Remember those commercials that touted “an F1 car produced so much downforce at speed it could theoretically drive upside down in a tunnel”? Well, someone forgot to tell McMurtry because not only did their Speirling actually accomplish that, but it did so from a standstill.
You may have heard of McMurtry recently, as the UK-based electric hypercar-maker has been obliterating track records and redefining the laws of physics with its Speirling fan car that now holds the outright records at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb and the Top Gear test track, bettering a Formula 1 car by over three seconds for the latter.
The fan car concept isn’t a particularly new one. Formula 1 has banned it and Gordon Murray has implemented it into his T.50 hypercar. However, the Speirling takes it to a whole new level with its proprietary Downforce-on-Demand fan system that delivers over 2,000 kg of downforce from a standstill. For a car that weighs in under 2,000 kg, it would theoretically be possible for it to stick to the surface even upside down.
That’s precisely what Thomas Yates, co-founder and Managing Director of McMurtry Automotive, did. They constructed a purpose-built rotating rig that the Speirling would drive onto and then rotate the car upside down once the Downforce-on-Demand system sucked it to the surface and exceeded the force of gravity.
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As you can see in the video, the Speirling remained glued to the surface even at a standstill. Most hypercars require motion and a certain velocity to generate downforce, but the fan system here can accomplish that without the need for speed, blowing records and minds alike in the process.
As if seeing a car not falling onto its roof upside down wasn’t sufficient, Yates then inched the car forward a little, literally driving upside down untethered.
“With a longer inverted track or a suitable tunnel, we may be able to drive even further,” Yates added.
The Speirling is a single-seat, electric hypercar that operates in a league of its own. The brainchild of billionaire and prolific inventor Sir David McMurtry, the hypercar can dispatch the century sprint in 1.5 seconds and the quarter mile in just eight. Cornering though is its party piece, capable of over 3Gs. Only 100 units will be made for customers with deliveries scheduled for 2026.
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