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This Weeks Guest, Friday
3 September
 3pm
to 4pm, Radio Sport
Bob McMurray
Bob McMurray has had a long relationship with motorsport -
especially Formula 1 and contracts as a commentator on all matters
to do with motorsport to various media companies in New Zealand,
including ONE Sport. He spent over 30 years with McLaren
International
He was responsible for the initiation, development and bringing to
operation of various projects including the development of "high
rise" team hospitality trucks to enable two useable and operational
decks (a system in use with virtually all the Formula 1 teams today)
and the development of a live television broadcast system from the
pit garages to the sponsor's village.
Due to his understanding of Formula 1, engineering and mechanics Bob
became the voice of McLaren on the "in house" television link,
showing an ability to translate the technical disciplines to the
boards of directors, sponsors and non-Formula 1 devotees alike.
Bob left McLaren in 2002 and returned home to New Zealand. Since his
return he has been involved in race driver management and undertaken
a successful European test session with a promising New Zealand
driver.
He makes presentations to various companies and organisations, is a
trustee of the Motorsport New Zealand Scholarship Trust, a committee
member of the Bruce McLaren Trust, is closely involved with the
Toyota Racing Series and at the inception of the A1GP World Cup of
Motorsport international series he was appointed the CEO of A1 Team
NZL.
Awards:
Recipient in 2006 of the MotorSport New Zealand Personality of the
Year
Recipient in 2007 of the Motor Trades Association award for
Contribution to Industry
About the Book - Behind the Pit Wall - My Life in Formula One and
beyond. Written with Eric Thompson
Bob McMurray has seen just about everything in
motor sport — from the years working ‘behind the pit wall’ with the
McLaren Team and the high-octane adventure that was A1GP to Scott
Dixon winning the Indianapolis 500.If you want facts and figures, go
to the Internet — you won’t find them here. Instead, the book is
more like a bar-room conversation about Bob’s 30-odd years in
Formula One. All the interesting stuff.
Witness to cataclysmic battles, both on and off the track, when
political and personal egos clashed, he saw the bloody birth of
modern Formula One.
He was there, on the inside, as the world of motor sport morphed
into a financial behemoth, leaving the racetracks of the world
littered with severely crushed egos and destroyed careers. Witness
to paddock revolution, driver tantrums, spying, industrial
espionage, intrigue and more scandal than you could poke a stick at,
he also experienced a degree of friendship, fun, camaraderie and
team bonding you’d never expect to find in a cut-throat world of
high achievers. In an earthy look at the drivers who risked it all,
the Machiavellian machinations of the businesses running motor sport
and what it was like to be part of the growing pains — good and bad
— Bob McMurray tells it like it was as Formula One became a massive
global sport.
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