Over the four-day special event, the biggest highlight of this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed was breaking the record for complete hill climb. Max Chilton, a former Formula One and IndyCar driver, drove the McMurtry Spéirling up the 1.16-mile hill in 39,081 seconds.
Spéirling is an electric Purpose-built monsters to destroy track records. The car has a fan-powered active downforce system that can generate more than 4,400 pounds of downforce, even when stopped. The Spéirling weighs just under a ton and has an output of almost 1,000 horsepower, allowing the car to accelerate from 0 to 300 km/h (186.4 mph) in nine seconds.
This record lap is amazing to watch as the tiny machine damages the narrow strip of pavement. There was no deceleration as Spéirling rounded the dry grassy corners of the climb. The crowd gasped in astonishment as the fan’s car sped through each viewing area. With each camera cut, Spéirling gets faster and faster until it crosses the finish line carrying a remarkable speed.
The all-time previous record was 39.The unofficial 9 seconds was set by the electric Volkswagen ID.R in 2019, with two-time Le Mans winner Romain Dumas behind the wheel. The record is unofficial because Dumas set the time in a Saturday qualifying run, not on Sunday during a proper penalty shootout.
Nick Heidfeld set the previous official record of 41.6 seconds in a 1998 McLaren MP4/13 during the 1999 Festival of Speed. Although Heidfield’s run is official, the record is still somewhat marked by an asterisk as Formula One cars can no longer perform timed competitive runs up the hill for safety reasons. Tracking Heidfeld’s track, it’s clear how much faster the McMurtry Spéirling has a cornering speed than the late 90s F1 car.
