I was spring cleaning my mailbox when I came across this golden oldie. Maybe you've seen it before, and it's probably on the Net somewhere, but I'll cut'n'paste it here for your amusement
"He's obviously gone in for a wheel change. I say obviously because I can't see it"
"With half the race gone, there is half the race still to go"
"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough ?"
"Anything happens in Grand Prix racing and it usually does"
"Alboreto has dropped back up to fifth place"
"As you look at the first four, the significant thing is that Alboreto is 5th"
"I can't imagine what kind of problem Senna has. I imagine it must be some sort of grip problem"
"He is shedding buckets of adrenalin in that car"
"It's raining and the track is wet"
"And there's just a few more corners for Nigel Mansell to go to win the Canadian Grand Prix...and...he's going rather
slow....HE'S STOPPING HE'S STOPPING!"
"and this is the third placed car about to lap the second placed car"
"they say clothes maketh the man... the clothes are Niki Lauda's, but the contents are me..." as Murray prepares to take a drive
in a F1 car." [He gets a total distance of... oh, 1 foot before he stalls it.] (Apparently, this was the second attempt to film
Murray in an F1 McLaren - the first, earlier that day, had gone very well, but for technical reasons couldn't be used!)
[During a F1 race, describing how the leader can see the driver following him] "... Mansell can see him in his earphone..."
"So Bernie [Ecclestone], in the seventeen years since you bought McLaren, which of your many achievements do you think
was the most memorable ?" Bernie Answers, "Well I don't remember buying McLaren." [Bernie Ecclestone used to own the
Brabham team].
Murrary: "What's that? There's a BODY on the track!!!" James: "Um, I think that that is a piece of BODY-WORK, from
someone's car."
Murray: There's a fiery glow coming from the back of the Ferrari James: No Murray, that's his rear safety light
As an introductory piece for a rallysprint race, Murray was put in the Navigator's seat alongside Tony Pond in a Chevette HSR
(270 BHP, rwd, and TWITCHY), added an in-car camera, and wired Murray for sound. The result can be deduced by
extrapolating his usual excitement and enthusiasm, and adding a large pinch of raw terror! "And there's a 600 foot drop on my
left..AND we're doing 120 mph... AND we're approaching a hairpin...OH MY GOD we're going to die..."
[after a post race interview with Mansell after the Austrian GP 1987] Murray : "How did you get that nasty bumb on your head
Nigel?" [Nigel leans forward to show the camera as Murray pokes it with his finger !] Nigel: "OWCH!!"
And these are from Sylvan Smyth:
"...Cruel luck for Alesi, second on the grid. That's the first time he had started from the front row in a Grand Prix, having done
so in Canada earlier this year..."
James: "And now what's wrong with Prost's car?"
Murray: "It's not Prost's car it's that joker in the striped shirt!"
"Ah! Now here's Senna in the pits (for the black flag). No point in saying I wish I could lip read: I can't even see his lips!
There's Ron Dennis bending over at the right. This is A-! Out gets Senna! For whatever reason and I just hope we can get a
message about this. I hope we can get a message. Ayrton Senna with, with rage and impotent fury etched in every line of his
body, reluctantly drags himself out of the McLaren." (In reality Senna calmly stepped out of the car and walked away.)
"Well let's, uh, lugsh, luxurrriate in a little hypothesis and try to work out what, if anything, is wrong with Alain Prost." (Prost
was being caught by Berger late in the race.) "Has he got tire problems? Very unlikely. Is Prost having fuel trouble? Well, who
knows? I think it's a bit unlikely. Is Prost having gearbox trouble? I can't tell you. And since P, uh, Prost is unlikely to come on
the radio and let me know you'll have to guess along with me."
"ANNDD! We have a, uh, I - (laughing) - I, uh, I'm S- (still laughing). I have to eat humble pie again, for all the people out
there. Uh, we have a lap scorrring problem and, uh, I have to rather lamely tell you that, uh, it's still Gerhard Berger in 2nd
place. It's Berger in 3rd position. In four- in- in-. Um, Boutsen in 3rd position..."
"That's 55 laps completed by both Prost and Berger and and and and and the expeeerrrienced Alain Prost is really
responding."
Sylvan Smyth again: I only replayed my Brazilian GP tape because I vaguely remembered Murray saying "and" five or six
times in a row several years ago. I had forgotten what a Murrayism gold mine that race was. Some people don't like Murray. I
think some people should switch to decaf...
And here are some from Clive Stonebridge:
"And there's the man in the green flag!"
"The Jordan factory is at the factory gates"
And some from me:
Murray: And look at the flames coming from the back of Berger's McLaren
James: Actually, Murray, they're not flames, it's the safety light.
Murray, commentating on rallycross from Lydden, describes how a BMW driver has cut holes in his windscreen so that his
visibility is improved in all the muck... as he is doing so, the car crashes heavily into an earth bank...
Mike Griffiths: reports:
"...and there's no damage to the car.....except to the car itself."
"The beak of Ayrton Senna's chicken is pulling ahead"
Helen Gerald adds:
'and I interrupt myself to bring you this....'
and the catchphrase 'Unless I'm very much mistaken....I AM very much mistaken!'
Colin Reed has spotted the following:
"This is an interesting circuit because it has inclines, and not just up, but down as well."
"Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin, unless this is the action, which it is."
"This has been a great season for Nelson Piquet, as he is now known, and always has been"
"And the first five places are filled by five different cars."
Kevin Lee's observations:
"...the lead is now 6.9 seconds. In fact it's just under 7 seconds"
"Tambay's hopes , which were nil before, are absolutely zero now."
"You can't see a digital clock because there isn't one."
Stu Soltysiak:
"...and Blundell is doing very well in sixth position...in fact he's lapping 2.5 seconds faster than Blundell who is in fifth position"
[PF: Given the trouble Murray had with Brundle and Blundell perhaps it's fortunate that Mark's racing in the USA now. How
on earth will he cope with Schumacher and Schumacher?]
Anthony Long adds the following:
"The Italian GP at Monaco..."
"I'm applying intelligence and observation to the situation..."
"Schumacher's appeal for ignoring the chequered flag is next Tuesday."
...the enthusiastic enthusiasts... (Italy 1994)
"Martin's got a bald spot - he won't be pleased..." (Germany, 1994, as Brundle retires, and climbs out of the car. Murray stops
talking about the broken McLaren as soon as he sees Martin's head)
"...and Andretti is going very slowly - he must have an electrical problem of some sort... "(Andretti is touring on three wheels,
having hit something solid) [PF: this reminds me of several Ferrari retirements which were described as "electrical problems".
Mechanics would give the lie to this saying things like "yes, it was an electrical problem. A conrod went through the block and
knocked the distributor off!"]
Dave Oldcorn reports:
...but Here is Now and There is Damon Hill [PF adds: nice bit of Iambic Pentameter there]
Steven Wheeler gives us the following:
"So now you're looking at the battle between Frentzen and Herbert for 7th place. Heinz Harald Frentzen in the Sauber
Mercedes behind Johnny Herbert, behind him Johnny Herbert in his first race in the Ligier Renault..."
Evan Metcalf noticed this classic:
`Ukyo Katayama is undoubtedly the best formula 1 driver that grand prix
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