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*The British electric hypercar uses banned Formula 1 technology to generate downforce at a standstill, making it potentially the fastest accelerating production car ever built.*

McMurtry Automotive is preparing to deliver the Spéirling Pure, a single seat electric hypercar that reaches 60 mph in 1.4 seconds. That figure puts it ahead of every hypercar currently in production, beating the Rimac Nevera by nearly half a second and making the claims of rivals like the Aspark Owl look cautious by comparison.

The secret is a pair of fans mounted underneath the car. They generate up to 2,000 kg of downforce before the vehicle moves an inch, sucking the Spéirling to the road surface through low pressure underneath the chassis. It's the same principle that made the Brabham BT46B so dominant in Formula 1 that it was banned after a single race win in 1978. McMurtry has taken that outlawed technology and engineered it for road use.

The result is a car that weighs around 1,000 kg and produces roughly 1,000 horsepower from electric motors. The power to weight ratio is exceptional, but the downforce is what makes the acceleration figure possible. Where conventional hypercars must wait for speed to generate aerodynamic grip, the Spéirling has maximum downforce from the moment the fans spin up. Traction is mechanical from zero speed.

McMurtry proved the concept works at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in June 2022, setting a hill climb record of 39.08 seconds. The time demolished the previous record and the car looked planted through corners where other vehicles would struggle for grip. Spectators described the fan noise as part jet engine, part vacuum cleaner, an industrial howl that announced the car's presence long before it appeared.

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The production version is called the Spéirling Pure and deliveries are scheduled for late 2024 into 2025. McMurtry Automotive was founded by Sir David McMurtry, co-founder of Renishaw, a British engineering company known for precision measurement equipment. The automotive division has applied that same engineering rigour to solving a problem that has challenged hypercar manufacturers for decades: how to get power down at low speeds without relying on aerodynamic surfaces that only work above certain velocities.

Gordon Murray used a similar fan assisted approach with the T.50s Niki Lauda, though his implementation focused on enhancing aerodynamic efficiency rather than pure downforce generation. The McMurtry system is more aggressive, creating grip levels that would be impossible through conventional means. The fans effectively add the equivalent of two tonnes pressing down on the car, turning physics into an advantage rather than a constraint.

Pricing is estimated between £820,000 and £1 million, positioning the Spéirling Pure against established names like Pininfarina and Rimac. Production numbers will be limited, though McMurtry has not specified exactly how many units will be built. Each car is single seat only, emphasising the racing pedigree and making it clear this is not a grand tourer dressed up with performance figures.

The 1.4 second sprint to 60 mph would make the Spéirling Pure the fastest accelerating production car ever made, assuming the figure translates from testing to customer deliveries. That's a meaningful qualifier. Hypercar manufacturers have a mixed record when it comes to delivering on headline claims once real world conditions and production tolerances enter the equation. McMurtry's Goodwood run suggests the technology works, but a hill climb demonstration with a prototype is different from a production car meeting type approval regulations.

Fan cars have always represented a theoretical performance ceiling that regulations prevented teams from reaching. McMurtry is betting that road car customers will pay seven figures to experience what Formula 1 banned nearly 50 years ago. The physics work. The engineering is proven. Whether the market exists for single seat hypercars that sound like industrial equipment remains the open question.

Sources: Top Speed (topspeed.com), Road and Track (roadandtrack.com), McMurtry Automotive official specifications

McMurtry Spéirling fan car will hit 60 mph in 1.4 seconds and it's nearly ready for customers