"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!!"
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...
From the Spanish GP 1995: "and Eddie
Jordan is in fifth place"... (actually Eddie Irvine in one of his compatriot
Eddie Jordan's cars).
"...and he's lost both right
front tyres" (which may have been accurate back in the days of the Tyrrell
P34, but it was from 1995!)
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."
Clive Stonebridge:
"And there's the man in the green
flag!"
"The Jordan factory is at the factory
gates"
Mike Griffiths
"...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
'and I interrupt myself to bring
you this....'
and the catchphrase 'Unless I'm very
much mistaken....I AM very much mistaken!'
Colin Reed
"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
"...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?]
"We're watching the Finnish Driver
who is third, but he won't for very much llllong...oh yeah, he might be
actually"
"And an enormous gap building before
Mika Hakkinen goes through in third position...when I say enormous it's
1.5 seconds"
"Schumacher is still the fastest
man on the track, not only by virtue of the fact that he leads the Australian
Grand Prix, but he also holds the fastest lap"
"Eddie Irvine with smoke pouring
up from the eng...I suspect something's locked up and he's out of the race"
JP: "And Alesi spins there...spins
out of the race, surely... "Yes!...NO! Alesi manages to keep the engine,
does not stall, but of course he will have lost the place I think. No!
he's kept the place"
"Yes, the beauty of this race is
that it is totally unpredictable"
"Michael Schumacher leading Damon
Hill by four tenths of a second or so, because it's moving...[cut to Hill
under Schu's rear wing] AND THAT'S NOT FOUR TENTHS OF A SECOND! That's
Michael Schumacher!"
Anthony Long
"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
...but Here is Now and There is Damon
Hill [PF adds: nice bit of Iambic Pentameter there]
Steven Wheeler
"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
`Ukyo Katayama is undoubtedly the
best formula 1 driver that grand prix racing has ever produced' [then again,
there's probably people on the net who believe this….]
...and the Peugeot cup of misery
is filled past overflowing...
Chris Simpson
Murray: "And there are flames coming
from the back of Prost's car as he enters the swimming pool."
James: "Well, that should put them
out then."
John McIlroy
Rallycross at Lydden Hill. "And Keith
Ripp comes round Chesson's Drift, avoids the Hatter's bank..." [upon which
little yellow Mini commences its ascent] "... BUT HE DOES NOT!!!!!" [Mini
now 30 feet in air, lands heavily and performs six rolls before stopping]
"...and BANG, BANG, OVER, OVER goes the Mini..." A quality moment.
Ted Henderson
"Alesi is in second place and Hill
is in second place..."
"As you can see, visually, with your
eyes..."
Andrew Wood
"Andrea de Cesaris...the man who
has won more Grands Prix than anyone else without actually winning one
of them."
Steven Jeffery
"And here comes Berger, out of Tabac
and into the swimming pool." -- Gerhard wasn't emulating Alberto Ascari
[and Paul Hawkins], however, and carried on past the swimming pool!
Anthony Holloway
'Oh that's the Forti, and, it looks
like, err, its Roberto Moreno's car , the err Brazilian .. I was going
to say the elderly Brazilian , he's only 36 but he's actually the oldest
driver in the race at the present moment, though he's just retired from
it!'
'Hill, Hill ... Hill is in, he's
beneath me now.. .and he's got slicks! its slicks! he got a new set of
slicks! this is strange' (as it was raining!)
Erik Michael
"....Schumacher crosses the line
to start another lap, and there's nothing there!"
Helen Gerald
'Right underneath me, Michael Schumacher!'
'Jonathan, you're the ace forecaster...'
(really?)
'I hate to be a Jeremiah, but I have
to tell you that the clouds are lowering...'
'The plot thickens, because the Williams
team are out now.'
Tony Jardine; 'The Benetton man doesn't
know what day it is!' (Who does?)
(as the coverage flips back and forth,
missing the interesting bits) 'It's not my job to produce the programme,
so I'll say nothing!' (Good point, Murray, definite 'could do better' for
the French producer)
Mike Bees
and (during one of the practice sessions
"... this is the part of the circuit where the Williams tends to be, not
tends to be is slower than the Benetton historically, today."
Jon Jennings
"And an enormous gap now building
before Mika Hakkinen goes through in third place. When I say enormous,
it's one and a half seconds."
"The Benetton handling superbly as
ever. Williams have worked very very hard on this car at the beginning
of the season."
"That's not four tenths of a second.
Look at it. It's Michael Schumacher."
J G Gilmartin
(talking about bumps and puddles
in the circuit, which Jonathan Palmer used to test on when McLaren had
Honda engines.....) ".....and there's few [drivers] that know them more
and even less better than you Jonathan....."
Charlotte Giles
And we have had 5 races so far this
year, Brazil, Argentina, Imola, Schumacher and Monaco!
And Damon Hill is coming into the
pit lane, yes it's Damon Hill coming into the Williams pit, and Damon Hill
in the pit, no it's Michael Schumacher!
Andy Lawton
Monaco:-
"And there's a dry line appearing
in the tunnel" (pause while he realises what he's just said) "Obvious really
as it has a roof"
[PF: that's one of only two Walker
GP commentaries I've missed, one when I was in the USA (I see what they
mean about Daly and Varsha!) and Monaco '96, and by God I wished there
was some dry there, I got thoroughly soaked!]
Belgium:-
"And the Williams pit are getting
ready for Hill, the tyre coolers are coming off"
M Kowal
Belgium '96:
"...and now, just in case there is
any CONFUSION (operative term here) this is the race order on lap 19: David
Coulthard leads and has yet to stop; Hakkinen leads and has yet to stop..."
Ross Mansell
"The McLaren is being pushed by the
Mercedes"
[PF: Given '95 and early '96 McLaren
performances, who knows!]
Courtesy - Graham Digweed
"A Mars a day helps you work, rest
and play" [he once worked in advertising]
"Bolster's gone off!" [his first
words on the BBC in 1949] [PF: John Bolster was later technical editor
of Autosport and himself known as a BBC commentator in later years, usually
working with Raymond Baxter]
"Nigel Mansell - the man of the race
- the man of the day - the man from the Isle of Man"
"An Achilles heel for the McLaren
team this year, and it's literally the heel because it's the gearbox"
"And now the boot is on the other
Schumacher" [PF: One I suppose we'll see lots of next year :)]
"The atmosphere is so tense you could
cut it with a cricket stump"
"Alain Prost is in a commanding second
place" [PF: Worthy of Nigel Roebuck at his most Prostophilic!]
"Now the Frenchman Jacques Lafitte
is as close to Surer as Surer is to Lafitte"
"I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies
which immediately turn out to be wrong" [Murray on his style of commentary]
"I am inclined to go over the top
and I know it. I am communicating an electric situation"
"I like to think I come over as a
slightly over-the-top enthusiast. It is a very exciting sport after all"
[after Derek Warwick spun at Monaco
ending up facing the wrong way...] "Now he must not go the wrong way round
the circuit, and unless he can spin himself stationary through 360 degrees
I fail to see how he can avoid doing so."
[possibly Murray's most ecstatic
moment when Mansell passed Senna to win in Hungary after starting well
down the grid] "He's going for it! OH MY GOODNESS...HE'S THROOOOOOUGH!!!"
"We're now on the 73rd lap and the
next one will be the 74th." [Monaco 1992]
"James has just nipped out to have
a look at the far side of the circuit" [Actually James Hunt would leave
the commentary box to smoke a joint!]
"If they have any shillelaghs in
Suzuka, they'll be playing them
tonight." [after Eddie Irvine's 6th
place in his first grand prix] [PF: I think Eddie and Ayrton Senna were
using shillelaghs correctly somewhere else at about that time :)]
"He's watching us from hospital with
his injured knee"
"In his quiter moments he sounds
like his trousers are on fire" [Clive James on Murray Walker]
"Mansell is slowing it down, taking
it easy. Oh no he isn't! It's a lap record."
"It's not quite a curve, it's a straight
actually." [PF: I assume this is actually referring to the Tamburello at
Imola]
"And Senna wins the 1999 Monaco Grand
Prix" [from the 1990 Monaco GP] [PF: Alas…]
[hysterical as ever] "And that's
Alboreto OFF!" [long pause - somber voice] "Now Michele Alboreto did not
in fact qualify for the race, so how we managed to see him go off I don't
know. We'll let you know." [Even longer pause, now laughing] "Now I'm
not a technician, but it appears
a shot of Michele Alboreto going off in qualifying has crept into this
live transmission, thank you Mr. Producer, anyway that was qualifying,
this is the race..."
[Alesi, then in a Tyrrell, was passed
by Senna at Detroit, or was he...] "And Senna's going through on the inside,
or is he, YES!, but now Alesi has the inside, side by side, Alesi! Wow!
Great Stuff!" [PF: It was, too - one of the finest battles for years!]
Jan F Eveleens
Hungarian GP
"This race will actually develop
into a Grand prix"
'..and Damon Hill is following Damon
Hill'
'Jean Alesi is 4th and 5th'
'Schumacher has made his final stop
three times!'
'And he has been lapped 9th, 10th,
11th' This was in reference to Jacques Villeneuve, who was leading at the
time, and there were only 11 cars running anyway!
'Nigel Mansell had a problem with
the wheel-nut on his Williams, then he went on to win brilliantly for Ferrari!'
And finally, one from the Nurburgring.
Jacques Villeneuve is just making the last turn on the last lap. 'I'm going
to stick my neck out here and say that Jacques Villeneuve is going to keep
the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher behind him and win his first GP....'
Mark Iliff:
"And the car upside down is a Toyota"
[PF: At the time, Toyota were using the slogan "The car in front is a Toyota";
in this race, both works Toyotas took each other out…]
Tom Hickey
Hungarian GP
"It has all come alive in Hungary.
There is the proof! Williams! Benetton! Ferrari! The Benetton is Berger
and the Ferrari is Damon Hill!"
Ritchie Swann
"And Damon Hill is going under the
drier part of the Monaco circuit, that's of course because it's got a roof"
"And that just shows you how important
the car is in Formula One racing"
"I know it's an old cliche, but you
can cut the atmosphere with a cricket stump"
"And Olivier Panis justifiably wins
such a well deserved Grand Prix" (in which Hill, Schumacker, Alessi, Berger
and Villeneuve all came off and only 4 out of 20 drivers finished) [PF:
I beg to differ. I was there, Panis drove mightily all weekend, and was
extremely quick in the wet. Admittedly, the guy who most deserved to win
was Frentzen, but…]
"People ask me who's going to be
the next Hill, the next Schumacher, and I keep saying to watch out for
Mika Salo" (Salo crashes a few laps later)
(Schumacher is coming out the pit
lane ahead of Villeneuve) "And Schumacher overtakes Villeneuve. Oh, no
he doesn't! Oh, yes he does!"
"Stop! Stop! Look! Look! It's a Williams,
and I'm guessing that's Jacques Villeneuve, I can't tell you for sure because
I can't see from here. And so Villeneuve retires .... it's Hill! Damon
Hill is out of the Monza Grand Prix!"
and of course the all time classic
"They're now on lap 68, which means
there's one, two, three, four, five laps to go before the end of the Hungarian
Grand Prix" (hey, kids, learn to count with Murray.....)
Henry Malt
My personal favourite is from a British
GP, describing a pit stop. "And he's done that in a whisker under 10 seconds,
call it 9.7 in round figures".
C A Hayton
"And the brilliant Williams duo of
Graham Hill and Gilles Villeneuve are turning this into a magnificent race"
David Thorne's
"Into lap 53, the penultimate last
lap but one"
The Emu
"Nigel Mansell is the last person
in the race apart from the five in front of him."
(Suzuka, 1996, talking about when
he was hit by a wheel) "It hit me, and I felt it."
Andrew Laird
Nelson Piquet pulled into the pits
for a a tyre change in his Brabham, and Murray says: "I'll stop my startwatch"
James Chapman
"And Damon Hill is six.....1!2!3!4!5!6!
seconds ahead!", "Schumacher started 22nd- he's gone past 21!20!19!18!17!",
"And Hill congratulates Schumacher.
They're not bosom buddies, but they're not far off!" (Hill was actually
critising Schumacher for heavy-handed driving tactics after the 1995 Belgian
GP).
Mark Hewitt
"There goes Panis in the Prost. For
years we knew them as Ligiers, because that is what they were called."
O D Griffiths
And I usually say that if anything
is going to go wrong with the car, it has done by now, but I'm not going
to say that about Jacques Villeneuve.... Oh, I already have. (Brazil 1997)
Simon Tyers
'And Michael Schumacher is in the
pits!' (he was out by then,although he was probably in the garage or somthing.)
A J Waite
"Rally points scoring is 20 for the
fastest, 18 for the second fastest, right down to 6 points for the slowest
fastest."
Kevin Brownless
Murray: There's a car coming into
the pits now, they're so unreliable with all those electronics on board.
James: Actually, Murray, one of
his wheels has just fallen off!
Karen Hyland
1986 Australian Grand Prix: And OFF
SPINS PIQUET - Wowee!
And LOOK AT THAT ... out ... that
... and colossal ... it.. that's Mansell ... that is NIGEL MANSELL (Nigel
Mansell's infamous tyre blowout)
Spin, spin, spin - round, round,
round he goes (Senna completing a 900 (!) degree spin at the approach to
the Hairpin onto Pit Straight)
The backwards-facing camera from
Martin Brundle's car saw the McLaren bearing down on it like Jaws... (Senna
running into the back of Brundle's Brabham)
Rachel
This referring to Rubens Barichello's
pit stop time: "I didn't see the time, largely because there wasn't one."
"The two Britons running in second
and third, Irvine and Fisichel...Herb...er...oh..."
"And remember that Jacques Villeneuve
is a SICK man." Referring to Jacques' illness during the race.
Robert Chafer
'and thats one of the mechanics using
a feeler guage to measure the depth of tread in the slick'.
Rhian Morris
"and this is ralf schumacher the
youngest driver in f1 at only 21 yearS old, and of course he is the son
of twice world champion Michael!" (PF: Any rumours that Gina Maria Schumacher
already has an F3000 drive are entirely false, of course!)
Tod Condliffe
Monza 96. Remember those stupid tyre
stacks on the kerbs which got scattered around the track on the first lap?
Camera cuts to single tyre in the middle of the track. Murray:" And look
at that tyre! Someone had better go and get that quickly. (As if on cue,
marshall runs out and grabs it) WELL DONE LAD!!!!!"
Qualifying Imola 97 "Heinz-Harald
Frentzen. The man with all the luck, and it's all bad." (admittedly this
only happened last weekend so chances are it wouldn't appear in the web
site, but still a good one, don't you think?)
Michael Padreny
Murray: Eddie Irvine is in the pit
lane.
Camera flashes to an empty Ferrari
pit with mechanics milling about. Martin: "I think he ... ahh ... didn't
come in."
A little later when it was obvious
(to Murray) that Eddie didn't come in. "We all make mistakes, and I certainly
made a whopper there."
Near the end. "He (Jackie Stewart)
will not produce a winner, but if he can produce second, it will be the
next best thing."
Bruce Kennewell
"...and if you look back 4 seconds...no,
31 seconds...!" (Murray Walker invents Time Travel, Imola, 27th. April
1997)
Richard Tinker
"And Panis is almost literally laughing
his head of in that car."
George
(This occurred when Eddie Irvine
was give a 10 second penalty for blocking in the Spanish GP)
Murray : FERRARI OUT !!! (of the
race) Thats Eddie Irvine ! !
Martin : That's Eddie Irvine taking
his 10 second penalty there.
(this occured just AFTER Coulthard
had attempted to pass M. Schumacher and failed)
Murray : And Coulthard is now on
the inside, AND HE'S GOING THROUGH!!! (add appropriate excitement)
Martin : That's a replay, Murray.
Murray : .... while I tell you the
retirements are Barrichello, Mika Salo, NAKANO, Damon Hill and SHINJI NAKANO.
(He somehow excluded R. Schumacher and Katayama who had also retired at
this stage.) #
Richard Gunn
"If I was Michael Schumacher....
which of course I am not..."
T Windeyer
"And the track temperature has in
fact risen in degrees!"
Simon Baker
"Well he's world champion, and we
only get one of those a year."
Matthew Butchers
"And the first three cars are all
Escorts, which isn't surprising as this is an all Escort race"
Alan Moseley
"I should imagine that the conditions
in the cockpit are unimaginable!"
Dana and Ian Minter
"And will Jacques Villeneuve be racing
with Williams next year? Well, we will only know that in the future."
Don Lutes
The camera was with Hakkinen for
awhile and Murray was talking about him. Then it switched to Coulthard
who of course was leading. Then Murray starts talking about "the flying
Finn in front from Scotland"...
Barnaby Burman
"We're watching Ralf Schumacher...
son, of course of double world champion Michael Schumacher..... er, the
brother of Michael Schumacher...."
Jason Stead
"And I can now tell you that Eddie
Irvine is in the pit lane! " (Actually, Irvine drove straight past the
entrance to the pit lane and into his next lap...)
Mark Oliver
1996 British Grand Prix: "And there
go the Red Arrows, they'll be back home in Lincolnshire in just four minutes
" Five minutes later the Arrows fly over my house and into RAF Brize Norton
- 40 miles south of Silverstone!
anon.
"And that piece of water on the right
is not the St. Lawrence Seaway,\ it is the olympic rowing strip which I
have walked down."
Gideon Moore
"Barrichello, when asked yesterday
how he thought he would go tomorrow, which is now today..."
Brian Kelty
"A battle is developing between them...I
say developing because it's not yet on."
Christine Hood
"Hello...hello...three wheels, three
wheels on my wagon... but.... OH!!!!..... it's Nakano..." (Murray speaking
as if it's a perfectly natural sight to see Shinji Nakano driving along
with only 3 wheels)
Shanika
On Martin's apparent offer to drive
for some team:
Martin: "Eeally Murray, I couldn't
bear to lose you. I'd miss you too much!"
Murray: "Flattery will get you everywhere!"
After Vil's horror pit stop: "If
looks could kill then everyone in the Williams pit would drop dead!\ Because
Patrick Head has a face like thunder!"
"Well, that's not bad team work,
that's not bad drill, that's not bad organisation, it's just BAD LUCK!!
And that is something you don't expect to happen!"
On the order: "Ferrari leads, McLaren
second, McLaren second, Jordan third and Benneton\ Fifth and sixth." (Hey,
I thought he could count laps!)
On Ferrari pit stops: "And the Ferrari
team are getting ready to bring in Schumacher or is it Irvine? Well, it
could be either. I suspect that its going to be Irvine because he clearly
cannot do anything about Ralf Schumacher in front of him. He might as well
come in and change his tyres and wheels and hope that in effect he will
have a quicker pit stop than Schumacher has when he comes in and pass him
in the pits to gain a place and move up in the points. But we will see."
Martin: "Look! Its Schumacher coming in!"
M. Iliff
"Schumacher wouldn't have let him
past voluntarily. Of course he did it voluntarily, but he had to do it"
Marc Rasker's
"And here is Gabriele Tarquini in
3rd place who has already driven for 31 Formula One Grand Prix teams....
Ahum.... i don't know if we've have that many but i'm sure that if we did
so Gabriele didn't drive for all of them!!!"
Steve Corry
"....and Berger finishes his flying
lap to begin a quick one..."
Michael Hingston
"I can't believe what's happening
visually, in front of my eyes".
Shanika
Murray: How do they do that, Martin?
How does a man talk calmly and\ especially to his team boss, when Damon
in the situation he's in?
Martin: Well, you press a little
button on the steering wheel and start\ talking, Murray. There's a little
speaker in the front of your crash\ helmet..."
Roger Smyth
Murray - "First man out is Marques
in the Arrows. Of course he's going out early to generate some media interest"
Martin - "I'm sure he would generate
some interest if he went out in the Arrows because Marques drives for Minardi"
Roger Wesson
"Well, now, Villeneuve is now twelve
seconds ahead of Villeneuve"
Mike Kear
"The European drivers have adapted
to this circuit extremely\ quickly, especially Paul Radisich who's a New
Zealander"
Jason King
(MW was discussing Nigel Mansell's
way of keeping calm in the car -- reciting nursery rhymes over the radio...):
"The thought of, um... er Nigel,
twinkle twinkle little star, makes the mind boggle."
Tim Morson
During a BTCC race at Silverstone
a few years ago, Louise Aitken-Walker and James Weaver were dicing for
a midfield place, when Wheaver, in the BMW, unfortunatly miss timed his
overtaking manouver on the exit of Woodcote corner taking the both of them
out of the race. An extremely upset Aitken-Walker stomped over to Weaver's
BMW and told him in no uncertain terms exactly what she though of his passing
skills. To which Murray commented, "Hell hath no fury like a Woman being
rammed!".
Karl Greenow
"I've no idea what Eddie Irvine's
orders are, but he's following them superlatively well."
Bruce Leyden
After Irvine had shot off the front
of the pack: "And here comes Irvine, way ahead of the rest, now crossing
the road... start line, even..."
A rather frequent (but nonetheless
funny every time I hear it) Walkerism came when Murray was doing one of
his classic "Team Tactic Analysis" things... "If I was Michael Schumacher
- and I'm not..."
When Hill held up Schumacher..."
'Out of my way, Damon!' says Schumie 'Come on... Out of my way...' Finally,
the current World Champion lets the World Champion through."
And, back when Irvine did his 'scalded
cat' thing at the start: "Andandandandandand! And look at Irvine!!!!!"
Joe G
"I don't know my Madrids from my
Jerez" (to which Brundle was heard to chuckle 'shall I cancel my hotel
in Madrid then?')
"David Coulthard's engine sounds
more like a Zeppelin than a Mercedes"
Rich Wood
"Stewart have two cars in the top
five - Magnusson 5th and Barichello 6th" -- Nurburgring '97
Adam Soffer
"Frentzen is taking, er..., reducing
that gap between himself and Frentzen."
"And Derek Warwick is driving an absolutely pluperfect race"
Albert Williams
and Nakano is being lapped, will he pull over ... he does .. Shinji, you are a Japanese Gentleman! (nice one Murray .. HE CAN REALLY HEAR YOU!)
Martyn Breed
Murray: Ferrari won't be developing their car anymore this season,
Brundle: How do you know that?
Murray: I was there when I said it
"The two McLaren drivers are so hot they look like 2 fried lobsters in silver
suits"
"That's history. I say history because it happened in the past"
"David Coulthard in his nun's outfit"
Mark Steele
"Rene Arnoux is coming into the pits ... lets stop the startwatch"
Peter Yapp
"IF... is a very long word in Formula 1..."
Danny Tipper
"..in fact IF is F1 spelt backwards!"
Kim Andrews
"It's lap 26 of 58, which unless I'm very much mistaken is half way"
"BMW who are entriely new to F1... since they left it so long ago."
John Herdman
"Two McLarens on the first row of the grid, two Ferarri's on the first row
of the grid..."
Chris Garrick
Melbourne 2000 - Murray on M Schumacher's fight for championship glory with Ferrari:
"...and it's something he's been trying to achieve since he left Benetton in 1958!"
Stéphane Léger
"Blown it for Ferrari!!!......Blown it for Irvine!!!.......I don't know what happened, but there was a major malmisorganization problem there!!!"
Graham Kelly
Monaco GP 1982
"Patrese's going again. He's just gone past us but with no hope of
catching Pironi, who goes into the tunnel for the last time ... IS THAT
PIRONI STOPPING? IT IIIIIS! MY GOODNESS - THE THIRD LEADER IN TWO
LAPS!"
Commentating on Malcolm Wilson driving a Mk II Escort through a rally
stage
"And for real, spectacular driving - watch this!"
[Wilson rolls the car approximately 5 seconds later]
Louise Hine
"..and Micheal Schumacher is leading Micheal Schumacher"
Marcus Hastings
Imola 1994: (circulating behind pace car) "And this is the scene from Ayrton
Senna's mirror... sorry, from his camera!"
Barcelona 1993: "And Prost is going for it! With Senna- with both of them!
James Hunt: "That's a replay of the start."
Adelaide 1992: (Shouting with excitement) "...And Berger challenges for the lead!
AND TAKES IT! WOWEE! No he doesn't! Patrese takes it back. Now that
its a classic example of overcooking things!"
Silverstone 1988: "Nigel Mansell has come up from 7th to 6th to 4th to 5th and now to
3rd, and this is lap 23!"
Monaco 1981: (Water is pouring onto the track in the tunnel) "...and that could
be, to put it very mildly indeed, suicidally dangerous"
Gideon Moore
"And here comes Mika Hakkinen, double world champion twice over..."
Matthew Johnson
During an on-board shot in a BTCC car, the driver points at the car in front
and gives him a two fingered salute to which Murray says "You're first and
I'm second to you!"
Again, during and on-board shot of a BTCC race, the driver gives the car in
front a one fingered salute, and Murray covers for the younger viewers with
"I'm going for first!"
Jim Pitter
When Mansell was disqualfied from Portuguese GP "Its Senna, its Senna," Pause, "its either Mansell or Senna."
When Mansell was driving for Williams and used to lead by over 30 seconds " Mansell has made himself a
comfortably cushion, well, its actually more like a lounge suite."
When Pedro Diniz Sauber caught fire " Fire! Fire!, Diniz in the oven"
When Schumacher left garage to start qualifying run - "Heeeaaarrrs Michael"
Ian Stewart
BTCC at Silverstone where John Cleland is stuck behind a smoking car,
John sticks his fingers up at the car behind and Murray replies
"Yes, John you're still second"
"Keke three happy years with Williams including a world championship"
Keke Rosberg puts 4 fingers up
"Keke four very happy years with Williams including a world
championship"
Detroit 1982, Murray is describing John Watson's surge up the field, A
race he went on to win - "He's going through the field like a hot knife through butter"
BTCC at Donington, Derek Warwick's Alfa hits a BBC camera - "He's broken our camera lens that'll be six grand please Derek"
Rallycross and boxer Barry McGiugan rolls his Vauxhall Nova at the first
turn - "I bet he wished he'd stayed in the ring"
Snetterton 1993, a big pile-up at the start of the BTCC race show an
on-board view of Jeff Allam's involvment in the crash - "Allam's in trouble, Matt Neal has hit him, they'll be some panel
bashing tonight I can tell you"
A quote on Formula 1 99 for the PlayStation - "If you haven't got you're heart in your mouth, then you jolly well
should have"
Monaco 1988, where Murray is saying that been a crash in this race - "There hasn't been a real crash in this race....BUT THERE IS ONE, BANG!,
oh my goodness that's Phillipe Alliot" (Not to my suprise that it was that clumsy Frenchman)
And James Hunt was a bit surly on him too, Jerez 1990 when Mansell just
lapped him in his Ligier and he tries to fight back but (unsuprisingly)
crashes - "And Mansell was a bit worried about that ridiculous piece of driving by
Alliot"
Rallycross "I think that's it, I don't think Gollop has a chance
of.....YES HE IS!!!, YES HE IS!!!, I was just about to say that Will
Gollop hadn't got a hope of passing Martin Schanche when he did it in
front of my eyes"
Monaco 1993 "Now is Damon Hill going to go through, because this looks
like a slow pit stop, HILL IS LEADING, Damon Hill goes through and
Ayrton Senna is still in the pit lane"
A few minutes later - "And Ayrton Senna IS still in the lead, I'm sorry it was Alain Prost
that went through"
The same race and Jean Alesi and Riccardo Patrese are battling for a
position - "Are they gonna through, or are they going to touch wheels, they've done
that, Patrese has held his place, and that means that...Oh Sorry!! Alesi
has held his place"
Brazil 1989, and as Nigel Mansell crosses the finish line, Murray seems
to be pre-occupied about the idiot crossing the track (So it wasn't only
Hockenheim 2000) - "What a fool running across the track, a raving lunatic"
"And that's the big disadvantage of getting you're line wrong"
"And the other four non-qualifiers are the two Ligier's of Stefan
Johansson and Rene Arnoux, Julian Bailey's Tyrrell, and I couldn't
remember the fourth one"
Mexico 1990, Mansell's famous overtaking manouvere on Gerhard Berger
unsuprisingly led Murray into his usual excitement "AND MANSELL GOING
ROUND THE OUTSIDE, INCREDIBLE!!!!"
Canada 1997 And Jacques Villeneuve spins out of his home race, causing
Derek Warwick to correct Murray - M.W "And Heinz-Harald Frentzen Spins out at Montreal"
D.W "It's Villeneuve, Murray"
M.W "IT'S VILLENEUVE, JACQUES VILLENEUVE IS OUT OF THE RACE"
Brands Hatch BTCC in 1995, John Cleland's crash "Cleland loses it in a
big way, into the tyres and off, OH JARB!!"
Croft 1997 "And this is James Thompson in the Honda and this is a spin
in this is the armco and this is not what's supposed to happen"
"You might not think that's cricket, and it's not, it's motor racing"
Monaco 1981 after Gilles Villeneuve crosses the line "One of the most
exciting Grand Prix's in a sucsession of exciting Grand Prix's"
"Freedom of Budapest for Bernie Ecclestone. Theres a laugh. He could buy the place and still have enough left for Berlin."
John Gibson
Look up there!! That's the sky!!!'
David Crick
A good example of the famous Murray Walker kiss of death (from Brazil 2000):
Murray : "McLaren - if they can keep going of course - are going to close up on Ferarri in the Constructors Championship, a bit, becuase....."
Martin : "Problem!"
Murray : "Into the pitlane comes the race leader Mika Hakkinen." (to retire).
From the British Grand Prix 2000:
Jim R.: "[It's over to] the big Easter Bunny of Formula 1, Murray Walker."
Murray: "I don't know about the big Easter Bunny, Jim. I used to go to the
Bunny Club in Park Lane quite a lot, but my wife's watching the programme
so enough of that!"
"Jenson Button is in the top ten, in eleventh position."
Spain 2000:
"Aaaand look at this..."
"The man who is going against the grain, literally, in terms
of tyre choice is Michael Schumacher."
"...and Barrichello goes through - wow! Fantastic, fantastic!
Barrichello takes both of them, Michael goes down to 5th place
and Ralf Schumacher goes to 4th!" (some real racing gets Murray
going on full throttle)
"I remember in Imola, I went up to three Union Jack-wrapped
chaps after Nigel Mansell had won a race, and said 'That wasn't
bad, was it?', and they said 'Que?' - they were all Italians!"
"So while we wait for them to come on to the podium, and I'll
interrupt myself when they do..."
Nurburgring 2000:
Murray: "It would be wonderful for David Coulthard, for McLaren and
for Britain if he could get Pole Position, because he has yet to get
one this year, and I have seldom been anything like as much impressed
as I was by his dignity and fortitude in the face of enormous adversity
at the British Grand Prix meeting two weeks ago."
Martin: "I was in Spain a few weeks ago, Murray. I think we were both
there."
Murray: "Just making sure you were awake there, Martin. Glad you were."
"So let's assume that Michael Schumacher wins this race, whoa!"
(Schuey slides on a white line just as Murray talks about him)
Monaco 2000:
"And in front of David Coulthard, the scarlet McLaren of four-times
Monaco Grand Prix winner, Michael Schumacher."
James: "Situations like this, Murray, sometimes give rise to the
funniest little things. There's one portable toilet at the end of the
pit-lane. Michael Schumacher decided immediately upon rejoining the
grid he wanted to go to it. And shortly afterwards Mika Hakkinen and
Ralf Schumacher arrived and had to stand in an orderly queue while
Michael spent a penny, and they all came back out again."
Murray: "So the Germans got to the loo first of all."
Canada 2000:
Ron Dennis may have got the CBE - and he richly deserves it -
but having successfully overcome the combined efforts of two
very determined security men to prevent me getting into the
commentary box, I think I deserve one too!" [You'll just have to make do with your OBE then
Murray!]
"Coulthard is the only man who is holding a candle to Michael
Schumacher, and that candle is under the Ferrari's rear wing,
because Coulthard is now within half a second of Schumacher's
Ferrari."
Germany 2000:
"There's three Germans here at Hockenheim in the race tomorrow,
if they all qualify. Four Germans - the Schumacher brothers,
and Frenzten and Heidfeld." (Murray does Python)
"When you walk round the Hockenheimring, it's quite a spooky feeling,
because you've just got these enormous, dark, satanic pine trees all
around you, and it's as quiet as a mouse."
"This is, very literally, the calm before the storm."
"I have to say it again - in Formula 1 anything can happen, and it
usually does. And everything has happened in this quite amazing
motor race."
"Frentzen attack! attack! attack!"
"If you believe in Ferrari get down and pray, because
Rubens Barrichello is on his last lap on what is looking
like his first victory."
Hungary 2000:
"Totally unpredictable, what is going to happen in this race. All
that you can say at the present moment is that the two fastest men
this year in Hungary are up at the front on the grid."
"Two lights on, three lights on, four lights on, five laps on..."
"McLaren and Ferrari have won six races each this year. Mika
Hakkinen has won three, David Coulthard has won three, Michael
Schumacher has won five and Rubens Barrichello has won five."
Belgium 2000:
Murray is interviewing Jenson Button in the Williams hospitality
area. From where he is sitting and with the angle of the camera,
part of the signage is obscured so now reads "MW.WilliamsF1Team".
(Murray finally lives his dream!)
"Replay through the Bus Stop of Jarno Trulli. And those kerbs with
their saw teeth - s-a-w - really do give the car and the driver a
shaking."
Murray: "...5th is Jenson Button, terrific stuff.."
Martin: "Third, now!"
Murray: "AAAND LOOK AT THAT! THIS YOUNG MAN IS INCREDIBLE!"
Murray: "Button into the right hander and out of it, and the gap
between him and Mika Hakkinen IS A MERE THREE TENTHS OF A SECOND.
IF HE KEEPS THIS UP HE'S GOING TO GO UP TO THE SECOND PLACE ON THE
GRID, BECAUSE JARNO TRULLI'S TIME WAS 7-TENTHS OF A SECOND SLOWER
THAN THAT OF MIKA HAKKINEN. LOOKING SMOOTH, LOOKING CLEAN, LOOKING
TOTALLY IN CONTROL OF THINGS. INTO THE BUS STOP, OUT OF THE BUS
STOP, OVER THE LINE WILL GO JENSON BUTTON AND HE IS IN
. . . . . . . . . . . ."
Martin: "Stays third."
(Murray sounds totally crest-fallen, or maybe just out of breath!)
"Yes! Jean Alesi has just gone round in 2 minutes and 2 seconds,
so that's three seconds faster in the Prost than Alesi in the McLaren."
Italy 2000:
"Mazzacane competed in Touring Cars and the obligatory kart racing
and in Formula 3 for a couple of years before he went to the
inevitable Formula 3000. Although it's not so inevitable these days
- Jenson Button has avoided it and so has Luciano Burti."
"But Jarno Trulli is not having a nightmare as he comes down to
the Barrichello for what will be the last time..." (unfortunately
for Murray, the Italians have not yet named a chicane after the
Brazilian!)
"Ferrari are having a bit of a renaissance here in Italy."
USA 2000:
"The amazing thing to me is that this 2.6 mile Grand Prix circuit is
all inside the Super Speedway at Indianapolis, which is actually a
slightly shorter lap length than the Grand Prix circuit. Seems
strange, but it's the twisty bits that do it."
"Three very interesting personalities from our point of view -
David Coulthard from Twynholm, up in Scotland; Jenson Button
from Bicester; Jarno Trulli, the Italian - and James Allen,
the Englishman, has some news for us."
"I feel a bit like a starving man in Harrods food hall, and
it's great."
"Two World Championship leaders on the front row. Mika
Hakkinen, 80 points. Alongside him, Michael Schumacher,
78 points. Mika Hakkinen on the second row of the grid..."
"This is Ayrton Senna in reverse."
Martin: "And look - Mika Hakkinen waving his arm. And maybe
he doesn't realise - I mean it's the first time ever he's racing
that Minardi for position."
Murray: "And Mazzacane is in third place, he's in a podium
position! He's not going to give up - he should do of course! Now
where are the blue flags?"
Martin: "No, there are no blue flags, Murray. He's in third.
He should not have a blue flag. He is racing for position."
(Murray seems as confused about it as Hakkinen!)
"Mika Hakkinen WAS two points ahead of Michael Schumacher.
If - capital I, capital F - IF Michael Schumacher wins this
race, he will be eight points ahead of Mika Hakkinen."
"Have you ever seen so many people at a Formula 1 Grand Prix
before? The answer's no, because there haven't been as many!"
Murray: "[This could] be [BAR's] first ever finish in a race
with both their cars in the points."
Martin: "I hate to tell you, [but] Villeneuve and Zonta
finished fourth and sixth in the very first race of the year, to
give them a BAR-two-cars-in-the-top-six."
"Well, we've seen Ferrari sell a magnificent, enormous dummy
- big enough to put in an elephant's mouth, never mind a baby's -
to Jordan and Frentzen."
Japan 2000:
Jim R.: "We're a bit worried about these earthquakes. Did the
earth move for you over there?"
Murray: "Not only the earth Jim, but the commentary box as
well! It was the most incredible experience."
"So, up to the hairpin, which is the slowest corner on the course,
of course - with the possible exception of the chicane."
"He's picked up the gauntlet. He saw it lying on the ground in
front of the Ferrari, and Michael Schumacher is going for his
8th Pole Position of the year."
"Looking good for his 8th win of the year, which would make him
World Champion for the third time. But let us not count any
Ferrari chickens before they are hatched."
Malaysia 2000:
"Mika Hakkinen told an absolutely side-splittingly funny story [at
Johnny Herbert's farewell party], about an experience he'd had with
Johnny Herbert, but since this is a family show I'm not going to
repeat it."
[Apparently, the Finn came back one day to their room, to find
Herbert naked in the bath, playing with a rubber duck. 'It took
me months to recover from the shock', joked Mika. -- David]
Murray: "David looking very chipper." (as he fiddles with
his ear plugs)
Martin: "Yeah, it's always worrying if they drop inside
your ear when you put those ear plugs in, you know. You have to
fish them back out again, Murray."
(Murray pauses then starts laughing)
Martin: "I am joking! There's a void in there, most racing
drivers have a void just the other side of the ears, and the
ear plugs can actually fall all the way in sometimes."
Murray: "Sid Watkins, one of the world's top
neurosurgeons, who looks after all the medical things for the
FIA, said he recently had to do a brain-scan on a driver's head,
and found nothing inside it, which didn't surprise him."
Martin: "Hakkinen frightened his way past Villeneuve, and
you don't do that too easily to Jacques Villeneuve. A great move
there from Hakkinen."
Murray: "Wake up on the left, there! This is a terrific
race going on."
(A McLaren mechanic is lying down on the garage floor)
Ian McRae
"and the rain came down and washed the circuit dry"
Mike Kallmeier
........and Schumacher has just completed lap 77 out of 73.
Keith Muldowney
"...and HERE COMES DAMON HILL IN THE WILLIAMS!!!!.....this car is absolutely unique!....except for the one behind it....which is exactly the same..."
Gary Cullen
"Coulthard leads the Europe GP, and now all he needs to do is avoid trouble, OH THATS COULTHARD
OUT!!!"
Murray: "Thats a Benetton upside down" Martin: "It's a Sauber"
" The Jordans lead on lap 40 and errr.. If you haven't got your heart in your mouth then you jolly well should
have!"
"Damon Hill leads as Ayrton Senna sits in the pit lane!"
Moments later.. "ayrton Senna leads, it was the lapped car of Alain Prost that went through."
from Malaysia:
Murray:(on hakkinen jumping the start.)"The advantage of jumping the start is that you can get away a lot quicker."
Martin; "I don't get what you're saying."
Sam Wong:
"And Michael is lapping about two seconds a lap slower than his brother
Michael." (when M Schumacher was about to lap R Schumacher).
Jason Dunn
Murray:"And another one off, these gravell traps arnt slowing anybody down"
Martin:"That because there aren't any there Murray !"
Rob McWhinnie
Its the blackest day for grand prix racing since I started covering the sport
Derek Franson
Germany 2000: Well, where's Mr. Half-wit now...
(referring to the former Mercedes employee on the track)
chs
Suzuka 2000
"B.A.R are 4th in the constructors championship, this is an excellent
performance considering their debut year in 1991!"
Belgium 1995 an after-race interview with Damon Hill
M.W "I have to tell you after the race when you were talking to Michael
[Schumacher] I said that it proves that you are good friends with him,
was it not that sort of conversation?"
D.H " Well not suprisingly Murray, you were wrong!"
"Martin Schanche's car is absouloutely unique except for the one behind
which is identical"
"Renault team-mate's Alain Menu and Will Hoy are 1st and 2nd with James
Thompson's Renault in 3rd"
M.W "Here comes the Minardi of Marc Gene!"
M.B "That's Badoer Murray!"
"You can't see Alesi's Ferrari because it isn't there!"
BTCC at Thruxton 1993
"Julian Bailey's Toyota is 1st, Cleland 2nd, Winkelhock 3rd, Cleland 4th
and Bailey 5th, Hang on! it's Cleland leading with Bailey in 2nd,
Radisich 3rd, and Bailey 4th, these lap times are seriously confusing
me!, right I can now confirm that Winkelhock leads with Cleland 2nd,
Bailey 3rd, Radisich in 4th and Soper 5th, Sorry Radisich is in 3rd and
Bailey's 4th!"
"Hard luck for Mansell, there he is, Mansell leaves the pits as I talk
to you (the scene cuts to Mansell's Lotus), and that is Mansell.....well
I can't understand..but he must have been going into the pits!"
BTCC Brands Hatch 1994 Jeff Allam spins off as photographers loom!
"And that's Allam of, OK to take a picture mate!"
BTCC at Donington 1996
"Biela leads with the two Volvo's of Rydell, Burt and Menu are 2nd, 3rd
and 5th!"
Hockenheim 1988
"Senna 1st, Prost 2nd and Berger 3rd that makes up the top four!"
Everett d'Entremont and Louise Weavers
Melbourne 2001
"if that's not not an engine failure,then i'm a chinaman"
Gavin Robinson
BTCC at Snetterton 1997 : "Menu leads Plato second and Rydell is third with his Volvo team-mate
James Thompson's Honda in fourth!"
"Senna is 3rd with Mansell 2nd and Piquet 3rd!"
Rallycross : "Martin Schanche is leading here but Schanche attacks a
back-marker for the lead!"
"Here at Brands Hatch Will Gollop has a clear lead over Will Gollop"
BTCC 1992 : "With Tim Harvey in the lead by a clear margin it looks all but over but look at Will Hoy in second he is flying and Harvey's lead might be
challanged here, all of you out there watch Hoy!" (Hoy crashes out as
soon as Murray finishes!"
Rick Woolley
Found the following to be a particularly good Walkerism during
2001 San Marino Grand Prix. Murray was trying to decide the strategy
of the field, and made the following observation, almost as a one
sentence statement.
"Are they on a one stopper? Are they on a two stopper? When I say
'they', who do I mean? Well, I don't know! It could be, any way!!"
What would we do without him??!!
Matt Wilkins
Responding to Martin's quick notice of a Schumacher puncture -- Clearly visible due to a flapping left front:
"Well, Spotted Murray! Now, could you actually see that, or do you just instinctively know it to be true?"
(Perhaps Murray suspects crystal balls will replace the monitors in the booth?)
"This will be Williams' first win since the last time a Williams won."
Murray: "And Barichello has a good chance to pass Trulli here..."
Martin:"Actually, those waved yellow flags will prevent that in this section"
After Montoya expresses his frustration over yet another retirement: "Montoya, chipper and upbeat as
usual..."
And finally,
"It looks very good for Williams, unless things change, and everything always changes in Formula One."
Sue Haasler
Imola 2001
"I¹m in my usual state up here in the commentary box: high tension, heart beating like a trip hammer, whatever that is."
"So Ralf is the man in the lead and Ralf is Schumacher."
"Are they on a one-stopper? Are they on a two? And when I say they, who do I mean? Well, I don¹t know. It could be anybody."
James Leroux
(after Frentzen spins in Monaco qualifying)
"And look at his hands there. It's amazing what can happen if you press the wrong
button; you can wind up getting a drink instead of maximum throttle."
David Crick
Australia 2001
"If I was Paul Stoddart, I'd be nipping out with the Box Browning
right now to take a photo of the timing screens, because Alonso is
in third position, ahead of his team-mate Tarso Marques."
"Jean Alesi is reborn. Last year he was driving a car that he
couldn't have done well in even if it had had two engines in it,
nevermind one."
Murray: "Now we go on to another 16 races, the next one
is at Brazil, Sao Paulo, in two weeks time."
Martin: "I'm going to Malaysia, first, Murray."
"And David Coulthard does stay ahead of Coulthard."
"It will have been another victory for the Ferrari quartet -
Michael Shumacher, Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne, and, to
make it five, Paulo Martinelli."
Malaysia 2001
"Lots of action still to come - carry on James!"
Murray: "That's Ralf Schumacher, you can see the cooling
elements from his balaclava helmet sticking out over his
forehead." (he keeps talking then realises...) "They're not the
cooling elements - " (laughing) "that's his hair!"
Martin: "I can't think of a one-liner to come back in
there, Murray!"
Murray: "Neither can I, except 'What am I saying?!'"
"This is a powerboat race, it's not a Formula 1 car race."
"Here's a sobering thought - despite his 46 wins, Michael
Schumacher is still 100 points behind the biggest points winning
driver of all time, Alain Prost." (yes, but there are still a
maximum of 150 points left up for grabs this year alone...)
Imola 2001
Murray: "And you can see that [Irvine]'s really having
to fight the McLaren as he comes round."
Martin: "I think Irvine definitely wishes it was a
McLaren!"
"As ever, I say the man you have to beat first of all in a
team is your team-mate."
"The difference between the Benetton and Minardi budgets; well
there must be a word bigger than 'enormous', and that is it."
Monaco 2001
"It seemed a bit odd to be getting an award for enjoying
yourself for the whole of your life!"
"Seven one-hundredths of a second off the pace - it is nothing.
But nothing can be a great deal in Formula 1."
"LOOK AT THAT! THREEEE TENTHS OF A SECOND FASTER THAN MIKA
HAKKINEN'S LAP, AND - ooooh dear Mika, David."
James: "Mika Hakkinen sitting in the car with his head
rocking gently forwards and backwards."
Murray: "He'll need to get his right foot rocking
backwards and forwards extremely vigorously from now on!"
"Sunshine by the truckload, glamorous women by the regiment,
Grand Prix racing's most charismatic location - that is
Formula 1 Monte Carlo style."
"A black, black race for the grey and black McLaren team."
Kirsty Smith
"There are 7 winners of the monaco grand prix on the starting line today and
four of them are Michael Schumacher"
Cai Marle-Garcia
From the Monaco Grand Prix qualifying session in 2001
"And the session will start in 3....8........9........0!"
From Hockenheim 2000
"There's a Ferrari in the wall! That must be Rubens Barrichello......tha..that must be Rubens Barri......or is it
Schumacher! It's Schumacher!"
From the Spanish Grand Prix of 2001, Murray is giving us the top six, after Hakkinen retired on the last lap.
Murray Walker: "So Michael Schumacher has won, Montoya is second, and Hakkinen is third."
Martin Brundle: "Yes, remember Mika Hakkinen retired on the last lap though Murray....."
From Hockeinheim 2000
Brundle: 2 McLarens running line-astern, who will come in first?
Walker: Well,...
Brundle: If Coulthard goes around surely he'll catch the safety car
Walker: And,....
Brundle: And Mika is in Murray!
Walker: Yes, and...
Brundle: And look, Coulthard has to go around!
Walker: Well yes, they gave preference to Mika as I expected.
From the Monaco Grand Prix of 2001
"So this being Michael Schumacher's 10th race in his 151st year in F1"
James Leroux
"Now a tenth of a second is a blink of an eye. But when you're in the territory
those two (Schumacher and Hakkinen) are in, you have to blink EVEN QUICKER!"
Geoff Hewitt
"A sad ending, albeit a happy one"
David Crick
Murray: "It's Michael Schumacher fastest - he's already
had eight pole positions this year - Hakkinen, Coulthard,
Barrichello, Heidfeld, Schumacher, James Allen..."
James: "I haven't had any pole positions this year, but I'm
down in the Ferrari garage."
"...Louise Allen..."
"Ralf Schumacher is in eighth position, behind Nick Heidfeld
seventh, Rubens Barrichello, Louise Goodman..."
(out of nowhere and completely unrelated) "That young Damon
Hill looks more like George Harrison every day, doesn't he?"
"I was just fantasising about being in the back of a camper
with Beverley Turner."
James Bennett
Murray Walker: And now we have news from Louise Allen
Louise Goodman: Louise GOODMAN - Cheers Murray
Louise Goodman does her report and hands back with Murray Brundle!
"he is DOWN, DOWN, DOWN in the DUMPS, DUMPS, DUMPS."
Johnathan Hatt
And yet again, Damon Hill is modest in defeat.
This circuit is interesting because it has inclines and declines. Not just up, but down as well.
Jacques Villeneuve looks as if he is driving a Williams Renault motorboat. (Spain 96)
When it rains in Malaysia, it doesn't come down by the bucketful, but by the OCEANful. (Sepang 2001)
It looks as though this year there will be seventeen Grands Prix for the World Championship, compared with the traditional seventeen.
Now he must not go the wrong way round the circuit, and unless he can spin himself stationary through 360 degrees I fail to see how he can avoid doing so.
Fantastic!! There are four different cars filling the first four places!!
He can't decide whether to have his visor half open or half closed.
Either the car is stationary or it's on the move.
Even in five years' time, he (Coulthard) will still be four years younger than Damon Hill.
In 12th and 13th the two Jaguars of Eddie Irvine.
And Edson Arantes di Nascimento, commonly known to us as Pele hands the award to Damon Hill, commonly known to us as... Damon Hill!!!!
And Michael Schumacher is actually in a very good position. He is in last place.
There is nothing wrong with the car except that it is on fire.
James Leroux
"And Michael Schumacher is 37 seconds ahead, so he can refuel the car, change all four wheels, take off his helmet, have a smoke and a cup of tea, and rejoin in first."
Ian Dalby
' eight minutes past the hour here in belgium....and presumably eight minutes past the hour every where in the world'
"Reception"
Ralf Schumacher Michael has moved up to the position that..that...that...the
other one isn't
Bill Owen
Murray used to comentate on the British powerboat grand prix in the 1970's in Bristol Docks and two memorable quotes from there were:
"It's stopped raining now and the course is about to start drying out"
"The water here at Bristol is very rough so Renato Molinari and Tom Percival (the two top drivers) are running their long wheelbase boats this weekend".
David Crick
"And this section is twenty-three seconds long absolutely full
whack - but not for Bernoldi this lap, because he comes into the
pit-lane!"
"And it's Bingo! Geronimo! for Ralf Schumacher!"
Martin: "Hakkinen is about to put it on Pole Position -
the Old Man, the guy who's taking a sabbatical!"
Murray: "'So you can stick that in your exhaust
pipe,' he says to Michael Schumacher."
Martin: "This is Montoya in Turn 3, and really had to
turn into that slide as you would on the road in your road
car."
Murray: "I don't get too many slides like that in my
road car, Martin!"
Martin: "Well you're a very sensible chap, Murray!"
Murray: "Hullo! What's the significance of that [bag],
Martin? What's he got?"
Martin: "Must be the cash, is it?"
Murray: (laughs) "I don't think so - I don't think Bernie
would let that get out of his sight!"
Andrew Albury
Murray (To Damon Hill)): When did you realise that you had a puncture,
Damon?
Damon Hill: When my tyre went down, Murray!
Mark Hewitt : Editor, Murray Walker Quotes Page
It's left up to me to contribute the final quote. A classic just like all the rest. We'll miss you Murray!
"If the gloves weren’t off before, and they were, they sure are now!"