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Gordon Murray, the renowned racing and supercar designer, is to be honoured by his alma mater, the Durban University of Technology.
Incomparable F1 design portfolio
The erstwhile mechanical engineering graduate - of the then Technikon Natal, when he was still a Durbanite in the late 1960s - will be awarded the Silver Tusk award which is presented to alumni who have made significant achievements.
Murray built and raced his first home-built cars in Durban in the late 1960s, encouraged by his motorcycle mechanic father. In 1969 his ambition to design cutting edge race cars led him to the United Kingdom – the hub of global racing design.
Murray designed a series of Brabham F1 racing cars and over the next 15 years won 22 Grand Prix, enabling Nelson Piquet to clinch the world championship in 1981 and 1983. In 1986, he joined McLaren International as Technical Director.
Two years later his Honda powered McLaren MP4/4 won 15 out of 16 Grand Prix races and gave Ayrton Senna his first driver’s championship in 1988. By then Murray’s reputation as one of the greatest F1 designers of all time was beyond doubt.
Supercar master
From 1991 to 2004 Murray headed McLaren Cars to design road-going supercars, the passion which had hardly waned since he left South Africa in 1969. Murray’s McLaren F1 supercar – despite the later Pagani Zonda, Ferrari Enzo and Bugatti Veyron – is still considered the greatest road-going supercar ever built, blending efficiency, practicality and performance like no other car before or after.
Murray also oversaw the development of another supercar in conjunction with McLaren’s current F1 partner – Mercedes-Benz. Although the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren lacked the purity of design and exotic construction of the McLaren F1 is still remains a redoubtable performance benchmark.
Design, a purer vision
Always a critic of contrived design and lazy engineering, Murray showed great contempt for garish performance cars during his career.
His mantra was always design purity and efficiency, and the Rocket, an ultra lightweight roadster, with a 1-litre Yamaha superbike engine and gorgeous 1950s cigar-shape F1 car styling, was a legendary independent project he did with The Light Car Company.
Last year Murray set-up his own company, Gordon Murray Design Limited. Having achieved everything possible in the fields of racing and high-performance road-car design, the 62 year old is focusing on creating a radical, lightweight city car. Key to his latest design project is a new manufacturing process promising to revolutionise the future of automotive production.
Always a keen driver, Murray hopes to blend personal transportation, environmental friendly design and driving dynamics into a single package with his city car.
Despite very humble origins Murray has pieced together a faultless design career including two of the most important performance cars of all time: the McLaren F1 road-car and McLaren MP4/4 F1 car.
Although Murray has a penchant for loud shirts and shoulder length hair, only a foolish man would bet against the tall former Durbanite achieving his dynamic city car dream. The Silver Tusk award is just rewards.
Incomparable F1 design portfolio
The erstwhile mechanical engineering graduate - of the then Technikon Natal, when he was still a Durbanite in the late 1960s - will be awarded the Silver Tusk award which is presented to alumni who have made significant achievements.
Murray built and raced his first home-built cars in Durban in the late 1960s, encouraged by his motorcycle mechanic father. In 1969 his ambition to design cutting edge race cars led him to the United Kingdom – the hub of global racing design.
Murray designed a series of Brabham F1 racing cars and over the next 15 years won 22 Grand Prix, enabling Nelson Piquet to clinch the world championship in 1981 and 1983. In 1986, he joined McLaren International as Technical Director.
Two years later his Honda powered McLaren MP4/4 won 15 out of 16 Grand Prix races and gave Ayrton Senna his first driver’s championship in 1988. By then Murray’s reputation as one of the greatest F1 designers of all time was beyond doubt.
Supercar master
From 1991 to 2004 Murray headed McLaren Cars to design road-going supercars, the passion which had hardly waned since he left South Africa in 1969. Murray’s McLaren F1 supercar – despite the later Pagani Zonda, Ferrari Enzo and Bugatti Veyron – is still considered the greatest road-going supercar ever built, blending efficiency, practicality and performance like no other car before or after.
Murray also oversaw the development of another supercar in conjunction with McLaren’s current F1 partner – Mercedes-Benz. Although the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren lacked the purity of design and exotic construction of the McLaren F1 is still remains a redoubtable performance benchmark.
Design, a purer vision
Always a critic of contrived design and lazy engineering, Murray showed great contempt for garish performance cars during his career.
His mantra was always design purity and efficiency, and the Rocket, an ultra lightweight roadster, with a 1-litre Yamaha superbike engine and gorgeous 1950s cigar-shape F1 car styling, was a legendary independent project he did with The Light Car Company.
Last year Murray set-up his own company, Gordon Murray Design Limited. Having achieved everything possible in the fields of racing and high-performance road-car design, the 62 year old is focusing on creating a radical, lightweight city car. Key to his latest design project is a new manufacturing process promising to revolutionise the future of automotive production.
Always a keen driver, Murray hopes to blend personal transportation, environmental friendly design and driving dynamics into a single package with his city car.
Despite very humble origins Murray has pieced together a faultless design career including two of the most important performance cars of all time: the McLaren F1 road-car and McLaren MP4/4 F1 car.
Although Murray has a penchant for loud shirts and shoulder length hair, only a foolish man would bet against the tall former Durbanite achieving his dynamic city car dream. The Silver Tusk award is just rewards.
