The McMurtry Spéirling has some previous when it comes to the Monterey Car Week, having claimed the Laguna Seca hillclimb record there a couple of years back. Although ‘claimed’ rather sells the achievement short: it went more than seven seconds faster than any other competitor. On a 30-second hillclimb. So if SoCal enthusiasts didn’t know about the Spéirling before 2024, they certainly did afterwards.
This year’s running of Monterey Car Week, the 23rd, will play host to another significant milestone in the incredible history of McMurtry. In among the priceless exotica new and old - plus the latest restomod obsession we’ve failed to predict - will be the production specification Spéirling Pure in public for the first time. A big achievement for any manufacturer, and guaranteed to cause a stir. Because even if you’ve been to every well-heeled car event in the world, you haven’t seen anything like a McMurtry.
Nobody outside of McMurtry has seen a Spéirling like this one in the wild, either. This is the customer spec car first revealed last month, now basking in the summer sunshine at Anglesey for all to gawp on (and probably claim another lap record). Normally a real-life update of an incoming production car isn’t all that newsworthy, but the McMurtry isn’t really a normal car. It’s different from what we’ve seen before, too, if still instantly recognisable, arguably that bit more stylish than the prototype vision we became used to seeing. The interior, fit for one two-metre tall person, appears rather more plush as well (with a second hinged door).
Plenty has changed underneath, too as the project has evolved: the wheelbase is now 2.2m instead of 2m, accommodating a new 100kWh battery that was previously 60kWh. More kilowatt hours means more range, too, or run distance in McMurtry speak: now up to 50km at ‘LMP2 race car pace’, or faster than anything else, really, that’s ever run at a track day. With cornering and braking force up to 3g, plus the thousand horsepower, you’ll probably be glad of a 20-60-minute charging break…
There have been some significant chassis changes for this completed McMurtry, too, with hydraulic steering replacing an EPAS setup for improved feedback, wider Michelins with a bit more sidewall, better suspension articulation and revisions for the Downforce-on-Demand system. What you’re looking at here is much more than just a lick of paint and a new front end; this is a McMurtry made even better, boasting 95 per cent new components compared to the prototypes, with all the learnings from those smashed records. So it’ll probably be even faster still…
Thomas Yates, McMurtry co-founder and MD, said: “The Quail really will be a significant moment in McMurtry’s history, and we cannot wait to witness the reaction of the public, our customers and the media in seeing the Spéirling Pure in production form, in person, for the first time… Feedback from our earliest deposit holders has shaped the car just as much as our own engineering ambition did. Their input helped turn a record-breaking prototype into something extraordinary and genuinely usable. Very soon, we’ll be delivering the first customer car, and Spéirling PUREs will be out in the wild on race tracks and hillclimbs across the globe.” Now that really will be a sight to behold. Those deposit holders will be asked for £995,000 plus taxes in total; a snip by modern hypercar standards. Especially for something even faster and - just as importantly - even more attention-grabbing, too. Wait and see what’s pictured most at Monterey for proof of that…
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