This week, McMurtry Automotive reaches double digits after a decade that saw a tiny team of talented engineers in rural Gloucestershire, England, expand to become the manufacturer of one of the highest-performing track cars ever made: the Spéirling PURE.
To celebrate this milestone, McMurtry has released a new film to showcase many of the highlights captured on film over the past ten years, as well as tell the story from point of origin.
Today, based in a brand-new production facility in the Cotswolds, England, McMurtry is ready to embark on a second decade as it scales up to produce the Spéirling PURE for customers around the globe.
Now also with an applied technology arm – McMurtry Technology – the company is working hand-in-hand with blue-chip automotive and motorsport OEMs to supply its proprietary battery and Downforce on DemandTM technologies.
McMurtry first captured global attention in 2022 when a Spéirling prototype set a new Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb record – beating many established manufacturers before it. In 2025, another Spéirling prototype shattered the Top Gear Test Track record, once held by the 2004 Renault F1 car. That same year, the car broke new ground to become the first car to ever drive upside down.
Thomas Yates, McMurtry’s co-founder and Managing Director, comments: “Just ten years ago, there was only a handful of us, with a blank sheet of paper and the ambition to build a car company. Since then, we’ve patented revolutionary new technologies, brought together a world-class team of nearly 100 people, and raised the bar for what a performance vehicle can do with the Spéirling. It’s been an incredible decade, but the next ten years will be even more exciting…”
Origin story
It was Sir David McMurtry – the late engineering pioneer – who first came to Thomas Yates with a proposition to build a car company in 2015.
Sir David’s own story began in the 1970s at Rolls-Royce, where he was the youngest-ever Deputy Chief Engineer on Concorde’s Olympus engines. The tiny fuel pipes inside the engines needed to be measured to an extraordinary degree of accuracy, and no tool existed that could do the job. So he invented one: the touch-trigger probe, which precisely measures the spatial coordinates of components, to hundredths of a millimetre.
Sir David (left in image above) patented and commercialised his invention, and with his colleague, John Deer, founded Renishaw plc, now one of Britain’s leading engineering companies. Today, the touch-trigger probe is used by manufacturers worldwide, and almost every vehicle, aircraft, train or rocket produced has had parts measured by one.
Fast-forward to 2015, and Sir David began to convince Thomas to leave his position at Mercedes AMG HPP in Formula 1, together with his best friend and now McMurtry Technical Director, Kevin Ukoko-Rongione.
In 2016, Sir David, Thomas and Kevin, in a team totalling six engineers, set out to create the ultimate small, lightweight driver’s car. The result was ‘D01’: a superbike on four wheels, with a tiny wheelbase, a weight of 660kg, 400hp, all-wheel drive, a 40kWh battery and a bespoke carbon-fibre chassis plus bodywork. It drove like nothing else on the road, and Sir David was delighted.
But commercially, the project didn’t add up, and the team had to change direction quickly. The challenge was to create a car that remained small and lightweight, yet was even more capable: enough to outperform an F1 car, to truly capture hearts and minds, and ultimately earn its place in the hypercar market. Sitting in his office with Thomas one day, Sir David offered a simple suggestion: “Ah, just suck it to the ground!”
The idea had a basis in history. In 1970, the Chaparral 2J Can-Am racer used a second engine to spin two large fans at its rear, sucking the car to the track. In 1978, Brabham tried again in Formula 1. The BT46B won the Swedish Grand Prix on its debut, but was withdrawn immediately afterwards and never raced again.
Between 2018 and 2021, McMurtry took the concept of fan-based downforce and re-engineered it for the 21st century. The result was the Spéirling prototype – an electric fan car capable of generating up to 2,000kg of downforce from a standstill, with acceleration to match, and which went on to take the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb record in 2022.
Following that success, the team developed the platform further, and the Spéirling PURE prototype was born, designed with customers in mind. At Dunsfold, with The Stig at the wheel, it set a new Top Gear Test Track lap record. Shortly afterwards, it became the first car ever to drive upside down with Thomas at the wheel.
Today, after thousands of kilometres of testing, McMurtry is producing the Spéirling PURE for customers around the world.
Ten-year McMurtry timeline:
2016
- McMurtry Automotive is founded
- Development of first McMurtry prototype vehicle behins
2018
- First McMurtry prototype vehicle – D01 – is completed
- Fan downforce research and development begins
2021
- Spéirling prototype is unveiled to the world
2022
- Spéirling prototype sets the unbeaten Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb record
2023 – 2024
- Expanded prototype development and customer test drive programme around the world, setting records at Hockenheim, Castle Combe and Laguna Seca.
2025
- McMurtry Technology arm is launched
- Spéirling PURE prototype sets the unbeaten Top Gear lap record
- Spéirling PURE prototype becomes the first car to ever drive upside down
2026
- First McMurtry Owners Club event
- New McMurtry factory opens in the Cotswolds, England
- Spéirling PURE production car is unveiled
- Spéirling PURE enters production
No more than 100 examples of the Spéirling PURE will be produced. First customer deliveries begin later in 2026. For more information, please visit: mcmurtry.com/speirling-pure
SPÉIRLING PURE SPECS:
| Acceleration | 0-60mph in 1.55 seconds (with one foot roll out) |
| Cornering | Braking Forces | 3g | 3g |
| Top Speed | 190mph | 305kmh |
| Downforce | Up to 2000kg (4400lbs) from 0mph |
| Power | 1000bhp |
| Length | Width | Height | 3815mm (150.2”) | 1795mm (70.7”) | 1056mm (41.6”) |
| Wheelbase | 2200mm (86.6”) |
| Run Distance | 40-50km at LMP2 race car pace |
| Charge Time 20%-95% | 20 mins – 60 mins depending on ambient temperature and charger capacity |
| Driver Aids | Traction control and anti-lock braking system |
| Driver Comfort | Air conditioning (optional), custom moulded seat, adjustable pedals and steering wheel |
| Tyres | Off-the-shelf Michelin slicks (available worldwide):Front tyres: 30/68-18 Michelin Pilot Sport GT S8M Rear tyres: 31/71-18 Michelin Pilot Sport GT S8M |
| Brakes | 390mm x 34mm Vented carbon ceramic discs with Brembo six-piston calipers |
| Personalisation Options | Extensive exterior and interior options |
| Chassis and Bodywork | Carbon composite, single seat, closed cockpit |
| Space for Drivers | Up to 201cm (6ft 7”) |
| Battery | 100kWh Lithium-Ion, Molicel P50B NCA 21700 cells |
| Drive Configuration | Twin-motor, rear-wheel drive with E-differential |
| Weight | ~1,350kg (2980lbs), subject to options |
| Trackside Operation | By driver + technician/competent friend, or full factory support available |
| Competition Eligibility | GT1 Sports Club, Global Time Attack (USA), European Time Attack Masters (Nurburgring GP + others) |
| Price | £995k/~$1.3m/~€1.15m plus local taxes, shipping and options |
ENDS
About McMurtry:
McMurtry Automotive is a UK-based manufacturer, co-founded in 2016 by the late engineering pioneer, Sir David McMurtry, and ex-Formula 1 engineer, Thomas Yates.
With a clear vision to design and build vehicles that deliver the highest levels of exhilaration and performance, the McMurtry team continues to leverage its unique engineering creativity to work outside of established industry norms to create a track vehicle unlike anything else in the automotive world.
The Spéirling PURE is a single-seater, electric hyper track car that delivers truly accessible Formula 1-level performance. Centring around McMurtry’s fan-based Downforce-on-DemandTM system, it generates 2000kg of downforce, available at 0mph. A 100kWh Lithium-Ion battery produces 1000bhp, launching the car from 0-60mph in 1.55 seconds, and on to 190mph.
Small, lightweight and supremely agile, the Spéirling PURE empowers drivers of all levels to experience forces that were once only accessible to elite-level racing drivers, pulling 3g in the corners and 3g under braking. Prototype Spéirling models have proven their speed, shattering outright records at the Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb and the Top Gear Test Track.
Designed with ease of ownership in mind, the Spéirling PURE is plug-and-play, and can be enjoyed with the bare minimum of trackside support with just a driver and competent friend.
Media contacts:
Morgan Price – Communications Manager
morgan.price@mcmurtry.com
+44 (0)7861 638 788
McMurtry’s social media:
Visit the McMurtry Media Centre for more high-resolution images.