During our recent visit in Great Britain, Auto123.com enjoyed a unique chance to catch up with one of the most brilliant engineers in Formula 1. Gordon Murray was the designer of the mighty McLaren F1 road car and is now the brain behind the T.25 and T.27 green vehicles.
In the late Sixties, a young South African mechanical engineer called Gordon Murray built and raced his own car, the IGM Ford before he moved to Great Britain where he was offered a job at Brabham.
Between 1973 and 1985, Murray’s Brabhams scored 22 Grand Prix wins, finished second in the Constructors' Championship in 1975 and 1981, and provided Nelson Piquet with Drivers’ Championships in 1981 and 1983.
Murray then moved to Ron Dennis’ McLaren team. In four seasons, McLaren cars captured four consecutive Constructors' and Drivers' Championships. Alain Prost won the Drivers' Championship in 1989, and Ayrton Senna won further Drivers' Championships in 1990 and 1991.
In the years following, Gordon Murray directed the McLaren Cars team to design road-going supercars: the McLaren F1 and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.
In 2007, Murray left McLaren and created Gordon Murray Design, a consulting company located in Shalford, Great Britain, about 10 miles south of Woking.
Interestingly, the engineer who masterminded the McLaren F1 – still the fastest normally aspirated road car in the world - is at work on a new, small city-car called the Type 25, a vehicle designed to reduce congestion and the environmental impact of cars.
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| Gordon Murray (Photo: Gordon Murray Design) |
In the late Sixties, a young South African mechanical engineer called Gordon Murray built and raced his own car, the IGM Ford before he moved to Great Britain where he was offered a job at Brabham.
Between 1973 and 1985, Murray’s Brabhams scored 22 Grand Prix wins, finished second in the Constructors' Championship in 1975 and 1981, and provided Nelson Piquet with Drivers’ Championships in 1981 and 1983.
Murray then moved to Ron Dennis’ McLaren team. In four seasons, McLaren cars captured four consecutive Constructors' and Drivers' Championships. Alain Prost won the Drivers' Championship in 1989, and Ayrton Senna won further Drivers' Championships in 1990 and 1991.
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| McLaren F1 LM (Photo: McLaren Group) |
In the years following, Gordon Murray directed the McLaren Cars team to design road-going supercars: the McLaren F1 and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.
In 2007, Murray left McLaren and created Gordon Murray Design, a consulting company located in Shalford, Great Britain, about 10 miles south of Woking.
Interestingly, the engineer who masterminded the McLaren F1 – still the fastest normally aspirated road car in the world - is at work on a new, small city-car called the Type 25, a vehicle designed to reduce congestion and the environmental impact of cars.
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| Initial drawings of the T.25 (Illustration: Gordon Murray Design) |