Buyers of super, hyper or ultra cars suffer from Peter Pan syndrome. When these adults who refuse to grow up treat themselves to one of these very, very expensive, and very, very powerful cars, it’s a way of owning a new toy.
Certainly, and this is often the case, when the toy is approved for the road, it can also serve as a means of transport, thus justifying its usefulness, at least on paper. But when it is reserved for use on the circuit, it instantly transforms into dinky toy life size for big boys.
Small weight and big check
This is the case of Mc Murtry Spéirling Pure: a car sold at a price of 954,000 euros, the price to pay for use in track days only. The customers who will sign a possible check are therefore big children, but so are their parents, even if they are of a different character.
Because according to child psychiatrists, toddlers are divided into two camps: those who play Playmobil, and those who play Legos: the former have imagination, and the latter are builders. David McMurtry, when he was in shorts, was undeniably in the Lego player camp.
This engineer, born in 1940, spent his entire career in aeronautics, first at Bristol, then at Rolls when the first was bought by the second in 1966. A good salary, a great career development within the designer of aircraft engines do not necessarily bring happiness, and above all are not enough to feed the ambition of the Anglo-Irish.
Especially since in 1973, he developed a new type of probe which was a great success. Except that he is only an employee of Rolls, and the financial gains from the business are not for him. So, he goes off on his own and founds his own company with another aviation thief. And it works. His company, called Renishaw, quickly established itself. Ten years after its launch, the start-up has become a large company listed on the stock exchange and employs 5,000 people.
David McMurtry, now Sir McMurtry, even managed, after a legal battle, to recover ownership of the patents he had developed at Rolls. In 2018, he finally let go of the reins of his business and found himself, according to Forbes, at the head of a fortune estimated at more than 1.4 billion euros.
Enough to lead to a happy retirement, especially since the engineer had reached 78 years old at that time. But at the age when others were gardening, he created a new business. Mc Murtry Automotive is aimed, as its name suggests, at automobiles, and its tireless boss is considering the pure and simple creation of a car brand.
To achieve this, he will poach one of the barons of the industry: Thomas Yates, an engineer who notably worked, at Mercedes, on the design of the F1 cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg during the baraka years of the Stuttgart star . The two men and a handful of technicians will develop the Mc Murtry Spéirling Pure over three years. Why Spéirling, with this astonishing spelling? Because in Irish Gaelic, this curious term designates the storm.
In 2022, a first prototype is ready, and a silent storm falls over the Goodwood festival that year. Because it is a 1,000 hp electric car which presents itself at the start and will shatter the track record in 39.08 seconds with a 0/100 km/h in less than 1.4 s. Not only is the Mc Murtry powerful, but it is also light and weighs just under 1,000 kg.
Vacuum and carbon fiber
Made of carbon fiber, it does not exceed 3.57 m and, to avoid lifting off the ground, it uses a vacuum fan like the Brabham BT 46 from the 1978 F1 world championship. The effect wow was immediate and Mc Murtry decided, a year later, after having refined the machine, to produce it in 100 copies for the nice sum of 954,000 euros.
When you want to treat yourself to a toy that is as exclusive as it is useless, you don’t skimp on the prices. The first assembled examples should be delivered this year, but Sir McMurtry will not hand over the keys. He passed away a few days ago at the age of 84. But he will nevertheless have taken the wheel of the first copy of his latest toy, his last Lego.
