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Automotive

Mercedes AMG One gets its track-record paint sucked clean off

By Joe Salas
June 20, 2024
Mercedes AMG One gets its track-record paint sucked clean off
On the plus side, the track won't need to use the sweeper truck at the end of the day to clean the track
On the plus side, the track won't need to use the sweeper truck at the end of the day to clean the track
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The McMurtry team celebrates with Max Chilton's new lap record at Hockenheim in the Speirling Pure fan car
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The McMurtry team celebrates with Max Chilton's new lap record at Hockenheim in the Speirling Pure fan car
McMurtry Automotive - What a great looking machine, unlike the typical hypercars we see these days
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McMurtry Automotive - What a great looking machine, unlike the typical hypercars we see these days
McMurtry Automotive's Speirling Pure looks like an Imperial Cruiser from the rear
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McMurtry Automotive's Speirling Pure looks like an Imperial Cruiser from the rear
The Speirling Pure has notes of Corvette Stingray in it
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The Speirling Pure has notes of Corvette Stingray in it
On the plus side, the track won't need to use the sweeper truck at the end of the day to clean the track
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On the plus side, the track won't need to use the sweeper truck at the end of the day to clean the track
McMurtry Automotive's Speirling Pure fan car
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McMurtry Automotive's Speirling Pure fan car
View gallery - 6 images

On a beautiful warm summer day in southern Germany, little-known McMurtry Automotive took its Speirling PURE car to the Hockenheim Racetrack with former Formula1 racing driver – not to mention current Goodwood Festival of Speed record holder – Max Chilton, in tow.

By the end of the next day, it held the new Hockenheim Ring track record – taking it rather violently – from the track-focused Mercedes AMG One record-holding hypercar by 14.1 seconds. Yes, it took the record by 14.1 seconds. It did not ask for consent. That's nearly one second per corner on the 17-turn track.

For those who are track enthusiasts, it's no small feat taking 14.1 seconds off a lap on a track that's only 2.84 miles (4.57 km) long when you're already at the pointy end of the sword. It's mind-boggling.

McMurtry Automotive's Speirling Pure looks like an Imperial Cruiser from the rear
McMurtry Automotive's Speirling Pure looks like an Imperial Cruiser from the rear

The Speirling "fan car", as it's called – due to the twin fans underneath creating a vacuum to create downforce on demand – is a twin-motor electric vehicle bursting at the seams with 1,000 hp that launches its 2,205-lb frame from 0-60 mph in a tire-roaching 1.4 seconds. It can do the 1/4 mile in just under eight seconds, hitting the car's top speed of 233 mph for the last three seconds of the run.

1,000 hp = 746 kW
2,205 lb = 1,000 point one kg
0-60 mph = 96.6 km/h in 1.4 seconds
1/4 mile = 0.4 km in 7.97 seconds
233 mph = 375 km/h top speed
insane = insane, in any language

These are numbers typically associated with ballistics, not automobiles.

When it set the record on June 8th, 2024, the car was at 75% power and 75% downforce setting. It hadn't even been unleashed to its full potential. McMurtry technicians intend to turn the volume up to 11 in future tests later this year. The twin fans it uses create 4,400 lb (2,000 kg) of artificial downforce from zero miles per hour, sucking the carbon fiber monocoque to the tarmac like a shop vac to your floor mats.

The McMurtry team celebrates with Max Chilton's new lap record at Hockenheim in the Speirling Pure fan car
The McMurtry team celebrates with Max Chilton's new lap record at Hockenheim in the Speirling Pure fan car

In 2022, the Mercedes lapped Hockenheim at a 1:38.5, making it the champ of closed-wheeled cars. The McMurtry Speirling lapped the same course in 1.24.43 while having missed at least one apex.

Sure, the "cheater button" was turned on, but only at 75%. I'm utterly nonplussed trying to imagine what 100% is going to look like.

Check out the video where you can see the Speirling Pure swallow hypercars like the Porsche GT-3 and Pagani Huayra R as if they're standing still.

TRACK RECORD - Fastest EVER closed wheel lap at Hockenheim - McMurtry Spéirling PURE fan car

Source: McMurtry Automotive

View gallery - 6 images

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AutomotiveHypercarMcMurtry AutomotiveRecordRacetrackMercedes-AMG
8 comments
Joe Salas
Joe Salas
A well-established motorcycle action photographer with high-octane gasoline in his veins, Joe also takes a keen interest in a broad range of technologies, gadgets, outdoor living and adventure topics.

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8 comments
vince
Works the same way that slot cars work with incredibly strong niobyium magnets creating huge downforce such that the slot cars can go 2,000 scale mph. You could actually increase the downforce on this fan induced vacuum by also pushing incoming air upwards to force the car down using vacuum and air exhausted directly up (it seems from the pics the air is exhausted to the rear of the vehicle; pushing it up would increase the downforce even more).
Wavmakr
Jim Hall with his Chapparal 2J did this in 1970
Nobody
I don't consider this a record against conventional cars. It is faster but does not compete on the same level. You could probably add a jet engine with an afterburner but it wouldn't be a record against conventional cars.
veryken
Almost missed reading this article because of the first three words in the title. I don't friggin care about Mercedes OMG whatever.
Shutterjunkie
No offense to professionals but isn't artificially creating the downforce (fan cars) kinda crooked.
Ant
It's breaking no records. It's setting its own record for other "fan cars" to compete against. Saying its breaking records is like a daily car racing a funny car, totally different.
toddzrx
Agree with most of the previous comments that this is a fan car that’s in its own class of vehicle. Saying that it took the record from Mercedes is a bit disingenuous.
NP75
Funny to hear everyone bitching about the fans. This is ancient technology, I wasn't even born when this was first used and I ain't no youngster. The record is "fastest closed wheel car", and that it is. That AMG is a track focused hyper-car not some race car that has to follow regulations or some grocery getter mass production car, they could have done fans too. If you want to make some class for lesser cars like the AMG than go ahead, but the AMG will still not have the "fastest closed wheel lap time".