Fan cars, this term seems familiar to some hard core formula 1 fans who have followed the sport for a very long time and know the sport well including the whole history scenario. Yes I am talking about the old-generation F1 team, Brabham F1, quiet famous around the F1 fans for creating something of alien technology of the time. The Brabham BT-46-B, designed by one of the famous designers of all time, Mr Gordon Murray, the founder of Gordon Murray Automotive and his GMA T33. The Brabham BT-46-B entered F1 in the year 1978 and raced for the initial few races until the FIA changed the rules due to the pressure from other teams and banned them from racing again with the same tech.
What actually the big thing with the BT-46-B was that it had a fan behind the back which helped to create more down-force and keep the car planted to the track. This technology helped the team to achieve incredible speeds through corners which drastically increased the overall speed of the car and makes it a race winner. Unfortunately other teams on the game found this as an unfair advantage on technology and urged the FIA for a rule change banning movable aerodynamic structures. As a result this technology got banned in F1 by 1978.
Since then this technology was long gone. But now, in this century where things are coming back with unexpected remastering and use, the whole fan car idea is bought back to life. It is this British start-up found by British Irish man, Sir David McMurtry in 2016, who bought back the whole idea through this concept car; the McMurtry Speirling. The McMurtry Speirling is a 2 million pound 1000 HP electric bat-mobile, the fastest accelerating road car ever, ending the reign of the Croatian rapid thunderstorm. This name, the Irish thunderstorm became loud and started pulling crowd within the last two years, as they began appearing frequently in newspapers and automotive forums and news websites.
Gaining popularity after the 2022 Good Wood festival of speed, the Speirling, a single seat concept car was originally broken cover in the 2021 Good Wood Festival Of Speed, after almost three years of secret developments and study, as a part of the new segment "Future Of Motorsports Power" demonstration run. The man behind the wheels wasn't bad either, the five time Le Mans winner, Derek Bell. As the officials said, the company's motivation behind the car was "To see what could be achieved taking a step away from road cars and existing racing categories". As said, the Speirling was neither type approved for road use nor homologated for racing. It was a build to satisfy relevant Motorsports safety requirements.
During the 2021 Good Wood Festival Of Speed, when the car was broken its cover, the officials stated that they will try to break some records with the Speirling. They kept their word, the 26th of June 2022 saw a Speirling, new updated variant, the Good Wood Edition 2022, bag the trophy for the fastest car to do the Good Wood Hill Climb, doing the 1.87 KM Climb in just 39.08 seconds. It was their official test driver, Max Chilton who was behind the wheels during this occasion. After just three months of the Good Wood hill climb, it also stole the record for the fastest accelerating road car from the Croatian thunderstorm, Rimac Nevera.
With the help of an independent GPS the officials timed the acceleration pull and the quarter mile pull. The Speirling did:
0-60 MPH; 0- 96 KPH Pull in 1.40 seconds
0-100 MPH; 0- 160 KPH Pull in 2.63 seconds
0-145 MPH; 0-233 KPH Pull in 4.98 seconds
0-190 MPH; 0-305 KPH Pull in 9.0 seconds
The standing quarter mile pull in 7.97 seconds
And Pulled all the way up to 200 MPH, that is 320 KPH.
The official power figures says that this car churns out 1000 horsepower from the twin electric motors and the two fans on either sides of the generates 2000 kilos of down-force as mentioned earlier and with almost everything molded out from carbon fibre, the chassis, body, seats and every little thing, this has a kerb weight less than a 1000 kilos. This combination is just menacing for itself. The light weight of the car with a 1000 hp powerhouse is more than enough to create an absolute bat-mobile which with the help of the massive down-force of the fans just be the chart topper on the timing sheets.
These twin fans, as said earlier, placed on either sides of the Speirling provides 2000 kilos of down-force in the stand still and can give out a total of 2250 kilos at high speeds like 150 mph and more. The driver do feel safe driving the car with the monstrous acceleration and high speeds. Because there are safety harnesses like crash structures and a carbon fibre monocoque chassis with integral rollover protection. Also the Speirling has a cornering force less than 3G which makes taking a corner effortless. The technology along with all the above mentioned factors has helped to reduce the power to weight ratio to just 746 KW per 1000 kilos.
The twin motors inside the specially designed E Axle is powered by a 60 kwh battery which is packed tight inside a separate safety cell inside the monocoque, is also efficient enough to give out a range of 300 kilometers per charge as proclaimed by the officials, and this car, as the reports go can drive at GT3 pace, which is an average of 300 to 320 KPH continuously for 30-60 minutes. Also the officials state that with a 200 KW charger, this battery can be charged up to 80% in just 15 minutes, the only task is to find one on your track day.
The Speirling had the first edition in 2021, the car without a rear wing and in 2022 they introduced a much updated version which broke the Good Wood FOS record, the Good Wood Edition 22, with some aerodynamic updates and a rear wing, so that is the best way to differentiate a 21 edition to 22 edition.
One of the most influencive part on the performance of the Speirling is the total aerodynamic design of the car. The design of this car reminiscent that of an old formula one car from the 1960s. The proportions of the car, small in length, width and height, makes it more precise and subtle through the corners carrying more speed. The aerodynamic elements inserted throughout the design such as the front air intakes, clever brake cooling ducts up top on the wheel arches, on the wing mirrors, two fins, one up top on the roof which if spun in high speeds prevents the car from lifting off, the other one behind it, rear diffusers and a rear wing which improves the balance. Aerodynamics helps to reduce the air drag and helps the car to cut through the air smoothly which in turn keep the speed and helps improve lap times.
The Speirling looks absolutely like a bat-mobile from the outside. The aerodynamic elements and the design of this car gives an image of a low lying bird with the wings folded in. Its small, short and literally can go through anywhere, easy to park, easy to maneuver through the city. These are the qualities of a perfect daily driver that you can get. But there is one big hurdle to jump through, it costs you about a couple of millions to buy a Speirling and a road car has not been made yet. But honestly from the way this car looks on the side profile, the reminds me of something that is quiet rare, something that is similar looking from Canada, the Felino CB-7, but a bit short in length. Speirling has 19 inch bespoke shoes on both front and rear covering up the lightweight magnesium alloys with some wide profile bolted into an active air suspension
The interior of the fan car looks like it is taken from a formula one car. This is a single seated hyper-car build in Le Mans standards with a massive windshield which is tinted with iridium to help reduce the glare during high speed driving on a track-day. The whole interior looks absolutely technical again with that F1 steering wheel, seats with lumbar supports and those safety pads according to F1 and Le Mans standards. Being something that is so focused on on-track performance you should never expect those creature comforts inside, this is a proper electric track monster.
Now as a verdict I will say this is something that is entirely different from what we have seen all these days around the automotive industry. The company did what the meant by stepping outside the box and going off the beaten track to build something that is entirely focusing on giving common people the experience of F1 speeds without requesting some big balls to drive the car. Also another fact that makes the car different is how they utilized something that was banned from the world of Formula 1, the fan car idea. Its an Absolute Electric Bat-Mobile. A sing of what technology, idea and man power together can give out.
