In our exclusive chat with the commentating legend we found out about his tank-driving exploits in World War II, how he tried to follow in the footsteps of his father, and what car he drives.

Trackside’s Keith Collantine spoke to the one and only Muzza.

I’m driving along a dirt track looking for Murray Walker’s house when I see it. I soon stumble upon a driveway lined by immaculately trimmed trees – and arrive at a handsome white walled building.

Murray ushers me into his study. There’s not a millimetre to spare on the walls packed with racing portraits. Shelves groan under the weight of more racing memorabilia than the Donington Grand Prix collection.

It’s extremely odd to hear such a familiar voice in conversation, instead of shouting over the din of two dozen racing cars.

And even more odd to see Murray Walker perched on a gym ball (presumably for medical reasons), teetering uneasily from side to side as he relates memories from a career spanning six decades.

From tanks to talking

Still at school when World War Two broke out, Murray was ready to go to war and chose to join a tank regiment. But he didn’t see action until 1942 when he joined the Royal Scots Greys as an officer and was stationed in Brussels.

Thanks to his time in the army he never had to take a driving test. He left the army in 1947 and began a career in advertising with Dunlop, but he also pursued a passion for motor sport.

He dovetailed his business career with commentating until 1982, the BBC having started full coverage of F1 seasons three years earlier. As he explains: “I retired from business in 1982. As far I was concerned until then broadcasting was a hobby.”

His first love – and it’s not F1…

Ironically, he has a greater sporting passion for motorcycle racing: “It’s my first love,” he admits.

He began commentating because he realised he couldn’t match the performances of his race-winning father. Murray said: “I started racing motor cycles after the war, I suspect – if I look into my heart of hearts - because I wanted to be like my father. But I wasn’t good enough to satisfy myself, never mind do well.

“I was very fond of my father, who was in my opinion was a great man.” And the senior Walker got Murray his break in commentating, as he explains:

“My father was supposed to be doing the BBC commentary at the Shelsey Walsh Hill Climb time trials that day but was unable to. They said to my father ‘you got us into this mess – you get us out of it,’ and he replied, ‘why don’t you try the boy? Can’t do any harm.’”

Murray worked side by side with his father for many years. After his death the memory of his dad spurred Murray on: “I was the BBC’s motorcycle man with my father from 1949 until 1962, when he died. Then I continued without him.”

Of course, most people associate Murray only with Formula 1: “I was a bit miffed when a chap came up to me at a motorcycle meeting at Thruxton one year and said, ‘What are you doing here? You’re a car bloke!’”

He still follows motorbike racing too and thought Nicky Hayden a worthy Moto GP champion: “Although he didn’t win any many races as Rossi, and is marginally an inferior rider, he was more consistent.”

F1 in crisis?

Murray called time on his F1 commentating career in 2001 and in recent years viewing figures have slipped. He blames what he calls, “The Schumacher factor” for turning people off:

“Brilliant though Schumacher and Ferrari have been, people don’t want to see the same team winning all the time. Hopefully this season will be different because we’ve got different winners, different cars, hopefully a much closer competition.”

Murray reckons F1 commentators have a tougher time than others: “The former head of BBC Sport Jonathan Martin used to say that the hardest sport of all to commentate on is motor sport. And particularly Formula One, because almost any other sport is completely within the eye of the beholder.”

“Commentators have to know what they’re talking about and they have to be able to communicate it. And thirdly – and this is where many of them fall down – you’ve got to be able to entertain. I am passionately enthusiastic about my sport and I want other people to like it.”

‘Arrogant’ Michael Schumacher

While Murray has never hidden his support for British drivers, he has no time for Schumacher’s critics either. He told me: “A lot of people, quite wrongly, thought that because he was German he was automatically arrogant.

“I fought the Germans and if anybody’s got a right not to like them it’s me. There’s good and bad in every nation and Schumacher’s a very nice bloke.”

Environmentally friendly F1

Honda made headlines last week with their ‘green’ F1 car, and Formula 1 is set to introduce environmentally-friendly technologies in the near future.

Murray’s take on the green debate is refreshingly candid: “I get so sick of people talking about the bloody environment.

“As far as Formula One – and road cars - is concerned I get extremely irritated with people wittering on about it. A full season of Formula One and testing consumes less fuel than one Boeing 747 flying across the Atlantic.

“If they stopped F1, it wouldn’t make any difference at all to the state of the environment. Transport itself accounts for 14% of CO2 emissions - I’m not saying that transport shouldn’t contribute to the solution, but what I am saying is that it gets disproportionate attention because it’s a convenient target.”

New British talent

Murray says: “I genuinely expect it to be a riveting, interesting, exciting and unpredictable season.”

And he predicts big things of the two Britons starting their first full seasons: “Lewis Hamilton is going to be a superstar. It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that he’ll win a race this year.”

“Anthony Davidson is a very nice person – I spent last season with him because he was the Honda test driver. I’m expecting him to blow his team mate Sato away.”

You ask the questions: retirement, cars and memorable moments

Alex Cooper from Sheffield asks: “Now you have retired, with the benefit of hindsight, do you feel that you got the timing right?”

Murray replies: “I didn’t stop because I wanted to - I stopped because age withers and I’m literally an old man.

“I wanted to stop with dignity, when I felt I was nearer the top than the bottom. It’s what Jackie Stewart did, it’s what Michael Schumacher’s done. It’s what Damon Hill should have done – and his father, Graham!”

But he didn’t hang up his microphone for good back in 2001: “I do the Australian Grand Prix for Channel Ten and the Grand Prix Masters series for BBC – but that’s only a few races. Doing 18 or 19 races a year with lots of long haul ones would just wear me out.”

James Hooper wants to know: “What car do you drive?”

Murray answers: “I’m a BMW fanatic. I’ve had about 20 BMWs – 3-Series – and I currently have a BMW 330d which I think is a fabulous motor car.”

Finally, Jamie Reid from Southampton asks: “What is your most memorable moment in his career in commentating, good or bad?”

After a long pause he answers slowly and carefully: “Damon Hill winning the Japanese Grand Prix – and the championship - in 1996. ‘I’ve got to stop now because I’ve got a lump in my throat’ is what I said – and it’s true. It wasn’t just something I’d written down in advance.”

“I’d known Damon since he was a child and I’d commentated on, and with, his father. I was very conscious of all the hard times Damon had gone through, there was an enormous amount of tension and naturally, as an Englishman, I wanted Damon to win!”

“For altogether different reasons, commentating live on the death of Ayrton Senna was one of the worst things that had ever happened in the history of motor racing.

“No one has ever been worshipped – ‘worshipped’ is the right word – as much as he was. And he was killed, live, in front of millions of people world wide. Having to commentate on it was an extremely unpleasant experience.”

Don't miss Murray's thought on all the teams in our 2007 F1 preview in Trackside this Monday.

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