beat that 107-percent time after all—not that snooty F1 would allow it within a mile of a Grand Prix weekend.
Got a tip or question for the author? You can reach them here: james@thedrive.com
