Gordon Murray
Gordon Murray was born in Durban, South Africa, in 1946 and gained a Mechanical Engineering Diploma from Natal Technical College. He designed, built, and raced his own sports car (the IGM Ford) in the National Class in South Africa during 1967 and 1968. In 1969 Gordon moved to the UK.
Having spent 20 years as Technical Director to two Formula One teams from 1969–1990, Gordon Murray has a wealth of technical, design, and engineering experience. At Brabham, he was instrumental in two world championship wins (1981 and 1983) before three consecutive championship wins with McLaren Racing (1988, 1989, and 1990). In 1990—after 50 Grand Prix wins—Gordon moved away from Formula One to concentrate on establishing a new company for the group, McLaren Cars Limited.
His first project there, the F1 road car, is still regarded as one of the world’s best-engineered cars. A racing version won two world sports car championships and the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1995. McLaren Cars then completed several other successful projects culminating in the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren.
Gordon left McLaren in 2005 to set up a Gordon Murray Design Ltd (in 2007), of which he is Chairman. The innovative British company is a world leader in automotive design and reverses the current industry trend for sub-contracting by having a complete in-house capability for design, prototyping, and development.
In 2017, Gordon Murray Design celebrated the company’s 10-year anniversary along with that of the iStream® manufacturing process at a special event, named “One Formula.” Gordon also marked the 25th production anniversary of the McLaren F1 road car, and his 50th year of design and engineering. At said event, Gordon Murray announced a new vehicle manufacturing company— Gordon Murray Automotive—which takes innovative car designs into limited-run production.
In May 2019, Professor Murray was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) by the Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, in recognition of his contributions to the motorsport and automotive sectors over the past 50 years. In April 2022, Gordon moved to the position of Group Executive Chairman to concentrate on leading design, further developing the brands to continue with ambassadorial work and to focus on strategic development of the group.
In 2025, Gordon celebrated 60 years of car design.