RE: McMurtry smashes Castle Combe lap record
RE: McMurtry smashes Castle Combe lap record
Friday 9th August 2024

McMurtry smashes Castle Combe lap record

Combe is McMurtry's local track, and the Speirling had just gone 10 seconds faster than a GT3 car


Another day, another obliteration of a lap record by the McMurtry Speirling. Quite the little car, in case you hadn’t already heard. Following the Hockenheim run in June and its Goodwood hillclimb record, the Speirling has now lapped Castle Combe. In less than a minute. 

54.559 seconds, to be precise, which is phenomenal for a 1.85-mile track. The previous record, set by an F3 car in 2021, was 58.596; the fastest a GT3 car has been around Combe is 1:04.355 - that was a Lamborghini Huracan in 2022. Sure, it was a testing lap and there’s no official claim, but it’s a staggering achievement nonetheless. Especially when you consider that the Speirling was still only running at 80 per cent power with a 155mph speed limit. So there’s even more to come. 

As McMurtry’s local circuit, just half an hour from its Gloucestershire base, a lap time has apparently been the subject of many a discussion with locals of late. The Speirling has been testing there since 2021, and Validation Prototype 1 clocked 55.4 during a test back in April with Max Chilton behind the wheel. Racking up the record times is Mr Chilton. He said the time “demonstrates the potential in the car for our customers to achieve the same at their local or favourite circuits.” Feels like traffic might well be a problem on any track day the McMurtry does, given it’s substantially faster than an F3 car already, but let’s hope people try. The marshalls won’t know what to make of it.

Next on the McMurtry trail is Monterey car week, where it will hope to add to its hillclimb record with the Laguna Seca reverse corkscrew hillclimb, being held on the 10th and 11th. Again Chilton will be at the wheel, and it’d be a very brave person to bet against the 1,000hp spaceship. They might even sell one or two off the back of it - £895,000 plus taxes and delivery is a snip by Monterey standards.


Author
Discussion

Nomme de Plum

Original Poster:

7,050 posts

45 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
Hugely impressive technological achievement.


Dynion Araf Uchaf

5,172 posts

252 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
do you want to do a 54s lap around combe? I'll pass thanks.

LARK F1 GTR

4,574 posts

175 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
Great stuff! Whenever I see pictures of one I always think they've photoshopped really small, they seem to be about the size of a shoe!

Terminator X

20,579 posts

233 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
do you want to do a 54s lap around combe? I'll pass thanks.
Just as well it's stuck down, plenty of concrete barriers!

TX.

ChocolateFrog

34,954 posts

202 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
I hope they do sell a few, they deserve to.



cerb4.5lee

44,558 posts

209 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
Can I get one on salary sacrifice?! hehe

RumbleOfThunder

3,721 posts

232 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
No doubt ballistic but I don't think a lap around Combe is a good very to demonstrate that.

kambites

71,468 posts

250 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
Fabulously ridiculous little thing.

Nomme de Plum

Original Poster:

7,050 posts

45 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
RumbleOfThunder said:
No doubt ballistic but I don't think a lap around Combe is a good very to demonstrate that.
It's their local track so convenient for testing and the article actually highlights that this was not a record attempt.

Jon_S_Rally

4,451 posts

117 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
It's very impressive, but I struggle to get excited about this car for some reason.

Catnip64

207 posts

128 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
I wonder what it would do with the power turned up to 100%?

subirg

773 posts

305 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
How many laps can it do before a (lengthy) recharge?

CraigyMc

18,369 posts

265 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
do you want to do a 54s lap around combe? I'll pass thanks.
One of the instructors there has a scar the size of his forearm, on his forearm, for similar reasons. (F5000 crash iirc).

It's a nice little track but it's definitely not got the runoff needed for this sort of thing so I'd have to pass too.

Nomme de Plum

Original Poster:

7,050 posts

45 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
subirg said:
How many laps can it do before a (lengthy) recharge?
Enough to exhaust the driver. There's some interesting stuff on line if you are interested.

dukebox9reg

1,720 posts

177 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
They have been running this reduced power rubbish for ages now, whats the excuse of not turning it up?

garypotter

2,069 posts

179 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
dukebox9reg said:
They have been running this reduced power rubbish for ages now, whats the excuse of not turning it up?
I guess at 80% they are making headlines so they can turn it up to 90% and beat their own record

First Sea Lord

1,321 posts

208 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
Love this car. It's like a mini Batmobile

jdleeso

74 posts

313 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
That must need some major concentration and focus to deliver that level of performance. I'd be interested to know what the avg track driver could do and how easy it is to drive this machine. Cleary with instantaneous downforce the feeling must be very abnormal if you haven't had much experience.

Anyone had the fortune to drive and able to comment?

CraigyMc

18,369 posts

265 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
garypotter said:
dukebox9reg said:
They have been running this reduced power rubbish for ages now, whats the excuse of not turning it up?
I guess at 80% they are making headlines so they can turn it up to 90% and beat their own record
I can't speak for why it's not using full beans on the drivetrain, but the fans are turned down for noise abatement. With the fans running at 100% the car is too noisy for most tracks.

thelostboy

4,700 posts

254 months

Thursday 8th August 2024
quotequote all
I love the engineering, but I just think the car looks ridiculous. Would love to see the tech applied to something which doesn't look like a novelty Batman-themed sneaker.