Records are meant to be broken— but nobody expected the fun-sized McMurtry Spéirling to outgun every single car EVER to charge up Goodwood!
Despite looking something more like a 5/8 scale Batmobile toy than a legitimate racing car, the tiny McMurtry Spéirling proved it showed up to play, shattering the overall Hillclimb record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed by more than 2 (two) seconds!
That’s right. With former IndyCar and Formula 1 driver Max Chilton behind the wheel, the wee Batmobile charged up the Goodwood hill in just 39.08 seconds, beating the previous official record set by the purpose-built Volkswagen ID.R driven by Romain Dumas and the previous overall record set by Nick Heidfeld in a 1998 McLaren Mercedes MP4/13 Formula 1 car during the 1999 Festival of Speed. And, given than both Dumas and Heidfeld have— let’s say “more impressive” resumes than Chilton, one is left to wonder what the little EV might be capable of in the hands of a World Drivers’ Champion like Fernando Alonso or Max Verstappen.
That’s especially true when you consider the car’s specs. Built on a bespoke carbon fiber monocoque chassis, the car features active ride height suspension (last seen in Formula 1 under the utterly dominant Williams-Renault FW14B, which was also at Goodwood), dual motors sending power to the rear wheels, and a loud electric suction fan effectively vacuuming the car to the ground like a giant Oreck.
McMurtry didn’t release any horsepower and weight figures, but did reveal that the car has an absolutely bananas power/eight ratio of just 2.2 lbs. per horsepower. For context, each of the legendary 427 Shelby Cobra’s horses had to carry around more than 5 lbs. of Cobra— so, yeah. It should be fast.
Exactly how fast, though, was still a shock. “The record run is astonishing to watch,” writes Jalopnik’s Ryan Erik King, painting a wonderful picture with his words. “There’s next to no deceleration as the Spéirling rounds the Hillclimb’s haybale-lined corners. The crowd gasps in amazement as the fan car blasts past each viewing area. With each camera cut, the Spéirling gets faster and faster until it blows across the finish line carrying a considerable amount of speed.”
Don’t take our words for it, though— check out the McMurtry’s record-breaking Goodwood run in the video, below, then let us know what you think of the little rocket ship in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
39.08! McMurtry Fan Car Breaks Goodwood Hill RECORD!
SOURCE | IMAGES: GOODWOOD FOS, CARSCOOPS.
