Get your $1.36 million out because McMurtry Automotive has announced production plans for the Speirling.
The Speirling is essentially a concept car come to life. It comes straight from the imagination of billionaire Sir David McCurtry, built specifically to break speed records with two 23,000 rpm fans that generate incredible downforce and an electric motor that makes 1,000 horsepower. All of that allows the single-seater 2,204 hypercar to hit 60 miles per hour in 1.5 seconds. The Speirling has single-handedly killed the competition around the 0-60 performance spec – it’s not like any other car is going to come close when the Speirling exists for this reason alone.
At the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Speirling broke the hillclimb record with a time of 39.08 seconds, breaking a record held for 23 years. It still holds the record to this day. The Speirling then broke Top Gear’s test track record, completing a lap in 55.9 seconds. The previous record was held by a 2004 Renault R24 F1 Car at 59.0 seconds. The Speirling exists to do this one thing – and do it very, very well. Oh, and it also can drive upside down thanks to its incredible downforce. You can add that to the growing list of records for the Speirling as the prototypes continued to get more and more impressive.
The Speirling PURE wasn’t born out of desperation; it was born out of a true love of driving
While the Speirling sounds like a wild concept car – a one-off invention meant to be ogled from afar – it’s actually going into production. You’ll need $1.36 million, but the fact that it’s even available for sale at all is still quite the exciting news for the car industry.
To celebrate McMurtry’s 10th anniversary, the company will be producing the Speirling PURE at the new Wotton-under-Edge, England facility, which just opened. The automaker plans to make about 100 Speirling PURE, allowing a limited number of millionaires to experience “the ultimate track weapon in its purest form.”
In fact, McMurtry Automotive boasts that there is nothing quite like the Speirling, offering “game-changing technology” with a style and acceleration all its own. While it’s tooting its own horn and most of us won’t get to experience this life-shifting experience, I do have to agree.
Most EVs exist out of convenience. Out of regulation. Out of desperation. We have Ford making cheap EVs to stay relevant, hoping to compete with China’s dirt-cheap models as they arrive in more countries. We have Lucid announcing a $50,000 EV as Americans get sick of rising vehicle prices. And we have Toyota revealing an EV Highlander for 2027 since the previous gas models couldn’t keep up with changing emissions standards. It’s not like most places are making EVs to be cool or fun or exciting. Even Porsche’s EVs are just pretty nifty on the track as an afterthought – it’s not their main focus.
A Tesla Model Y reaching 60 miles per hour in 3.3 seconds? Strange. Uncalled for. A Speirling hitting 60 miles per hour in 1.5 seconds? Heck yeah. The difference? The Model Y is not a performance vehicle. It’s an SUV for driving kids to soccer practice and picking up Trader Joe’s on the way home. It doesn’t need to hit 3.3 seconds. That statistic is meaningless to almost everyone sitting in traffic in a Model Y. But the Speirling is hungry for the track. It wants to break records. It has one seat. You’re not going to drop anyone off. You don’t even have room for a single box of cereal.
Finally, an EV that is impractical, fun, stupid, and crazy. An EV that is for drivers. We may not be able to afford one, but it means there is still a passion for driving joy out there. Maybe more fun EVs will come; using EVs’ speed powers for good. And maybe with fewer zeroes.
