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Chilton mcmurtry12/21/2023 ![]() ![]() We have a DRS function for the straights so we can drop the power consumption massively when we don’t need the downforce.’ To deliver the level we want and keep the car in this compact form, a fan system is not just the most efficient way, it’s probably the only way. ‘If you wanted just a few kilograms of downforce then you could do that with a lip or a wing, but our downforce targets are aggressive. It’s harder to have a shape or add spoilers large enough to generate the aerodynamic downforce appropriate to its performance, says Yates. The Spéirling’s fan-powered downforce is an interesting consequence of it being such a small car. When the Spéirling is really going for it, its acceleration is surreal and the noise is like the high-pitched sound of a commercial jet’s engines modulating on the final approach. Nobody gets out of the car unmoved by driving it, says Yates with a big smile, adding that with straight-cut gears it’s a more engaging and thrilling experience than you might expect from hearing it pass. For such a small car it has massive wheels and tyres: 9.5 x 19in at the front and 10.5 x 19in at the rear, shod with Avon slicks. It’s built around a carbonfibre, single-seat monocoque that can accommodate drivers of up to 6ft 7in, the bodywork is also carbonfibre and the suspension is multilink with active ride height control. So the Spéirling is only as big as it needs to be, has motors on just the rear axle and the battery pack is U-shaped and runs forward, surrounding the cockpit. In a lot of ways the move to electrification might be the eureka moment for people like us who care about driver’s cars if it encourages manufacturers to make more focused vehicles.’ With electrification, the weight difference between a car that’s driver focused and a car that’s carrying redundant space is going to grow drastically. It used to be that carrying around lots of extra energy was relatively easy because you’d just have a slightly bigger fuel tank and not really notice. ‘The thing that is relatively profound, I think, is that with the EV age the penalty that you pay for redundant space and redundant seats has gone up vastly. We very strongly believe that to make a car enjoyable to drive the key attributes are, firstly, it’s got to be small, and secondly, it’s got to be light. There’s not a great deal on the car that we haven’t had a hand in developing and designing. ‘As a company we are incredibly vertically integrated. ‘What we’ve done is design a vehicle from first principles,’ says Yates. Cells optimised for a slow, steady draw of power for mostly cruising mileage aren’t able to cope with sustained high demand. ‘And it’s actually very difficult at the moment to create an electric road car that is genuinely track capable.’ That’s a function of having a heavy car with a battery pack and powertrain designed primarily for range. ‘That’s the only sound justification for putting strong performance in a road car,’ says Yates. The ultimate aim is to make a road car with track capability. ![]() And the thing that we find amazing is his ability to pull us up on design decisions that we’ve made. The core concepts were very much his vision and throughout the process he has been regularly involved. ![]() The first day we opened the doors in 2016 there were just five of us, six if you include Sir David. ‘It felt like the perfect opportunity to assemble the Dream Team, people I’d admired but not had a chance to work with. He was originally at Rolls-Royce, worked on Concorde’s engines, then left to set up a company called Renishaw and invented a device called the touch trigger probe for analysing manufactured components to micron accuracy.’ ‘Sir David is now in his 80s but he’s one of the most prolific inventors in the UK. ‘Sir David McMurtry is an amazing chap,’ says Thomas Yates, the young MD chosen by McMurtry to head up this new British company, based half an hour from Castle Combe in modest premises in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire. ‘Spéirling’ is Irish and means thunderstorm, but who or what is McMurtry? Make it very compact and imagine how much more exploitable it would be too. Imagine how much more biddable and engaging and dynamic that would be. McMurtry gets it it is creating an electric car with the same power-to-weight ratio of 1bhp per kg, but the numbers that take it there are halved: close to 1000bhp and a weight of less than 1000kg. ![]() Yet it seems like every new electric supercar that’s announced is built on the established EV model and promises 2000bhp and 0-60mph in two seconds but weighs getting on for 2000kg. This is the stuff that really matters, most of the time. Draw up a list of attributes of a driver’s car, however, and standing-start acceleration will be ranked a long way down, along with maximum speed, because it’s not as relevant to the thrill of driving as response, dynamic agility and feel and feedback. ![]()
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