McMurtry marks ten years of blowing minds
How do you go from bright idea to British success story? McMurtry Automotive explains
We’ve told McMurtry’s origin story before. It’s a goodie. Many of its elements bear out the romantically held notion that when it comes to doing something special in the automotive space, you really can’t beat the magic that tends to occur when practical, perceptive men are gathered together in a shed. Or better yet, an industrial unit in England. Ideally, with a billionaire ‘engineering pioneer’ as both founder and figurehead.
But other projects have enjoyed the presence of whip-smart people and deep-pocketed investors from day one, and gone pretty much nowhere. That McMurtry Automotive has arrived at its tenth birthday not just as a going concern, but as a firm that boasts nearly 100 employees toiling away in a brand-new factory, it says pretty much everything you need to know about the progress it has made since the Spéirling was first unveiled to the world in 2021.
Having said all that, one of the nice things about the short film it has made to celebrate its first decade is the nod it gives to earlier setbacks. When he founded the car company that bears his name, the late Sir David McMurtry did not initially envision something that would incorporate an electric fan capable of generating 2,000kg of downforce; before the Spéirling there was the D01, an AWD prototype with 400hp and a 40kWh battery described as a ‘superbike on four wheels’.
Ten years on, one wonders if there might now be a commercial case for McMurtry’s original midget gem - but back in 2018, the concept appeared to have nowhere to go. Hence the ‘ah, just suck it to the ground’ moment, when the team opted to repurpose decades-old technology to work on something that might ‘capture hearts and minds, and ultimately earn its place in the hypercar market’. It took three years to perfect the system, but when the Spéirling prototype smashed the Festival of Speed Hillclimb record in 2022 (unbeaten to this day), it felt like McMurtry had already gone a long way to accomplishing exactly that mission.
Of course, there was still much work to do - condensing the intervening years into ‘the team developed the platform further’ rather undersells the effort required to transition the car from raw-edged mule to the fully-functioning Spéirling Pure production model that was unveiled back in the summer - but if McMurtry has retained an English knack for understatement, it hasn’t prevented it from developing a world-beating car, nor completing the factory it is now being built in, nor convincing its first customers to part with a million quid before taxes.
“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,” noted McMurtry’s co-founder and Managing Director, Thomas Yates. “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." We can hardly wait.
But imagine one turning up at your local track day. I cant get my head around selling these to mere enthusiasts. Surely its like putting me in an F35 and telling me "crack on you'll be grand."
But imagine one turning up at your local track day. I cant get my head around selling these to mere enthusiasts. Surely its like putting me in an F35 and telling me "crack on you'll be grand."
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