Leading light

摘要

Gordon Murray has a clear vision of the future, one in which cars will be lightweight and affordable, and more fun to drive. He also has a couple of tricks up his sleeve... They say you should never meet your heroes. People cite rudeness or arrogance as unexpected traits in their idols, but meeting Gordon Murray is disappointing for another reason. Expecting to meet a mad eccentric, I was instead met by an affable, modest, motoring enthusiast. He wasn't even wearing one of his famed floral shirts, and he made me a coffee Many people, had they created the McLaren F1, would be insufferable, but mention this milestone car to Murray and he simply says, "The F1 wasn't anything particularly trick - it was just Formula 1 technology applied to a road car. Six weeks to make a monocoque - who cares? ￡74,000 for the monocoque - who cares? It wasn't particularly clever, it just happened to be the world's first carbon fiber road car, that's why it got a lot of attention."