Gordon Murray

This article is about the car designer. For other people named Gordon Murray, see Gordon Murray (disambiguation).

Professor Gordon Murray
Born	Ian Gordon Murray 1946 (age 64–65) Durban, South Africa
Residence	Surrey, England
Nationality	South African
Alma mater	Natal Technical College
Occupation	Executive Chairman
Employer	Gordon Murray Design (2005–present) McLaren Group (1987–2004) Brabham (1969–1986)
Known for	Team McLaren McLaren F1
Website
gordonmurraydesign.com

Prof. Gordon Murray^[1] (born 1946 in Durban, South Africa), is a renowned designer of Formula One race cars and the McLaren F1 road car.

Early life

Born to Scottish immigrant parents, Murray was born and grew up in Durban, South Africa. His father was a motorcycle racer and later prepared racing cars. Murray studied mechanical engineering at Natal Technical College (now Durban University of Technology, which made Murray an Honorary Professor in 2002). He built and raced his own car, the IGM Ford, in the South African National Class during 1967 and 1968.

Formula One Career

Brabham: 1969–1986

Murray moved to England in 1969, hoping to find a job at Lotus Cars. But Murray was offered a job at Brabham after coincidentally meeting then Brabham designer Ron Tauranac. When Bernie Ecclestone took over the Brabham team, he appointed Murray Chief Designer. There Murray designed many Grand Prix cars, some of which were World Championship winners. These designs include the extraordinary BT46B, also known as "the Brabham fan car", as well as the World Championship winning BT49 and BT52. Murray developed a reputation for an innovative approach to design, applied not only to car concepts and details but also to race strategy.^[2]

Between 1973 and 1985 Murray’s Brabhams scored 22 Grand Prix wins, finished 2nd in the Constructors' Championship in 1975 and 1981,^[3] and gave Nelson Piquet Drivers’ Championships in 1981 and 1983.^[4] In 1986, Murray designed the radical and highly ambitious low-line Brabham BT55 in an effort to lower overall ride height. But the car was not a success, and the year proved disastrous for Brabham.

McLaren: 1987–2006

After leaving Brabham, Murray joined McLaren as Technical Director. Learning from his low-line Brabham experience, his 1988 Honda-powered McLaren MP4/4 won 15 of the 16 Grands Prix, and gave Ayrton Senna his first Drivers' Championship. In the Constructors' Championship McLaren's points score of 199 was (at that time) an all-time high. Over the period 1988–91 the McLaren team won four consecutive Constructors' and Drivers' Championships: Alain Prost won the Drivers' Championship in 1989, Senna won further Drivers' Championships in 1990 and 1991.^[5]

McLaren Cars

From 1991–2004, Murray headed up the off-shoot McLaren Cars team to design road-going supercars: the McLaren F1 and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.

Gordon Murray Design

In July 2007 the Gordon Murray Design consultancy was established, and released initial details regarding its upcoming T.25 (Type 25) prototype city car along with mention of a future lightweight, economical supercar project.^[6][7] The T25 will be smaller than a Smart Fortwo.^[8] In November 2009 Gordon Murray Design and Zytek Automotive announced plans to develop an electric-powered version, the T.27.^[9]

On 17 November 2008 Gordon Murray won the ‘Idea of the Year’ accolade at Autocar magazine’s annual awards ceremony for the manufacturing process proposed for the T.25.^[10]

The car, dubbed T27, will be the product of a partnership between Murray’s company and British-based technology company Zytek, who will build the powertrain.^[11]

Other projects

In 1981, Murray was involved in improvements to the Midas Cars

Light Car Company 'Rocket'

Murray also independently designed the Rocket, an ultra-lightweight, open cockpit roadster powered by a 1-litre motorcycle engine, which has an appearance similar to that of a 60's era Grand Prix car. Looking like a pure single-seater, it actually could accommodate a passenger in tandem with the driver. This seat was located beneath a removable cover. The Rocket was built by former racing driver Chris Craft at the Light Car Company.

Murray has been appointed director of advanced concepts at Caparo Vehicle Products,^[12] and was involved with Project Kimber, a group who intended to redesign the Smart Roadster, rebranded as an AC.

Murray is also a regular columnist for the performance oriented British Evo Magazine, and a contributing editor for American Road & Track.^[13]

References

1. ^ "Racing principles' role in cutting emissions". BBC News. 9 June 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7387432.stm. Retrieved 3 May 2010. 
2. ^ Cross, N. and A. Clayburn Cross (1996) "Designing to Win: the methods of Gordon Murray, racing car designer", Design Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 91–107.
3. ^ Henry, A. (1985) Brabham: The Grand Prix Cars, Hazleton Publishing, Richmond, Surrey, UK.
4. ^ "F1 Team & Drivers Hall of Fame: Nelson Piquet". FIA. http://www.formula1.com/teams_and_drivers/hall_of_fame/181/. Retrieved 24 October 2007. 
5. ^ "F1 Team & Drivers Hall of Fame: Ayrton Senna". FIA. http://www.formula1.com/teams_and_drivers/hall_of_fame/45/. Retrieved 24 October 2007. 
6. ^ Gordon Murray Design Limited^{[dead link]}
7. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
8. ^ Tan, Paul. "5 Things We Know About Gordon Murray's T25 City Car". Paultan.org. http://paultan.org/archives/2008/07/07/gordon-murray-t25/. Retrieved 2 October 2010. 
9. ^ "F1 Designer Unveils Electric Car". BBC News. 5 November 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8344532.stm. Retrieved 2 October 2010. 
10. ^ Ed (18 November 2008). "Wins 2008 Idea of the year". Gizmag.com. http://www.gizmag.com/gordon-murrays-t25-wins-idea-of-the-year/10381/. Retrieved 2 October 2010. 
11. ^ Thursday, 5 November 2009 (5 November 2009). "More details: T27 electric car". Autocar.co.uk. http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/244636/. Retrieved 2 October 2010. 
12. ^ Raja, Siddarth (11 August 2006). "Gordon Murray joins team Caparo". Motor Authority. http://www.motorauthority.com/news/supercars/gordon-murray-joins-team-caparo/. Retrieved 2 October 2010. 
13. ^ Hide Comments (1 February 2002). "On the Road – On the Road (1/2006)". RoadandTrack.com. http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=25&article_id=3087. Retrieved 2 October 2010. 

External links

• Official website of Gordon Murray Design
• ROAD & TRACK magazine: "Anatomy of a Supercar" – An article where Murray gives his opinion about the Bugatti Veyron.
• (CNN) Former F1 Engineer Unveils New City Car --retrieved 28 June 2010
• Channel 4 web site – Gordon Murray's ultra-lightweight microcar: first details.

Persondata
Name	Murray, Gordon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1946
Place of birth	Durban, South Africa
Date of death
Place of death