Collectors & Aficionados
Unforgettable Car Geniuses: Gordon Murray
Gordon Murray redefined driving with the McLaren F1 and now the T50—icons of lightness, innovation, and pure, driver-focused design.
Ralph Lauren, the collector at the top of The Key, Top of the Classic Car World's ranking, which bases scores not only on value but also on the importance of the cultural heritage collected and preserved, judges the McLaren F1 to be the most extraordinary car to drive on the track as well as on the road. It ranks it as the Ferrari 250 GTO of the modern era. This car was designed and built in 1991 by Gordon Murray on the enthusiasm of the World Titles won with the famous British marque's single-seaters in Formula 1.
This judgement of the great stylist who habitually drives, with acknowledged talent, his cars has many other confirmations in the form of ever-higher prices at auctions, victories at Concours d'Elegance such as Villa d'Este last year and many more. Among the car's genius is the central driving position that recalls the rationality of the single-seater position.
His passion for cars began early when he was still living in South Africa where he was born. Practically self-taught, in 1967 he built his first car with the track in mind. Christened T.1, the car announced the young Gordon's vocation for the principles of light engineering, a philosophy he would never abandon.
