F1With BBC Modus Operandi ű MurrayWalker


"After I had done one-offs with, for example, Clay Reggazoni winning in a Ferrari at theN rburgring, Jacky Ickx winning in the Brabham also at theN


theBBCdecided they were going to do all the Grands Prix on the box. They weren'


űrburgring and the 1976 BritishGP, t going to do them live, they were going


to record them. I was going to go out to the event on Thursday, watch Friday practice, watch practising and qualifying on Saturday, would then fly back to Britain, watch the race on what was then called Eurovision and they would edit it down from the full length to half an hour, and I would put the commentary on, usually beforehand, but sometimes it had to go out live.”


Remarkably Early Memories Jenson Button


"I remember back in the early Williams days listening to Murray commentate when they were sponsored by Saudia, which is a long time ago – probably two or three years into the Williams team." [This was actually 1978– two years before Jenson was born. Is this a Buttonism?]


"This superb Alan Fearnley painting depicts two truly great drivers, and gentlemen, rounding Mirabeau Corner in the 1973 Monaco Grand Prix. Sweden's Ronnie Peterson in the Lotus 72 leads Jackie Stewart's Tyrrell. This was to be Stewart's 25th Grand Prix victory, out of 27, with Ronnie in a fighting third place behind team mate Emerson Fittipaldi. Jackie was to retire at the end of the season, following the tragic death of his team mate Francois Cevert. He later achieved even more success, including a knighthood, but, sadly, the modest and self-effacing Ronnie Peterson was to die in hospital following a startline crash at the 1978 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, which was a terrible experience formeand hismanythousands of other followers.”


Ronnie Peterson


MurrayWalker


"A lot of people think Ronnie Peterson was the greatest driverwhohas ever lived and he was certainly a very good one. In September1978, I was followingmyusual routine. I went out to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix practice. When the race was held, I was back in London of course, because I had gone back on the Saturday afternoon as usual. So we watched the crash at the beginning of the race.


"That was the crash where James Hunt developed his


hatred of Riccardo Patrese, whom he regarded as being responsible for the Ronnie Peterson crash, which he wasn't actually. Sowesaw this dreadful crash on television and they held the race and I did the commentary. I went home having checked because we phoned through to Monzathat in fact RonniePeterson was going to be alright. He had broken his leg, been taken to hospital and was going to be okay. So you can imagine how shocked I was the next day when I learnt that he had in fact died because there had been an embolism.Hehad died of that."


Murrayism If that isn't a lap record, I'll eat the hat I don't normally wear.


MurrayismMurrayism 86 MurrayWalker Scrapbook

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