Tiny But Mighty: How The McMurtry Spéirling Humiliated The AMG One At Hockenheim
Move over, AMG One. The Hockenheim track has a new king, and it's none other than the compact yet fierce McMurtry Spéirling. What may look like an unlikely contender has actually obliterated lap records, shaving off a stunning 14.1 seconds from the previous best set by the AMG One. Completing a lap in just 1 minute and 24.4 seconds, this tiny EV has set the bar so high that it left even a DTM race car eating its dust.
We all know the Mercedes-AMG One is a beast, essentially an F1 car wrapped in a street-legal package. But it couldn’t keep up with the McMurtry Spéirling, a purpose-built machine designed exclusively for the track. This pint-sized powerhouse didn’t just beat the AMG One; it smashed the earlier 2020 record held by a Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters car by 3.9 seconds. No shortcuts here — just raw, unadulterated speed.
The Secret Weapon: Power and Precision
It's worth noting that while the AMG One brings F1 tech to the masses, the McMurtry Spéirling is a different breed altogether. It’s a single-seater with racing slicks, leaning heavily on track specialization. Remarkably, during that record-setting lap, the tiny electric vehicle only used 75% of its available power and downforce. This wasn’t even its final form; it was a validation prototype driven by ex-F1 driver Max Chilton on June 8.
Max Chilton, who also holds the record for the fastest hill climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed with the Spéirling, showcased the vehicle’s immense potential yet again. It's small, nimble, and fierce, measuring 135.8 inches long, 62.2 inches wide, and just 40.1 inches high. Don’t let its diminutive size fool you. Weighing less than 2,200 pounds and packing around 1,000 horsepower, this car is a missile on wheels. For context, it’s lighter than a Mazda MX-5 Miata but comes with five times the horsepower, all channeling into the rear wheels.
Speed Over Everything
The McMurtry Spéirling is designed for one thing and one thing only: blistering speed. Its 60-kWh battery might not offer long journeys, but who cares? Fully charging it takes less than 20 minutes, and that juice can get the car around Silverstone for 10 laps at full throttle. This amount of raw power and efficiency doesn’t come cheap. With a price tag of £895,000 or about $1.13 million, it’s clear this is no everyday driver. Only 100 lucky owners will get to experience this beast when deliveries start in 2025.
What makes this story even wilder is that the AMG One, costing millions and boasting the pedigree of Formula One racing, was so decisively outperformed. To put this in perspective, the AMG One’s 1:38.5 timestamp at Hockenheim was considered untouchable until the Spéirling came into the picture. It’s not just about comparing EVs to traditional internal combustion engines; it’s now about realizing the future of speed belongs to electric.
Final Thoughts
The McMurtry Spéirling isn’t just another car; it’s a statement. A statement that with innovative engineering and a focus on track-specific performance, even the giants like AMG One have to step aside. This tiny yet terrifyingly fast machine has rewritten what we know about speed and performance. Though it may be a niche car intended for the track, its impact will be felt across the automotive world.
If you ever had any doubts about the potential of electric vehicles, let the McMurtry Spéirling be the record-smashing, time-shaving proof. With only 100 of these incredible machines set to be built, it’s a rare gem that already stands as a modern legend of speed.