Monday 9th December 2024

Sir David McMurtry 1940-2024

The co-founder of McMurtry Automotive passed away this week. His legacy is remarkable

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Sir David McMurtry, the Irish-born billionaire who co-founded the carmaker he lent his name to, has passed away at the age of 84. Very much an engineer at heart, and knighted in 2001 ‘for services to design and innovation’, McMurtry didn’t even turn his attention to car design until late in life - the incredible Spéirling being the result of a long-standing penchant for challenging conventional expectations. 

“Pushing boundaries using novel engineering has driven me throughout life,” he is quoted as saying. “Applying this to my passion in the automotive sector and building cars that truly change ‘what is possible on four wheels’ is a lifelong dream.” 

In an official statement published on its website, McMurtry Automotive said: “Sir David’s contributions to the field of engineering, science and manufacturing worldwide have been extraordinary. He was a truly inspirational leader and mentor, and will be greatly, greatly missed.’ 

If anything, those words understate the impact of a man who arrived in England as an 18-year-old apprentice at BAC. Two decades later he was Chief of Concorde Engine Design at Rolls Royce, where the challenge of measuring a turbine blade resulted in the invention of the first touch trigger probe. 

Realising the wider potential for his creation, McMurtry established Renishaw plc to commercialise the design, and by 1987 had fully acquired the patents from Rolls-Royce. The rest, as they say, is history: today the specialist engineering film employs over 5,000 people globally and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. According to this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, McMurtry was worth £1.2 billion. 

He co-founded McMurtry Automotive with Thomas Yates, a former employee of Mercedes’ High-Performance Powertrain division, eight years ago, where they promptly set about reviving the fan car technology first pioneered in the ‘70s. Clearly, the Spéirling is not the only testament to a life filled with achievement, but how wonderful that it delivered so spectacularly on its potential during his lifetime. RIP, Sir David.

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• Updated McMurtry Spéirling Pure goes on sale
• McMurtry Spéirling smashes Hockenheim record

[jackg]

True legend. What an amazing life. Thank you
Jx

[mike9009]

Great article. Never realised he founded Renishaw....spent many a happy evening after work playing with CMMs equipped with Renishaw probes to measure automotive turbine wheels.....

An inspirational legend indeed......

[Benny Saltstein]

He was a true innovator. A little known giant in British manufacturing. If you’re measuring anything to any degree of precision, chances are it would be with Renishaw probing.

[ChocolateFrog]

RIP. I'd assumed he was a 40 or 50 something ex-F1 engineer.

Had no idea he was in his mid 80's. Must have been mid to late 70's before he even started the automotive bit of the business.

[MrOvershoot]

I met him many times & my brother in law has worked for him since 1982!!
He was such a humble man in the way someone who is a true genius can be. He will be greatly missed particularly in the Wotton-Under-Edge area.
I only found out recently through David's wife Terry(Teresa) that I was at school with her brother.

[GianiCakes]

I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t aware of his background and achievements until now. Just goes to show there are talented people and companies out there that are based on more than self publicity. Britain really needs to do better in nurturing and maintaining this kind of engineering and manufacturing.

[mattlacey]

RIP Sir David. Met him a few times and he was always incredibly friendly and humble. I've said it on here before, but when I crashed my hedge as a 17 year old, he saw me assessing it the next day, stopped, and then pulled it out with his Jag. Turns out it was his hedge too.

[Water Fairy]

A life well lived indeed. RIP

[HJG]

I learnt something new. Thanks!

RIP Mr. McMurtry

[juice]

mattlacey said:

RIP Sir David. Met him a few times and he was always incredibly friendly and humble. I've said it on here before, but when I crashed my hedge as a 17 year old, he saw me assessing it the next day, stopped, and then pulled it out with his Jag. Turns out it was his hedge too.

Wait...whut ?

[kevinon]

GianiCakes said:

I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t aware of his background and achievements until now. Just goes to show there are talented people and companies out there that are based on more than self publicity. Britain really needs to do better in nurturing and maintaining this kind of engineering and manufacturing.

You put it so well.

[Boom78]

ChocolateFrog said:

RIP. I'd assumed he was a 40 or 50 something ex-F1 engineer.

Had no idea he was in his mid 80's. Must have been mid to late 70's before he even started the automotive bit of the business.

This…

I thought the blistering track/climb fan car was built by some start up company who lucked out, how wrong was I!! A Concorde engineer, no wonder the car is so technically impressive, the real deal.

Chapeau Sir David.

[Alex Z]

ChocolateFrog said:

RIP. I'd assumed he was a 40 or 50 something ex-F1 engineer.

Had no idea he was in his mid 80's. Must have been mid to late 70's before he even started the automotive bit of the business.

Yep, I’d not heard of him until the car appeared seemingly out of nowhere

[Robertb]

My wife's uncle met him many years ago and spoke very highly of him... he and his business partner came to visit his small firm in Wales to order some precision milled metal parts when theyd not long started Renishaw.

They still get orders from Renishaw today and he said they've always been a great firm to deal with, even in difficult economic times.

I hope the Speirling is involved in some way in Sir David's memorial send-off.

[LT1 or LT4]

Only became aware of Sir David McMurtry after attending Goodwood and watching his car annihilate the hill and everything else on the day. It was truly one of those moments you look back on a say 'glad I was there', a jaw dropping display befitting a man defined by his engineering genius and achievement.

If only there were more Sir David's in the world.

RIP

[mattlacey]

juice said:

Wait...whut ?

Oh FFS. "Crashed my Renault 5 into a hedge"

Brain going faster than my fingers

[Abarth131]

Where I worked before retirement we produced high precision measuring equipment.
Renishaw were probably our biggest customer and we all worked very hard to give them the best measuring equipment.
Sir David's connection makes this even more special.

[E9 CSL]

I’m not 100% sure about this…but I believe he lived in a bespoke house on the edge of Wotton-under-edge that I used to cycle past and admire. If so, then is was used as the “baddies lair” in a Benedict Cummerbach episode of Sherlock.

Edit - Wikipedia confirms it as Swinhay house and he donated it’s appearance fee to charity. Seriously, absolute legend.

As someone else posted, most people can name numerous Kardasians but people like Sir David fly under the radar. RIP

[DeejRC]

Engineers often fly under the radar, usually by our own choosing. There are lots of very talented engineers in the UK, doing very talented things at high end engineering firms - you just haven’t heard of them, mostly because, well, why should you? They are usually doing specialist stuff somewhere in the supply chain. Most of you aren’t engineers or involved in industry and even for those who are, most aren’t involved in the manufacturing supply chain. To others in the industry or the industrial process, those ppl are well known.
This goes the same for other industries. I don’t know the names of the high flying, high earning London finance boys, or the whizz bang lawyers - but more than a few others on PH will know all their names.