Racing Genius Gordon Murray Says Winning F1 Title Is Easier Than Le Mans

There aren’t many people like Gordon Murray left in the automotive world. Heck—there never were many like him in the first place. The ex-Formula 1 engineer and mastermind behind the legendary McLaren F1 and GMA T.50 has done it all. So when Murray sat down with Top Gear to talk about his lifetime achievement award, career, and upcoming biography, he naturally had some fascinating things to say. Like how winning Le Mans is even tougher than winning an F1 championship.

If anyone would know, it’d be Murray, because he’s done both. As the technical director of the McLaren Formula 1 team, he won the constructor’s championship in 1988 (coinciding with Ayrton Senna winning his first driver’s title). And then, in 1995, his McLaren F1 GTR won the 24 Hours of Le Mans miraculously, against much faster prototypes. According to Murray, the latter is the more impressive achievement, and doubly so considering the F1 wasn’t originally designed to race.

“Winning Le Mans is more difficult than winning the Formula One world championship,” he told Top Gear. “And it was a bonus that we never intended to go racing with that car.”

Murray, being an engineer above all else, doesn’t remember the F1 fondly for its record-breaking performance figures. Instead, he appreciates it for its technical achievements, and what those stood for back then. “The world’s first carbon road car, the first with ground effect, the carbon clutch… all that stuff. It was so different,” Murray told TG. “At the time, the media focused on the fact that it could do 240 mph. That didn’t interest me at all. Never has.”

So Murray has developed championship-winning F1 cars, designed engines, achieved aerodynamic breakthroughs, penned gorgeous supercars, and even dabbled in architecture. The man built his own house in Scotland, from the exterior to the plumbing and electrical system, which unsurprisingly harvests its own energy. What else is he good at?

Murray collects t-shirts, but not like the Volkswagen one I’m wearing that costs $12. No—the prolific engineer keeps a collection of rare, valuable rock band tees. “I thought there might be a few hundred, but we counted them—there’s 980! The Sex Pistols one is worth £1,600 and there’s a satin Rolling Stones tour jacket apparently worth £10k. Unbelievable really.” I don’t think I’ve had 980 pieces of clothing, cumulatively, in my entire life.

Murray is one of the most accomplished and fascinating figures in all of automotive history, and he knows it. “We’re a dying breed. Engine, gearbox, aero, the fuel system, cooling, suspension, the setup … the only person, I think, who could manage all of it in the same way was Mauro Forghieri [the legendary F1 technical director for Scuderia Ferrari in the ’60s and ’70s].”

Does anyone working today have a similar impact? “Mate Rimac makes things happen. He’s got the entrepreneurial stuff. I don’t know how much he draws or designs personally, but he’s like Ron Dennis or Enzo Ferrari. He has the vision.”

If you have some time, check out this interview. Be warned, though: The rabbit hole of Gordon Murray interviews you end up reading and watching afterward might take up what remains of your evening.

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