T.50 supercar built by Gordon Murray AutomotiveGordon Murray has received top industry recognition for ‘a lifetime of unmatched design and engineering contributions to the automotive industry across Formula One and supercars’. The
BBC TopGear ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ follows his creation of the T.50 supercar built by
Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) and reflects Professor Murray’s many other achievements, including the McLaren F1 and five Formula One championship wins with Brabham and McLaren.
Jack Rix, editor-in-chief of
BBC TopGear, said: “This is a man who got his first F1 chief designer job aged just 26 and went on to become one of the most successful F1 designers of all time. When F1 got a bit boring, he designed the McLaren F1; and even into his 70s he spearheads the company that is behind what is regarded as the most brilliant, lightweight, analogue supercars the world has ever seen.
“The BBC TopGear ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ acknowledges the industry-leading innovation, imagination, and desire for absolute perfection that Gordon has exhibited for almost 60 years. Throughout his esteemed career, he has built a reputation for clarity of vision, and a confidence in disrupting industry norms that is rarely seen in motorsport or road car production.”
Professor Murray (pictured left) designed his first car in 1965 before moving to the UK to join the Brabham Formula One Team as technical director. There, he won two world championships (1981 and 1983), before moving to McLaren as technical director in 1988 where he was influential in consecutive world championship wins in 1988, 1989 and 1990. After achieving 50 Formula One Grand Prix wins, Professor Murray went on to establish McLaren Cars Ltd. The company’s first project was the world-famous McLaren F1 road car. He guided several other successful projects at McLaren Cars, culminating with the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren programme.
In 2007, he formed Gordon Murray Design Ltd a new British company for the design, engineering, prototyping and development of vehicles. This was followed in 2017, by his founding of British supercar manufacturer Gordon Murray Automotive. The company’s first supercar — the T.50 – is manufactured at the company’s new £50 million headquarters in Surrey.
When production of the exclusive 100-unit run concludes in 2025, GMA will begin building track-only T.50s; these will be followed by the GMA T.33 Coupe and Spider.