RE: McMurty Automotive targets Goodwood hill record

[garypotter]

It looks like i am on my own, i dont like the look of it, it can do the hill in 20 sec but not for me as its still an EV, all that its British et al i hope they enjoy themselves but im oot.

[samoht]

article said:

The McMurty uses a fan to dramatically increase downforce; 2,000kg is claimed, and that’s from 0mph. Don’t ask us how that’s possible, because we don’t know.

Ever run a vacuum cleaner over a loose rug, and have the rug get stuck to the nozzle? Same thing - regardless of forward speed, the fan is running and removing air from under the car, causing a partial vacuum. The thin air under the car applies less upwards pressure on its floor than the normal air above it, the net difference in force is your downforce.

Alternatively, imagine a stationary hovercraft rising up before moving off, and just imagine the fan in reverse, sucking it onto the ground and thus applying downforce rather than lift.

[anonymous-user]

MG7 said:

It's clearly called McMurtry

It really is. Well done PH.

Instead it sounds like it's come from a family that will tarmac your drive and rob your garage.

[romac]

Looks interesting!

Best of luck for the record. I'd love to see them get it. And remember, Max may have come in for some stick in F1, but he is still in the top ten of consecutive finishes.

And PH, Please correct the name.

Edited by romac on Thursday 16th June 15:26

[samoht]

I'm excited about the Speirling because it's a serious attempt to create an electric supercar which is small, light and efficient, rather than big heavy and powerful. It feels like a much more promising avenue to creating something actually fun. As such the Goodwood hill attempt, while interesting, doesn't exactly represent what I find most interesting with it.

Mr_Sukebe said:

IIRC, the old F1 ground effect cars worked because they had a skirt to create a very rough “seal” to assist with maintaining a lower pressure area. That was fine until you rode over a large enough bump to lift the skirt clear of the road. As Goodwood is not exactly that wide, it’s going to need some serious skill to be smooth (aswell as balls of titanium). Good luck!

The McMurtry uses a relatively small suction area in the centre of the car (I'm imagining around 1m by 1m or smaller) over which to generate downforce, so the skirted length is quite a lot smaller than the old ground effect F1 cars. Apparently the loss of downforce in a bump situation is relatively progressive (according to the people behind it), so you lose time, but it's not an instant one-way trip to the barriers.

[edoverheels]

Saw it at FoS last year at their stand. Fantastic concept and tiny - about the most interesting thing there. Very interesting to see it running fast this year.

[samoht]

The guy behind the McMurtry had an extended conversation on the Car Chat podcast not long ago, I found it really interesting and it gives a lot more technical insight into how it works and what they're hoping to achieve
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/136-thomas-y...

[The Hypno-Toad]

jimmytheone said:

I think that looks sensational, record or not.

It looks FUN but i wonder what happens if/ when all that downforce drops off - bumps, kerbs, etc - its going to be a big off!

It’s a pleasing thing to see because unlike some of these other ‘start ups’ it’s different and the concept is pretty unique.

However when it goes up the hill, no offence to the company but I’m taking a long step back from the hay bales!!!

[bobo79]

kalniel said:

Did the Mclaren F1 never enter?

The GTR didn't have fan assisted ground effect as it would have been ilegal under GT racing regs of the time (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaren_F1_LM).

However, the despite what the article (and folklore) says, the Brabham BT48B did actually compete at an event other than the 1978 Swedish Grand Prix - the Gunnar Nilsson Memorial Trophy in June 1979. The event was run as a time trial over one lap (without the Melbourne loop) and Piquet came fourth out of five cars. This was also James Hunt's last competitive outing in an F1 car.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Nilsson_Memor...

Edited by bobo79 on Thursday 16th June 16:46

[NDNDNDND]

Good luck to them - I think it's a terrific thing.

It's certainly the only remotely interesting electric car out there.

[nismo48]

NDNDNDND said:

Good luck to them - I think it's a terrific thing.

It's certainly the only remotely interesting electric car out there.

[jakeb]

I would still like to see what the 919 EVO could have done up the hill (whether faster than this or the VW or not)

[Sandpit Steve]

Good luck to them - but Goodwood, please let the 919 and modern F1 cars go up the hill against the clock too.

[Simoncelli58]

Very interesting car and I hope they get the record .

The main thing I thought after seeing it was how good the future for the UK kit car/ small production companies could be . Obviously not as extreme but from a packaging aspect .

Its a dying industry (see Westfield this week) but with clever use of used production motors and batteries , a small 100 mile range , fairly light car could sell really well I would hope . Maybe even self building could return .

[Matt Bird]

Sorry for the spelling mistake, folks - amateur hour yesterday!

Should be McMurtry and not McMurty. Won't make that mistake again!

[big_rob_sydney]

Maybe it's just me, but this reminds me of an MX5 version of an EV. Small, light, and chuckable. I would have thought the dinosaurs here would approve, but alas, only knuckle dragging cars seem eligible.

I, for one, am curious to see how it goes, and hope it does very well. I would have thought you guys would also want to support a home grown product, instead of allowing foreign competitors to come and take your lunch money in every industry?

[Midgster]

samoht said:

article said:

The McMurty uses a fan to dramatically increase downforce; 2,000kg is claimed, and that’s from 0mph. Don’t ask us how that’s possible, because we don’t know.

Ever run a vacuum cleaner over a loose rug, and have the rug get stuck to the nozzle? Same thing - regardless of forward speed, the fan is running and removing air from under the car, causing a partial vacuum. The thin air under the car applies less upwards pressure on its floor than the normal air above it, the net difference in force is your downforce.

Alternatively, imagine a stationary hovercraft rising up before moving off, and just imagine the fan in reverse, sucking it onto the ground and thus applying downforce rather than lift.

I'm sure he didn't mean it literally that he doesn't know how ground effects works, more to the point 2000kg of downforce at 0mph...so basically the fan itself is sucking the car down to the road with 2000kg of force......that's some fan!!!

[samoht]

Midgster said:

I'm sure he didn't mean it literally that he doesn't know how ground effects works, more to the point 2000kg of downforce at 0mph...so basically the fan itself is sucking the car down to the road with 2000kg of force......that's some fan!!!

A complete vacuum over a one metre square suction area would yield a downforce of 10 tonnes, so 2 tonnes 'only' requires lowering the pressure by 20% from normal.

[ch37]

Alex Summers is advising Max on his hill runs, they aren't messing about!

Would love to see it smash the record, from what I've heard it would even be able to give it a pretty good shot if it's wet, which is insane.

[julian64]

what I want to see is someone prove that the car has more downforce than its weight.

Seeing a car drive upside straight for a short period would certainly prove it to doubters like me.

Till then I take comments liek this with a pinch of salt.