McMurtry Spéirling Defies Gravity with First-Ever Upside-Down Drive : Automotive Addicts
Automotive
McMurtry simply flipped the script on what a automobile can do—actually—by changing into the primary to drive a hypercar the wrong way up from a standstill. The all-electric McMurtry Spéirling has made historical past as the primary automobile to realize inverted driving, powered by its groundbreaking fan-based Downforce-on-Demand™ system.
The stunt, carried out at McMurtry’s Gloucestershire headquarters, wasn’t only a daring social gathering trick—it was a proof of idea a long time within the making. Co-founder and Managing Director Thomas Yates obtained behind the wheel for the record-setting feat, which passed off on a specifically constructed, rotating rig in entrance of workers and impartial adjudicators. And sure, there’s video proof. (You want to see it.)
The Science of Sticking to the Ceiling
Whereas F1 followers have lengthy speculated that sure race automobiles might drive the wrong way up due to excessive ranges of aerodynamic downforce at pace, nobody has truly accomplished it—till now. The Spéirling’s proprietary fan system generates as much as 2,000kg of downforce from a standstill. That’s greater than sufficient to beat gravity and actually suck the automobile to a floor above it.
This unimaginable degree of grip means the automobile doesn’t want airflow over wings like conventional racecars. As an alternative, it creates a vacuum beneath the chassis, permitting it to speed up, brake, and nook like no different automobile on Earth—or on this case, above it.
For the demonstration, the Spéirling climbed a ramp onto a rotating platform, which then flipped the automobile the wrong way up. As soon as inverted, Yates confidently drove the hypercar ahead, utterly unsupported by something apart from the uncooked energy of the fan system.
One other Day, One other Document
The upside-down stunt isn’t even the one headline McMurtry made this week. The Spéirling additionally simply smashed the all-time file on the Prime Gear Check Observe—beating a V10-powered Formulation 1 automobile by a staggering 3.1 seconds. Add that to its earlier titles on the Goodwood Pageant of Velocity and Laguna Seca Corkscrew Hillclimb, and the Spéirling is rapidly changing into essentially the most dominant pressure in electrical hypercar efficiency.
“Strapping in and driving inverted was a totally surreal expertise,” mentioned Yates. “The 2000kg of downforce is actually astonishing and it’s nice to point out why our Spéirling continues to take data all over the world.”
From Document Breaker to Actuality
McMurtry is gearing up for manufacturing of the Spéirling PURE, with solely 100 models deliberate. Buyer deliveries are set for 2026, and the manufacturing mannequin will embody a beefier 100kWh battery pack that permits as much as 20 minutes of GT3-level monitor efficiency or a number of record-breaking sizzling laps. The battery tech makes use of P50B Molicel 21700 cells for optimum energy and density.
The automobile used for the gravity-defying demonstration was the Spéirling PURE Validation Prototype 1 (VP1), completed in a hanging falcon-inspired camouflage—a nod to McMurtry’s authentic 2021 fan automobile and its brand, the peregrine falcon (a becoming mascot, being the quickest creature on Earth).
Constructed to Race, Engineered for Security
Regardless of the wild visuals, security stays paramount. The Spéirling meets motorsport requirements akin to LMP1 endurance racecars. Its distinctive potential to generate downforce at any pace—even throughout spins or lack of management—means it might scrub pace nearly immediately, typically stopping off-track excursions solely.
As McMurtry continues the late Sir David McMurtry’s legacy of relentless innovation, the Spéirling is proving that the way forward for efficiency isn’t simply electrical—it’s mind-bendingly imaginative.
The query first whispered by followers again in 2021—“Can it drive the wrong way up?”—has lastly been answered. And never simply with hypothesis, however with a jaw-dropping stunt that can go down as probably the most audacious feats in automotive historical past.
When the Spéirling lastly reaches clients, it gained’t simply be the quickest EV on the monitor—it’ll be the primary automobile that proved gravity is simply one other impediment to overcome.
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