Driving • November 2013
One unlikely epic drive
Motorsport commentator Murray Walker
Such was the power of his passionate and enthusiastic presentation of F1 motorsport on British TV and radio that Murray Walker, 90, became known as ‘the Voice of Motor Racing’. Now retired, but forever in love with the sport, he tells Anthony Rowlinson, editor of F1 Racing magazine, there’s still one classic drive on his bucket list
The drive I’d like to take is the Isle of Man TT course, and the car I’d choose to do it in - a BMW M3.
For me the TT’s roads represent almost 38 miles of pure nostalgia and brilliant racing memories. Most of the year they are public roads around the island. But when the TT races are on, and for other races, sections are closed to allow flat-out road racing of a kind that hardly exists any more in the world.
I first went to the island in 1924 - as a babe in my mother’s arms - and I’ve returned many times right up until 2012. The Walker connection with the course is very strong: my dad, Graham, won his TT class in 1931, with 15 other high-place finishes, while I’ve commentated on more than 200 races there. Sadly though, I’ve never had the guts to race the course and always wished I had.
Riders on the Gooseneck section of the Isle of Man TT course
The Isle of Man is a beautiful island, and the TT course is pure magic thanks to good-quality B-class roads that twist and turn through and around it. Riders can top 200mph in places, but have to slow to 5mph in others, as the course races through towns and villages, climbs more than half way up the 2,000ft Mount Snaefell and plunges down again to Douglas at sea level. The lap record on a motorbike, held by John McGuinness, is an incredible 131.671mph.
The BMW M3 would be the ideal car for a dummy like me to have fun in. It’s the right size, has the right power and dream handling, while at the same time letting you feel good about being in a car built by a company with a brilliant motorsport history.
Do you know an epic drive? Send your photos to us and you could see them in a future issue.