1.40 s to 60 for the 2021 prototype, timed by carwow in 2022. 1.55 s claimed for the production PURE, with rollout. Fans that pull it down with 2,000 kg before it moves.
Photo: Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0, background replaced. Validation prototype VP1, 2024.
The 2021 Spéirling prototype (timed in 2022) ran 0-60 mph in 1.40 seconds recorded and 400 meters in 7.97 seconds recorded for carwow at Silverstone, timed by GPS without rollout on drag slicks (McMurtry, Motor Authority). It was geared for 150 mph claimed and sat at that limit for about the last three seconds.
The production Spéirling PURE, revealed on July 2, 2026, is a different car: McMurtry says it has 95% new parts claimed, a 100 kWh battery claimed and a weight of about 1,350 kg claimed (McMurtry). It claims 1.55 s claimed to 60 with one foot of rollout and a 190 mph claimed top speed, but has published no timed run (McMurtry's spec sheet). The prototype's 39.08 s verified climb at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed is still the fastest ever timed there (Goodwood).
Most Spéirling numbers belong to one of three cars. The silver 2021 prototype set the Goodwood record and the carwow times, both in 2022. Blue and grey PURE validation prototypes, VP1 among them, set the lap records from 2024 and drove upside down in 2025. The production PURE, shown in pale Monterey Green in 2026, hasn't been timed in public yet.
The name is Irish for thunderstorm (Top Gear). The company was founded in 2016 by the late Sir David McMurtry, co-founder of Renishaw, and Thomas Yates, and turned ten this month with nearly 100 staff (McMurtry).
Every figure carries its label. claimed means McMurtry said it. recorded is timed on an actual run: an instrumented test, a certified or verified record run, or a maker's own pass on a drag strip's timing system. verified means an official body or official event timing. reported is press we couldn't trace to a primary source. converted is a maker's 0-100 km/h claim converted to 0-60 mph. derived is our math. estimate is modeled for our race because no published figure exists. Here's how we label numbers.
Each bar fills at the real speed of that car's 0-60 time, from the race's lineup. The race uses the production PURE's 1.55 s claim, which subtracts a foot of rollout; the second Spéirling bar is the 2021 prototype's timed run without rollout. The U9 figure is converted from the standard U9's 2.36 s 0-100 km/h claim.
The prototype's 1.40 s was a standing start timed by GPS, which Motor Authority says was measured "without the use of rollout," on bespoke drag slicks and a line dried by a jet dryer truck on Silverstone's Hangar Straight. On carwow's first try at Millbrook it managed 2.27 s, but Jalopnik says the car was making "only" 600 hp and the track was "a little damp" (Jalopnik).
The production PURE's 1.55 s goes the other way: McMurtry's spec sheet says it is timed "with one foot roll out" (McMurtry), the drag-strip convention that starts the clock after the car has already moved a foot (our methodology guide explains rollout). The PURE is at least 350 kg heavier than the sub-1,000 kg prototype derived and runs off-the-shelf Michelin slicks. McMurtry hasn't explained the gap, and no one has timed a production car yet.
Wings need speed; a fan doesn't. McMurtry's "Downforce-on-Demand" system spins fans at up to 23,000 rpm to pull air out from under a floor sealed by skirts, so the low pressure under the car holds it down from 0 mph (McMurtry). McMurtry claims up to 2,000 kg, and Car and Driver reported that the fans "produce 120 dB of noise" reported (Car and Driver). The air leaves through the open rear bodywork, shown in the carousel below.
The idea is old. Jim Hall's Chaparral 2J ran fans in 1970 Can-Am, and Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B won the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix before it was withdrawn. McMurtry says its 2022 Goodwood run was the first time a fan car competed since 1978 (McMurtry). Asked how to keep a car on the ground, the late Sir David McMurtry is quoted by his company as saying: "Ah, just suck it to the ground!" (McMurtry)
On April 11, 2025, Thomas Yates drove VP1 up a ramp onto a platform at McMurtry's base in Gloucestershire, which then rotated 180 degrees. The fans held the car to the inverted floor, watched by staff and what McMurtry calls "independent adjudicators" (McMurtry). "Strapping in and driving inverted was a completely surreal experience," Yates said in the same release. MrBeast rode in it upside down on what McMurtry calls "a custom built rig" for a January 2026 video (McMurtry).
The stunt came back in October 2026, when Tesla showed its new Roadster hanging upside down on fan suction at a SpaceX site in Texas (Not a Tesla App). McMurtry answered with its own inverted clip and the message "Welcome to the club," NDTV reported, and coverage and social posts pointed out that the Spéirling had done it 18 months earlier (NDTV).
Every image here is a real photo of a Spéirling prototype from Wikimedia Commons. Two are cut out into our studio background; credits sit on each slide. There's no freely licensed photo of the 2026 production car yet.
Tap a marker. The photo shows validation prototype VP1; figures are McMurtry's claims for the production PURE unless noted.
Both the 2022 record car and the PURE prototypes carry a big rear wing, so downforce keeps growing with speed on top of what the fans make at a standstill.
Air pulled from under the sealed floor leaves through the open tail. McMurtry says the fans spin at up to 23,000 rpm and make up to 2,000 kg of downforce from 0 mph.
Two motors drive the rear wheels with 1,000 bhp at peak. The rears are Michelin Pilot Sport GT S8M slicks, 31/71-18, a size sold worldwide.
A single seat under a bubble canopy that lifts up. McMurtry calls it a "single seat, closed cockpit" car.
The Molicel name marks the battery supplier: the PURE uses a 100 kWh pack of Molicel P50B cells, up from 60 kWh in the prototype. Below the sill, skirts seal the floor so the fans can pull a vacuum.
The VP1 badge marks the car that set the Top Gear lap, drove upside down and took the Laguna Seca EV record. McMurtry says the production car is 95% new parts.
390 x 34 mm vented carbon-ceramic discs with Brembo six-piston calipers, for 3 g of braking claimed. Front slicks are 30/68-18.
Three details matter. The run covered 400 meters, which Motor1 noted is 1,312 feet against a quarter mile's 1,320 (Motor1). It used the Goodwood car's gearing, so it topped out at 150 mph and McMurtry says it held that limit for about three seconds. And McMurtry itself said the run couldn't count as a production record, because the car wasn't one.
Our race keeps that recorded 7.97 s but drops the limiter: the production PURE has no 150 mph cap and McMurtry claims 190 mph, so the race runs the car to 190 mph, an estimate. Without the limiter the real car would only be quicker. The race pairs it with the production car's 0-60 claim. Read it as an illustrative comparison. In carwow's August 2023 drag race against a Rimac Nevera and a Red Bull RB8 F1 car, the Spéirling won one of three standing-start races and the Nevera won two (Rimac).
On June 26, 2022, in the Sunday timed shootout, Max Chilton drove the prototype up the 1.16-mile hill in 39.08 s. That beat Nick Heidfeld's official record of 41.6 s from 1999 in a McLaren MP4/13 Formula 1 car, and the unofficial 39.9 s Volkswagen's electric ID.R ran in 2019 (McMurtry). Chilton had already run 39.14 s reported in practice that day, which didn't count because Goodwood records must be set in official runs (Velocity News).
McMurtry hasn't run in the shootout since. A PURE prototype went up the hill in the 2024 supercar class without a published time, and the production car was on display in 2026, when Romain Dumas won in 41.97 s (Goodwood).
The PURE prototypes have collected lap records across Europe and California, several with the power or downforce turned down. The Stig's 55.9 s at the Top Gear Test Track on April 11, 2025 is the one timed by an outsider on its own track; Top Gear editor Jack Rix called it "a record that might never be broken… unless any F1 teams are feeling brave?" (McMurtry). The rest are McMurtry's announcements. There's no published Nürburgring lap.
The same name across three generations. Figures are McMurtry's claims unless noted.
The silver Goodwood car, and the one carwow timed.
0-60 recorded by carwow without rollout. Goodwood verified.
VP1 and its grey sister: the lap records and the upside-down drive.
Announced in June 2023 at £820,000 before taxes, with deliveries then planned for 2025 (Motor1).
95% new parts, built by hand in the Cotswolds.
0-60 with one-foot rollout, not yet timed independently. 100 kWh battery, 190 mph, 100 cars at most.
Ten years from founding to the first production cars. Scroll sideways.
Sir David McMurtry and Thomas Yates found McMurtry Automotive in Gloucestershire.
A single-seat electric fan car is revealed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Max Chilton breaks Goodwood's hill record by 2.5 s verified.
1.40 s to 60 and 7.97 s over 400 m at Silverstone, on a 150 mph limiter.
100 cars at £820,000, deliveries then planned for 2025.
A Rimac Nevera wins two of three races in carwow's drag race.
Castle Combe, Hockenheim and two Laguna Seca records, at part power.
The Stig laps Top Gear's track in 55.9 s, and VP1 drives upside down.
A 2,700 m² plant opens in Wotton-under-Edge, with first deliveries promised for summer.
100 kWh, about 1,350 kg, 1.55 s claimed with rollout, £995,000.
The same release moves first handovers from summer to "later in 2026"; none reported by late October.
Public debut at The Quail, then Laguna Seca, in Monterey Green.
Tesla's Roadster demo revives the fan-car story McMurtry started.
McMurtry marks a decade with nearly 100 employees.
Reaction split four ways. These are opinions, quoted with links.
"I've never felt anything like that in my life."Mat Watson, carwow, quoted by McMurtry
Travis Pastrana, after a day at Dunsfold in 2026: "I'm going faster than I've gone in any vehicle I've ever driven in my entire life" (McMurtry).
"It's a record that might never be broken… unless any F1 teams are feeling brave?"Jack Rix, Top Gear, quoted by McMurtry
Goodwood's own results still list 39.08 s as the quickest shootout time four Festivals later.
"This one still has the gearing from the Goodwood runs, so it maxes out at 150 miles per hour (241 kilometers per hour)."Chris Bruce, Motor1, 2022
The 7.97 s was a prototype over 400 m; the production 0-60 uses rollout and hasn't been timed by anyone outside McMurtry.
"We thought the future would give us flying cars, but instead it gave us cars that drive upside down – it's probably cooler."MrBeast, quoted by McMurtry
When Tesla's Roadster hung upside down in October 2026, Bluesky filled with posts pointing back at the Spéirling.
The consensus: nobody seriously doubts the fan works. The car holds the Goodwood record, the Top Gear lap record and a string of circuit records, several at part power, and it has hung upside down on camera. The caveats are about which car did what: the headline acceleration figures came from the geared-down 2021 prototype over 400 m in 2022, the production car's 1.55 s uses rollout and hasn't been tested, and customer deliveries were still "later in 2026" at the end of October.
McMurtry Automotive · Apr 11, 2025 · 3:55
Goodwood Road & Racing · Jun 26, 2022 · 0:53
carwow · Dec 15, 2022 · 26:15
Top Gear · Apr 11, 2025 · 9:26
carwow · Aug 5, 2023 · 14:42
Top Gear · Sep 20, 2024 · 13:52
McMurtry Automotive · Apr 24, 2025 · 32:20
McMurtry Automotive · Jun 19, 2024 · 5:30
McMurtry Automotive · Sep 9, 2024 · 10:36
Shmeebites · Aug 23, 2026 · 3:38
DragTimes · Sep 15, 2026 · 11:30
McMurtry Automotive · Aug 13, 2024 · 4:06
The famous 7.97 s covered 400 meters, 8 feet short of a quarter mile, with the car on a 150 mph limiter.
The production PURE claims 1.55 s with a foot of rollout; the 2021 prototype ran 1.40 s without it.
About 1,350 kg for the production car against under 1,000 kg for the prototype, with the battery growing from 60 to 100 kWh.
The Laguna Seca EV lap was set at 50% power and 50% downforce, by a non-professional, Philip Kadoorie.
Spéirling is the Irish word for thunderstorm. Sir David McMurtry, who died in December 2024, was born in Dublin and worked on Concorde's engines at Rolls-Royce.
Four Festivals of Speed have passed since 2022, and no shootout winner has gone under 41.9 s.
From £820,000 in 2023 to £995,000 in 2026, before taxes, with no customer delivery yet announced derived.
Swedish journalist Marcus Berggren, with no racing experience, set Padborg Park's 54.30 s in June 2026.
The Top Gear lap record and the upside-down drive were both announced on April 11, 2025.
In our quarter-mile model the Spéirling finishes fourth of 21, on the prototype's 7.97 s and the production car's 0-60 claim. The car just quicker and the car just slower:
The 2021 prototype ran 0-60 mph in 1.40 seconds for carwow at Silverstone in December 2022, timed by GPS from a standing start without rollout, on drag slicks and a dried line. McMurtry claims 1.55 seconds for the 2026 production Spéirling PURE, measured with one foot of rollout. No independent test of the production car has been published.
The 2021 prototype covered 400 meters in 7.97 seconds in the same carwow session. That is 8 feet short of a true quarter mile, and the car was geared and limited to 150 mph, which it held for about the last three seconds. McMurtry has published no quarter-mile time for the production PURE.
Fans spinning at up to 23,000 rpm pull air from under a floor sealed by skirts, so the car is sucked down even when it is standing still. McMurtry claims up to 2,000 kg of downforce from 0 mph, more than the production car's roughly 1,350 kg. On April 11, 2025, a validation prototype drove onto a rotating rig that turned it fully upside down, and the fans held it there.
Its 39.08 second run at the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed is still the fastest timed climb of the hill. Prototypes also set a 55.9 second Top Gear Test Track lap in 2025, 3.1 seconds under a Renault R24 Formula 1 car, plus McMurtry-announced lap records at Castle Combe, Hockenheim, Laguna Seca, Padborg Park and Jyllandsringen, several at reduced power. It has no published Nürburgring lap.
McMurtry quotes £995,000, about $1.3 million, before local taxes, shipping and options, and says no more than 100 will be built. The price was £820,000 before taxes when the PURE was announced in 2023. McMurtry says customer deliveries begin later in 2026.
No. The Spéirling PURE is a single-seat track car on Michelin racing slicks, and McMurtry has not announced a road-legal version. It is built for track days and lists eligibility for time-attack competition.
Labels. Claimed: McMurtry or another maker said it. Converted: a maker's 0-100 km/h (62.1 mph) claim converted to 0-60 mph. Recorded: timed on an actual run: an instrumented test, a certified or verified record run, or a maker's own pass on a drag strip's timing system; here carwow's GPS-timed runs, Top Gear's lap of its own track and Dewesoft's runs for Rimac. Verified: an official body or official event timing, here Goodwood's shootout results. Reported: press we couldn't trace to a primary source. Derived: our math. Estimate: modeled for our race because no published figure exists. Both are explained in the methodology guide. Our race mixes cars: it uses the production PURE's 0-60 claim and the 2021 prototype's 400 m time (run in 2022 on a 150 mph limiter), but not the limiter itself, with an estimated 190 mph trap, so treat the Spéirling's place as illustrative. Sources disagree in places: Wikipedia lists the prototype's carwow 0-60 as 1.55 s (McMurtry's own release says 1.40 s; 1.55 s is the production claim), several outlets give the trap as 155 mph (McMurtry says the limit was 150 mph), McMurtry's April 2025 Top Gear page gives 185 mph and both £895,000 and £995,000, and Wikipedia still lists the production car at 900 kg.
Images. Every image on this page is a real photo of a Spéirling prototype from Wikimedia Commons; none is a McMurtry photo. The hero, front view and side view are cutouts of McMurtry Speirling Pure 5 and McMurtry Speirling Pure 8, and the rear view of McMurtry Speirling Pure 3, all by Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0, with the background replaced by our studio backdrop (a bicycle behind one mirror removed). The 2022 photo is McMurtry Speirling (73424) by Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped with a staff member blurred. Our edits of these are shared under the same license. The Goodwood action photo is Goodwood edited-15 by Michele Borioli, CC BY 2.0, cropped. We don't show a generated illustration because the ones we had didn't match the real car.
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