McMurtry made his U.S. debut to a sold-out crowd at the famed Laguna Seca track in Monterey, CA this week, racing the third annual Reverse Corkscrew Hillclimb with Max Chilton in the driver’s seat. The car and driver duo easily broke not one but two records in the process.
Inspired by the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which McMurtry has dominated for the past few years, the Reverse Corkscrew Hillclimb was first held in August 2022. Sixty competitors competed in cars ranging from a Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck to a 1925 Bugatti Type 35 and the famous Hudson Hornet from the Pixar film Carssteaming and sliding towards the top.
This is the third year that Laguna Seca has hosted the Reverse Corkscrew Climb.
Competitors race uphill from the front of the straight, through turns 11, 10, 9 and through turn 8, known as the Corkscrew, with the finish line at turn 7, at an altitude of 91 metres (300 feet).
McMurtry
Most of the elevation gain occurs on Corkscrew, rising approximately five and a half stories in just 450 feet (137 m) of asphalt, equating to a slope of approximately 18 degrees, steep enough to rival the famously “crooked” Lombard Street in San Francisco.
Legend has it that when Skip Barber bulldozed his way to the top of the now famous steep hill that Corkscrew was perched on, all he needed was to find his way down. He drove his bulldozer in a zig-zag pattern down the hill, carving up the dirt to be paved, and thus the Corkscrew as we know it was born.
As someone who has done tens of thousands of laps at Laguna Seca in cars and motorcycles, I can say this is true. down The first few times you accelerate you feel like you're in free fall in an elevator. I've only ridden a scooter against Corkscrew once and had to paddle with my feet to help the little 50cc 2-stroke engine climb the steep hill.
This year’s Reverse Corkscrew Hill Climb was held on August 11. Oddly, as if it had foreseen the future and McMurtry had to fill in a few blanks in a pre-written press release dated June 19, the Spéirling fan car completely shattered the previous long-course record, climbing the Corkscrew in 28.6 seconds.
The previous record was held by the 1976 Lotus Type 77 Formula One car, which clocked 34.69 seconds, 6 seconds slower than the fan car.
The McMurtry Spéirling Pure fan car also set a record for the newly introduced short track with a run of 21.958 seconds. Second place – a 1967 Ford Falcon custom race car – wasn’t even in the same league at just over seven seconds slower. Third place, a modern 2022 Ferrari SF90, managed a time of 29.822, nearly eight seconds slower than the Spéirling fan car.
McMurtry
What is a fan car, you say?
I asked the same question when I first learned about McMurtry Spéirling’s record-breaking visit to Hockenheim earlier this year. Those of you who have been around longer than me, or perhaps those of you who are much more involved in the sport, will know that fan cars first emerged in the 1970s, most notably when Brabham produced the BT46B Formula One car in 1978 with Niki Lauda at the wheel. It was banned after a single race (the car won at the Swedish Grand Prix at Anderstorp) due to safety concerns.
Fan-powered cars use fans to create artificial downforce by sucking air from underneath the car, pulling the car towards the ground like a leech, providing more grip, especially in slow corners where aerodynamics have little or no effect.
While it's messy with all the debris it gets sucked up and thrown around on the racetrack (I'd hate to drive a million-dollar hypercar behind Spéirling – or any car, for that matter), it's certainly pretty cool. For $1.1 million, you can also get yourself a 1,000-horsepower (745 kW) fan car.
It will be hard to beat.
The good part of the video starts at 2:52.
Laguna Seca Reverse Corkscrew HILLCLIMB RECORD – McMurtry Spéirling Fan Car (Goodwood Record Holder)