New Top Gear Record Holder Becomes First Car To Drive Upside Down

The McMurtry Spéirling seemingly came out of nowhere to start demolishing records around the world. It took the record at the Goodwood Hillclimb (topping the Volkswagen ID.R), and then went on to set records at Laguna Seca. The secret to the little car’s success, besides being surprisingly light and making more than 1,000 horsepower, is its fan system for producing enormous downforce at every speed. This week, McMurtry revealed that this secret weapon was used to set two more impressive records.

Turning The World Upside Down

The first record we’ll discuss is being the first car to be driven upside down. The fan system on the Spéirling produces a shocking 4,409 pounds of downforce. Since the final production cars, called Spéirling PUREs, will weigh 2,646 pounds with their 100-kWh battery packs, and this prototype only has a 60-kWh pack, that should be more than enough force to keep the car pinned to a surface, even upside down. So the company decided to give it a try. The company built a ramp and a big rotisserie platform to drive the car onto. With the fans on, the rotisserie turned over, the car stuck, and the driver moved it forward slightly, officially becoming the first car to drive upside down. You can see the whole thing in the video below.

Presumably, the Spéirling could probably drive farther and more quickly upside down given the space, but this proves the concept. The idea of driving a car upside down isn’t exactly new, though. Many race cars, past and present, can generate enough downforce to theoretically let them drive upside down. The problem, of course, is that those cars have to be moving at high speeds to generate the necessary downforce from their wings. Additionally, car engines aren’t typically designed to run upside down. Still, as of a year or two ago, a YouTube channel was working on pulling off an upside-down driving stunt with the help of an experienced F1 aerodynamicist. Nothing has come of the project yet, but if they do pull it off, it will be remarkable, even if they won’t technically be the first to drive upside down.

Top Time At The Top Gear Test Track

The other big record McMurtry took was setting the fastest time at the Top Gear test track. Although the show ended years ago, Top Gear continues to bring vehicles out to the fabled course to demonstrate and test cars. The prototype Spéirling managed to lap the track in just 55.9 seconds. That put it 13.7 seconds ahead of the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the previous fastest production car at the track, and 3.1 seconds faster than a Renault R24 F1 car from 2004. You can see the lap and the practice runs in the video below.

The Spéirling’s Specs

It’s no surprise the Spéirling is setting so many records. The final production Spéirling PURE will make 1,013 horsepower from a single motor. As previously mentioned, it will only weigh 2,646 pounds, and it will produce more than 4,000 pounds of downforce. McMurtry says that it will be able to hit 60 mph in just 1.55 seconds, finish the quarter-mile in 8 seconds, and hit a top speed of 185 mph. With so much downforce, it will apparently be able to generate up to 3g of lateral force in corners. With a 100-kWh battery pack, McMurtry says it will be able to deliver around 20 minutes of driving on track, or a few laps at record pace. The company will build 100 examples, which will be delivered sometime next year. Each one starts at £895,000, or $1,170,853 at current exchange rates.