Gordon Murray

Last updated

Gordon Murray

CBE
Born
Ian Gordon Murray

(1946-06-18) 18 June 1946 (age 77)
Durban, Union of South Africa
NationalityBritish
EducationGlenwood High School
Alma mater Durban University of Technology
OccupationExecutive chairman
Employer(s)Gordon Murray Design (2005–present)
McLaren Group (1987–2004)
Brabham (1969–1986)
Known for Brabham Motor Racing
Team McLaren
McLaren F1
Website https://gordonmurrayautomotive.com/

Ian Gordon Murray CBE (born 18 June 1946), [1] is a South African-British [2] designer of Formula One racing cars for Brabham and McLaren and the McLaren F1 high-performance road car. Founder and CEO of Gordon Murray Design and Gordon Murray Automotive he has subsequently designed and built a number of sports cars and a variety of other automotive vehicles.

Contents

Early life

The child of 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. He built and raced his own car, the IGM Ford, in the South African National Class during 1967 and 1968.[ citation needed ]

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 Grand Prix 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. [3]

Between 1973 and 1985, Murray's Brabhams scored 22 Grand Prix wins, finished 2nd in the Constructors' Championship in 1975 and 1981, [4] and gave Nelson Piquet Drivers' Championships in 1981 and 1983. [5] For the 1986 season, Murray designed the radical and highly ambitious low-line Brabham BT55, lowering overall ride height by inclining the engine and placing the driver in a recumbent position. However, the car was not a success, finishing only seven of the sixteen races in the season.

List of Brabham Formula One cars designed by Gordon Murray

McLaren: 1987–1991

In 1986, Murray received an offer from Ron Dennis to join McLaren as Technical Director, taking over the role formerly held by John Barnard. Murray brought his Brabham experience and the BT55 low-line concept into the McLaren design team, led by Steve Nichols, working on the MP4/4 car for the 1988 season. [6] [7] This Honda turbo-powered engine car won 15 of the season's 16 Grands Prix, and gave Ayrton Senna his first Drivers' Championship. [8] In the Constructors' Championship, McLaren's points score of 199 was at that time an all-time high. Murray also oversaw the design of the naturally-aspirated engined 1989 MP4/5 and 1990 MP4/5B with lead designer Neil Oatley. [9] The MP4/5 and MP4/5B won the driver's and constructor's championships in both years. Over the period 1988–91, the McLaren team won four consecutive Constructors' and Drivers' Championships: Alain Prost won the Drivers' Championship in 1989, while Senna won further Drivers' Championships in 1990 and 1991. [10]

McLaren Cars

From 1991 to 2004, Murray headed the offshoot McLaren Cars team to design road-going supercars such as the McLaren F1.

Gordon Murray Design

In July 2007 the Gordon Murray Design consultancy was established, and released initial details of its T.25 (Type 25) prototype city car along with mention of a future lightweight, economical supercar project. [11] [12] [13] The T25 would be smaller than a Smart Fortwo. [14]

On 17 November 2008 Gordon Murray won the 'Idea of the Year' accolade at Autocar magazine's annual awards ceremony for the manufacturing process for the T.25. [15]

In November 2009 Gordon Murray Design and Zytek Automotive announced plans to develop an electric-powered version, the T.27. [16] The car being a product of a partnership between Murray's company and British technology company Zytek, in charge of building the powertrain. [17]

A celebration of 50 years of Murray's involvement in the car industry was held called One Formula. Every one of Murray's F1 designs was on display along with the McLaren F1 roadcar and examples from his personal car collection, along with hundreds of rock band T-shirts that Murray had amassed over the years. [18] The book One Formula - 50 years of car design details Murray's designs. [19]

On 4 August 2020, Murray announced the T.50 sports car, the "logical successor" to the McLaren F1 and incorporating the "fan car" concept of the Brabham BT46B, to be launched in 2022. [20]

On 27 January 2022, Gordon Murray Automotive announced the T.33 super car. A twin-seater 'day to day' super car with the same engine from the T.50, but built on a new platform to be used by three other future cars. [21] [22]

Other projects

In 1981, Murray was involved in improvements for Midas Cars.

Light Car Company 'Rocket' LCC Rocket.jpg
Light Car Company 'Rocket'

Murray 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 single-seater, it could accommodate a passenger in tandem with the driver, the second seat located beneath a removable cover. The Rocket was built by former racing driver Chris Craft at the Light Car Company.

In September 2016 it was announced that Murray had been appointed to develop the OX truck, a flat pack low-cost vehicle, for the British charity Global Vehicle Trust (GVT). [23] GVT founded OX Delivers to utilise the design to make last-mile transport more accessible and reliable in emerging markets. Murray created four experimental prototypes; XP1-XP4. XP2, XP3, and XP4 are owned by OX Delivers, with one of the vehicles having been converted to a fully-electric truck. OX then went on to build 2 more electric trucks adapting the original design for EV use. XP1 is owned by Murray for his private collection.

From 2015, Murray collaborated with TVR to design the upcoming TVR models, [24] with the TVR Griffith released in 2017.

Honours

His alma mater, Durban University of Technology, made Gordon Murray an Honorary Professor in 2002 and awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2011. In the 2019 New Year Honours list Murray was awarded a CBE for services to motoring. [25] In 2022 Murray was awarded the inaugural FIA President's Innovation Medal, 'for his constant innovative approach to race and road car design'. [26]

Related Research Articles

Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham, was a British racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team founded in 1960 by Australian driver Jack Brabham and British-Australian designer Ron Tauranac. The team won four FIA Formula One Drivers' and two Constructors' World Championships in its 30-year history, starting out with back-to-back wins of both in 1966 and 1967. Jack Brabham's 1966 Drivers' Championship remains the only such achievement using a car bearing the driver's own name.

McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One chassis constructor, the second oldest active team and the second most successful Formula One team after Ferrari, having won 183 races, 12 Drivers' Championships and 8 Constructors' Championships. McLaren also has a history of competing in American open wheel racing, as both an entrant and a chassis constructor, and has won the Canadian-American Challenge Cup (Can-Am) sports car racing championship. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BMW in Formula One</span> Formula One activities of BMW

BMW has been involved in Formula One in a number of capacities since the inauguration of the World Drivers' Championship in 1950. The company entered occasional races in the 1950s and 1960s, before building the BMW M12/13 inline-four turbocharged engine in the 1980s. This engine was the result of a deal between BMW and Brabham, which resulted in the team's chassis being powered by BMW engines from 1982 until 1987, a period in which Nelson Piquet won the 1983 championship driving a Brabham BT52-BMW. BMW also supplied the M12/13 on a customer basis to the ATS, Arrows, Benetton and Ligier teams during this period, with various degrees of success. In 1988, Brabham temporarily withdrew from the sport and BMW withdrew its official backing from the engines, which were still used by the Arrows team under the Megatron badge. Turbocharged engines were banned by the revised Formula One Technical Regulations for 1989, rendering the M12/13 obsolete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Dennis</span> British businessman (born 1947)

Sir Ronald Dennis is a British businessman and an Official British Business Ambassador for the United Kingdom. He is best known for his former role as owner, CEO, chairman and founder of McLaren Group. Dennis was removed from his McLaren management roles in 2016 but remained a director of the company and a 25-per-cent shareholder until June 2017, when his 37-year association with the company ended.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Barnard</span> British engineer and car designer (born 1946)

John Edward Barnard, is an English engineer and racing car designer. Barnard is credited with the introduction of two new designs into Formula One: the carbon fibre composite chassis first seen in 1981 with McLaren, and the semi-automatic gearbox which he introduced with Ferrari in 1989.

McLaren Automotive is a British luxury automotive manufacturer based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, England. The main products of the company are sports cars, which are produced in-house in designated production facilities. In July 2017, McLaren Automotive became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the wider McLaren Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elio de Angelis</span> Italian racing driver (1958–1986)

Elio de Angelis was an Italian racing driver who participated in Formula One between 1979 and 1986, racing for the Shadow, Lotus and Brabham teams. He was killed in an accident while testing the Brabham BT55 at the Paul Ricard circuit, near the commune of Le Castellet, France, in 1986. De Angelis was a very competitive and highly popular presence in Formula One during the 1980s, and is sometimes referred to as Formula One's "last gentleman player".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Team Lotus</span> British motor racing team

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar, and sports car racing. More than ten years after its last race, Team Lotus remained one of the most successful racing teams of all time, winning seven Formula One Constructors' titles, six Drivers' Championships, and the Indianapolis 500 in the United States between 1962 and 1978. Under the direction of founder and chief designer Colin Chapman, Lotus was responsible for many innovative and experimental developments in critical motorsport, in both technical and commercial arenas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT46</span> Formula One racing car

The Brabham BT46 is a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team, owned by Bernie Ecclestone, for the 1978 Formula One season. The car featured several radical design elements, one of which was the use of flat panel heat exchangers on the bodywork of the car to replace conventional water and oil radiators. It was removed before the car's race debut, never to be seen again. The cars, powered by a flat-12 Alfa Romeo engine, raced competitively with modified nose-mounted radiators for most of the year, driven by Niki Lauda and John Watson, winning one race in this form and scoring sufficient points for the team to finish third in the constructors' championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lotus 88</span> Formula One motor racing car

The Lotus 88 is an innovative Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman, Peter Wright, Tony Rudd and Martin Ogilvie of Lotus in an effort to maximise the downforce produced by ground effect. The Lotus 88 made its debut at the first practice session of the 1981 season opener, the US Grand Prix West at Long Beach. Although the Lotus 88 was not allowed to race, it was the first Formula One car to use a carbon fibre monocoque chassis and debut at a Grand Prix event. The carbon fibre McLaren MP4/1 made its first appearance at the third Grand Prix of the season in Argentina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McLaren MP4/2</span> Formula One racing car

The McLaren MP4/2 was a Formula One car produced by McLaren for the 1984 season. An iteration of it, the MP4/2B, was used in the 1985 season, and a slightly updated version, the MP4/2C, raced in the 1986 season for McLaren. It was closely based on the MP4/1E model that was used as a test car, used in the final races of 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McLaren MP4/5</span> Open-wheel racing car

The McLaren MP4/5, and its derived sister model, the McLaren MP4/5B, were highly successful Formula One racing cars designed by the McLaren Formula One team based in Woking, England, and powered by Honda's naturally-aspirated RA109E and RA100E V10 engines respectively. The chassis design was led by Neil Oatley, teaming up with Steve Nichols, Pete Weismann, Tim Wright, Bob Bell and Mike Gascoyne. As with the previous designs, Gordon Murray, as Technical Director, had the role of liaising between the drawing office and production. Osamu Goto was the Honda F1 team chief designer for the car's engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McLaren MP4/15</span> Formula One racing car

The McLaren MP4/15 was a Formula One car used by the McLaren-Mercedes team in the 2000 Formula One World Championship. The chassis was designed by Adrian Newey, Steve Nichols, Neil Oatley and Henri Durand with Mario Illien designing the bespoke Ilmor engine. The car proved highly competitive and scored seven victories just like its predecessor the MP4/14, but was narrowly beaten to both the Drivers' and Constructors' championships by the Ferrari F1-2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT52</span> Formula One racing car

The Brabham BT52 was a Formula One car designed for the Brabham team by longtime Brabham designer Gordon Murray for the 1983 season. The car ran on Michelin tyres and was powered by the BMW M12/13 four-cylinder turbocharged engine, which in 1983 produced a maximum power of approximately 1,280 bhp (950 kW) in qualifying trim, detuned to around 850 bhp (630 kW) for the proper races. Its drivers were 1981 World Champion Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McLaren MP4/3</span> Formula One Car

The McLaren MP4/3 was the car with which the McLaren team competed in the 1987 Formula One World Championship. The car was designed under the leadership of long-time McLaren engineer Steve Nichols, in collaboration with Neil Oatley, Gordon Kimball, Tim Wright and Bob Bell. It was also the last McLaren car to be powered by the TAG-Porsche turbo engine that had been introduced in 1983. The car was driven by double World Champion Alain Prost, in his fourth season with the team, and Stefan Johansson, who moved from Ferrari.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT55</span> Formula One racing car

The Brabham BT55 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray and David North for the Brabham team owned by Bernie Ecclestone. It used a BMW four-cylinder turbocharged engine tilted over on its side to allow a clear supply of air to the rear wing. The car competed during the 1986 Formula One season. It was not successful and its introduction coincided with the end of Brabham's time as a competitive team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT53</span> Formula One race car

The Brabham BT53 was a Formula One car designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team for the 1984 Formula One season and was a development of the BT52 which had carried the team's lead driver Nelson Piquet to the 1983 championship.

Stephen Anderson Nichols is an American engineer who is best known as a car designer for many Formula One teams from the mid-1980s until 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT54</span>

The Brabham BT54 was a Formula One racing car designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team for the 1985 Formula One season. The car was powered by the BMW M12 4cyl turbo engine and used Pirelli tyres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brabham BT56</span> Formula One racing car

The Brabham BT56 was a Formula One car designed by John Baldwin and Sergio Rinland and raced by the Brabham team in the 1987 Formula One World Championship. It was driven by Andrea de Cesaris, Riccardo Patrese and Stefano Modena; both de Cesaris and Patrese scored a 3rd place driving the BT56.

References

  1. ↑ "Gordon Murray". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Nelson Piquet". Motor Sport Magazine. December 1981. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ Henry, A. (1985) Brabham: The Grand Prix Cars, Hazleton Publishing, Richmond, Surrey, UK.
  5. ↑ "F1 Team & Drivers Hall of Fame: Nelson Piquet". FIA . Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  6. ↑ Gordon Murray: “I had brought drawings of the BT55 layout with me from Brabham, and I sat down with Steve and talked through the concept of how we could manage the changes to the monocoque.” Porter, Philip (2019) Gordon Murray: One Formula: 50 years of car design, Porter Press, Tenbury Wells, UK. Vol. 2. p. 506. ISBN 978-1913089061
  7. ↑ “The MP4/4 design had been under the guiding hand of the newly appointed McLaren Technical Director, Gordon Murray . . . The new cars still retained a generic likeness to the Barnard-inspired concepts that had gone before, but Murray’s strong influence could be discerned from the sharply reclined driving position, which Gordon had originally pioneered for the Brabham BT55 in 1986.” Henry, Alan (1999) McLaren Formula 1 Racing Team, Haynes Publishing (p. 67). ISBN 1 85960 425 0
  8. ↑ McLaren MP4/4 Owners' Workshop Manual: 1988 (all models) - An insight into the design, engineering and operation of the most successful F1 car ever built (Haynes Owners' Workshop Manual), ISBN   978-1785211379
  9. ↑ Porter, Philip (2019) Gordon Murray: One Formula: 50 years of car design, Porter Press, Tenbury Wells, UK. Vol. 2. pp. 486-558. ISBN   978-1913089061
  10. ↑ "F1 Team & Drivers Hall of Fame: Ayrton Senna". FIA . Retrieved 24 October 2007.
  11. ↑ "T.25 - The Facts". Gordon Murray Design Limited. Archived from the original on 6 September 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Racing principles' role in cutting emissions". BBC News. 9 June 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  13. ↑ "New Models: Gordon Murray's ultra-lightweight microcar: first details". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  14. ↑ Tan, Paul. "5 Things We Know About Gordon Murray's T25 City Car". Paultan.org. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  15. ↑ Ed (18 November 2008). "Wins 2008 Idea of the year". Gizmag.com. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  16. ↑ "F1 Designer Unveils Electric Car". BBC News. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  17. ↑ "More details: T27 electric car". Autocar.co.uk. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  18. ↑ "Gordon Murray One Formula". oneformulagordonmurray.com.
  19. ↑ Murray, Gordon; Porter, Philip (2019). One Formula - 50 years of car design. Porter Press International. ISBN   9781907085307.
  20. ↑ "Gordon Murray T50 is V12-powered McLaren F1 successor". Autocar. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  21. ↑ "Gordon Murray Automotive reveals 607bhp, V12-engined T.33". Topgear.com. 27 January 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2022.
  22. ↑ "Gordon Murray reveals the secrets behind his new T.33 supercar & why he loves V12 engines" . Retrieved 11 February 2022– via YouTube.
  23. ↑ "Shell to further power progress on the Global Vehicle Trust OX: the inventive flat-pack truck". Automotive World. 11 April 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  24. ↑ "TVR confirms carbonfibre chassis for new sports car". Evo. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  25. ↑ "Gordon Murray is made a CBE in 2019 New Year Honours". Car Dealer Magazine. 28 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  26. ↑ "FIA President's Innovation Award". FIA. 10 December 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
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