McMurtry Automotive reveals composites-intensive, fully electric Spéirling demonstrator vehicle

The McMurtry Spéirling, a composite-intensive electric vehicle, making a run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Bruce Wayne is not behind the wheel. Photo Credit: McMurty Automotive

Although this vehicle might seem as though it is the next Batmobile, it is actually a legitimate, fully electric track car that was designed, engineered and built by McMurtry Automotive (Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, U.K.). And the McMurtry Spéirling, while still a demonstrator vehicle, actually performs: its introduction was at the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed.

While the company is keeping details about the Spéirling close to its vest (e.g., CW was told by a spokesperson “We’re not revealing what’s under the skin just yet”), here’s what we know so far:

Speaking of the skin, as you might well imagine, this is a full carbon fiber monocoque with carbon fiber crash structures and bodywork.
The vehicle is compact, at 126 inches long, 59 inches wide, 41 inches high and with a 78.7-inch wheelbase.
Mass is under one tonne.
The battery capacity is 60 kilowatt-hours and the voltage is >800 volts.
A fan system at the back of the vehicle using a >80-horsepower fan system generates 500 kilograms of downforce… while the car is standing still.
The road range is, on the WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure) protocol, 350 miles.
The track driving range is from 30 to 60 minutes.
It has a top speed of >200 miles per hour.
The 0 to 300 kilometers per hour (186 miles per hour) time is <9 seconds.

The one-seat vehicle is also powered by an e-axle developed by McMurtry Automotive. And while the output of the motor has not been revealed, according to the company there is a power to weight ratio of 1 horsepower: 1 kilogram. So, if the car weighs approximately one tonne, that’s ~1,000 kilograms — that’s a lot of horsepower to move this vehicle.

One more thing: Sir David McMurtry, the man who founded the company and who is hands-on involved in the vehicle development, is the man who founded the world-renowned metrology company Renishaw (Wotton-under-Edge, U.K.). He holds more than 200 patents.