- McMurtry Automotive didn't set out to break lap records in Denmark, but it did.
- A promotional tour for the new Speirling hypercar has seen a number of lap records being shattered.
- Impressively, the car is only using half its power and downforce settings as well...
As you will have seen with the recent article we did about UK journalist Chris Harris driving it, McMurtry is deep in the process of drumming up hype around the launch of its rather remarkable Speirling electric hypercar.
Part of the promotional efforts was a trip to Denmark, where demonstration events at two Danish tracks set lap records in the hands of non-professional drivers; a journalist and an owner.
The Speirling wasn't even wound up to its true potential, as the tiny, electric single-seater's incredible set of performance figures - 1000 horsepower (746kW) and a truly staggering 2000kg of downforce - were only set to half.
The 1000kg track-only hypercar uses a twin fan system similar to that of the legendary Brabham BT46B Formula 1 car that creates a vacuum under the car that literally sucks it to the road. The Brabham was designed by equally legendary designer Gordon Murray, who would later create the McLaren F1, and was actually deemed to be completely legal in F1, despite the fact that moveable aerodynamic elements were banned at the time.
This was due to the fact that Murray claimed the system was primarily for cooling and could show that more than 55 percent of the air pulled by the fan was drawn through a radiator, however the car was dropped by the team after one race as team owner Bernie Ecclestone had just become the chief executive of the Formula One Constructor's Association (FOCA) and didn't want to enrage all the other teams and hinder his further political aspirations within F1.
At Jyllandsringen, a 2.3km FIA Grade 4 circuit, a private customer in a Speirling recorded a time of 1 minute 02.16 seconds during an open track session. This time was more than two seconds faster than the previous record held by a Formula 4 car, despite the Speirling being restricted to half-power (373kW) and half-downforce (1000kg) settings.
The driver also had to navigate traffic during the record-setting lap on the 16-corner layout, which features tight sections where the car pulled up to 3G in cornering.
Earlier in the tour at the 2.07km Padborg Park circuit, Swedish automotive journalist Marcus Berggren set an outright record of 54.30 seconds. This performance surpassed the previous record held by a Porsche 911 GT3 R by over three seconds.
Berggren’s time also improved upon an unofficial record of 56 seconds previously set at the track by a 1997 Lola Formula 1 car. During the session, the car reached speeds of 241km/h and used its 4G braking capability entering the circuit's hairpin.
"Considering I have no racing background, the fact that I could set a new lap record at Padborg Park - beating the time of an actual F1 car - says everything about the McMurtry Speirling," said Berggren.
"I’d like to think I played a small part in it too, but really, it shows just how extraordinary this car is.”
Thomas Yates, Managing Director of McMurtry Automotive, said that the results demonstrate that the car's performance is accessible to drivers without professional racing experience.
“We didn’t set out to break any records this time, but these things can happen when you’ve got up to 2000kg of Downforce-on-Demand and 1000bhp to play with. What you don’t need is to be a professional racing driver to set some serious lap times and have a lot of fun in the process.”
The Speirling is currently available for order, with the first customer deliveries scheduled for later this year. Following the Danish tour, the car is scheduled to make its Swedish debut at The Aurora concours from June 26 to 28.
