RE: 50 years of Gordon Murray design!
Saturday 5th August 2017
For the past half a century, Gordon Murray has been involved with the design of some of the most significant road and race cars ever seen. Think about it: the McLaren F1 GTR that won Le Mans, the McLaren MP4/4 that won 15 of the 16 races in 1988 and gave Ayrton Senna a championship, plus the Brabham BT52 that secured Nelson Piquet the 1983 F1 world title. And that flat pack truck. And the new TVR...
Three seats, driver in the middle... basically an F1To mark Gordon Murray's incredible contribution to the automotive world, a new exhibition will be opening in November celebrating his work. More than 40 road and race cars will be on display at the new Gordon Murray Design facility in Dunsfold; in addition to those mentioned above, there will be the infamous Brabham BT46B 'fan car', the roadgoing McLaren F1 LM and Murray's first creation, the IGM Ford Special. Its back story is a fascinating one, so that really will be something special to see.
50 years of Gordon Murray design!
New collection will celebrate Murray's greatest hits with over 40 road and race cars
Three seats, driver in the middle... basically an F1
The collection is being brought together to mark both 25 years of the McLaren F1 and also 10 years of Murray's iStream manufacturing technology; there will also be news about an "all-new, ground-breaking vehicle." Start guessing now...
The unique exhibition will open in November, after which the facility will begin its time as the new Gordon Murray Design automotive centre. It sounds like there are exciting times ahead for Murray then - more news soon!
[Source: Motorsport]
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[Motorsport images: LAT Photo]
Discussion
I like and respect Gordon Murray, no doubt he's a genius and he comes across as a down to earth petrolhead.
But it's such a shame so few of us ever get to experience it, I mean how many admittedly brilliant cars he's designed have ever been made? Seems such a waste, he was talking about clever composite materials and game changing cheap strong non corroding lightweight designs production methods fully 20 years ago - and were still waiting.
So many clever people working on pointless hypercars and concepts that only collectors and oligarchs will ever sit in much less actually drive. Yeah yeah stuff filters down......supposedly/eventually blah blah.
Just make a cheap simple light clever manual rwd 2 seater sports car nearly as fun as a caterham and nearly as practical as an MX5 for about 30k FFS! (Rant over...sorry!)
But it's such a shame so few of us ever get to experience it, I mean how many admittedly brilliant cars he's designed have ever been made? Seems such a waste, he was talking about clever composite materials and game changing cheap strong non corroding lightweight designs production methods fully 20 years ago - and were still waiting.
So many clever people working on pointless hypercars and concepts that only collectors and oligarchs will ever sit in much less actually drive. Yeah yeah stuff filters down......supposedly/eventually blah blah.
Just make a cheap simple light clever manual rwd 2 seater sports car nearly as fun as a caterham and nearly as practical as an MX5 for about 30k FFS! (Rant over...sorry!)
bleunos said:
I like and respect Gordon Murray, no doubt he's a genius and he comes across as a down to earth petrolhead.
But it's such a shame so few of us ever get to experience it, I mean how many admittedly brilliant cars he's designed have ever been made? Seems such a waste, he was talking about clever composite materials and game changing cheap strong non corroding lightweight designs production methods fully 20 years ago - and were still waiting.
So many clever people working on pointless hypercars and concepts that only collectors and oligarchs will ever sit in much less actually drive. Yeah yeah stuff filters down......supposedly/eventually blah blah.
Just make a cheap simple light clever manual rwd 2 seater sports car nearly as fun as a caterham and nearly as practical as an MX5 for about 30k FFS! (Rant over...sorry!)
The issue is 30k gets you a Mx5 or Fiat 124 or a caterham westfield type car if you want a mix of the two then you need to spend more say 50 to 60k on a boxster etc and the market for them is small so as a business its hard to sell.But it's such a shame so few of us ever get to experience it, I mean how many admittedly brilliant cars he's designed have ever been made? Seems such a waste, he was talking about clever composite materials and game changing cheap strong non corroding lightweight designs production methods fully 20 years ago - and were still waiting.
So many clever people working on pointless hypercars and concepts that only collectors and oligarchs will ever sit in much less actually drive. Yeah yeah stuff filters down......supposedly/eventually blah blah.
Just make a cheap simple light clever manual rwd 2 seater sports car nearly as fun as a caterham and nearly as practical as an MX5 for about 30k FFS! (Rant over...sorry!)
I suspect 100 £2m cars will find homes over 1000 £200k cars etc (with no heritage etc)
AndySA said:
The MP4/4 is still the cleanest and best looking F1 car.
That is won just about everything and was driven by legends is almost secondary, it is that beautiful.
Yes indeed. Closely followed by the gorgeous and beautifully simple BT52, by all accounts designed and built in just 6 weeks and which then proceeded to win the World Driver's Championship!That is won just about everything and was driven by legends is almost secondary, it is that beautiful.
bleunos said:
But it's such a shame so few of us ever get to experience it, I mean how many admittedly brilliant cars he's designed have ever been made?
Clearly more than 40! Must be such a novelty to other car designers that this is being celebrated at an event where such a huge proportion of the cars made that he's designed are being brought together! generationx said:
AndySA said:
The MP4/4 is still the cleanest and best looking F1 car.
That is won just about everything and was driven by legends is almost secondary, it is that beautiful.
Yes indeed. Closely followed by the gorgeous and beautifully simple BT52, by all accounts designed and built in just 6 weeks and which then proceeded to win the World Driver's Championship!That is won just about everything and was driven by legends is almost secondary, it is that beautiful.
Gecko1978 said:
The issue is 30k gets you a Mx5 or Fiat 124 or a caterham westfield type car if you want a mix of the two then you need to spend more say 50 to 60k on a boxster etc and the market for them is small so as a business its hard to sell.
just to be a pedant, if you really had to pigeon-hole cars, i'd say the Elise fits between Caterham and MX5. The Boxster is a level up in weight and focus, which is why many folk own one alongside a lightweight.And on the subject of weight and focus, yes, the Rocket is a great legacy. I wonder if LCC is owned by somebody who doesn't want it in a museum? Fantastic influence on automotive history and not yet a page of comments!
CABC said:
just to be a pedant, if you really had to pigeon-hole cars, i'd say the Elise fits between Caterham and MX5. The Boxster is a level up in weight and focus, which is why many folk own one alongside a lightweight.
And on the subject of weight and focus, yes, the Rocket is a great legacy. I wonder if LCC is owned by somebody who doesn't want it in a museum? Fantastic influence on automotive history and not yet a page of comments!
LCC still exists but not in a capacity to manufacture 'Rockets'. That is now with Rocket R+D who in theory would build a few more cars for the right price to bring the total production run to 50, there are probably about 25 Rockets in the UK including Gordons own car, he recently sold his F1 though afaik.And on the subject of weight and focus, yes, the Rocket is a great legacy. I wonder if LCC is owned by somebody who doesn't want it in a museum? Fantastic influence on automotive history and not yet a page of comments!
Coatesy351 said:
generationx said:
AndySA said:
The MP4/4 is still the cleanest and best looking F1 car.
That is won just about everything and was driven by legends is almost secondary, it is that beautiful.
Yes indeed. Closely followed by the gorgeous and beautifully simple BT52, by all accounts designed and built in just 6 weeks and which then proceeded to win the World Driver's Championship!That is won just about everything and was driven by legends is almost secondary, it is that beautiful.
bleunos said:
But it's such a shame so few of us ever get to experience it, I mean how many admittedly brilliant cars he's designed have ever been made? Seems such a waste, he was talking about clever composite materials and game changing cheap strong non corroding lightweight designs production methods fully 20 years ago - and were still waiting.
Just make a cheap simple light clever manual rwd 2 seater sports car nearly as fun as a caterham and nearly as practical as an MX5 for about 30k FFS! (Rant over...sorry!)
Ahum, he helped developing the Midas, exactly what you were looking for.Just make a cheap simple light clever manual rwd 2 seater sports car nearly as fun as a caterham and nearly as practical as an MX5 for about 30k FFS! (Rant over...sorry!)
Not directly Gordon's work but he made it happen by asking Peter Stevens to do it - and that is the Parmalat livery on Brabham BT49 (inter alia). No other F1 livery has ever been better integrated with the car's shape I 'd say . Sadly , so many current F1 liveries are a dog's dinner in comparison
coppice said:
Not directly Gordon's work but he made it happen by asking Peter Stevens to do it - and that is the Parmalat livery on Brabham BT49 (inter alia). No other F1 livery has ever been better integrated with the car's shape I 'd say . Sadly , so many current F1 liveries are a dog's dinner in comparison
What about the Martini liveried BT44??j90gta said:
coppice said:
Not directly Gordon's work but he made it happen by asking Peter Stevens to do it - and that is the Parmalat livery on Brabham BT49 (inter alia). No other F1 livery has ever been better integrated with the car's shape I 'd say . Sadly , so many current F1 liveries are a dog's dinner in comparison
What about the Martini liveried BT44??
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