It’s Formula One commentating legend Murray Walker’s 90th birthday today and we thought we’d celebrate by sharing some of our favourite Walkerisms.
For many Formula One fans worldwide Murray Walker is part and parcel of the sport they fell in love with.
Starting every race with his enthusiastic, “GO! GO! GO!”, Murray is well known as the Voice of Formula One and his voice is genuinely synonymous with F1 through the years, as are his bloopers – or Walkerisms as they’re affectionately known – which he’d make while getting emotionally over-charged in the thrill of an F1 race.
There is no doubt that without him Formula 1 would not be as popular as it is now.
What better way to celebrate Murray’s birthday than to take a look at our favourite Walkerisms. One of the best known Walkerisms of all time, and one we’d hear race after race is, “Unless I’m very much mistaken …”. Puts a smile on our faces every time.
Below are some of our favourite Walkerisms. Share yours with us in the comments section below!
Australia 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!”
Belgium 1996
“…and now, just in case there is any CONFUSION this is the race order on lap 19: David Coulthard leads and has yet to stop; Hakkinen leads and has yet to stop…”
Monaco 1981
“You might not think that’s cricket, and it’s not, it’s motor racing”
Spain 2000
“So while we wait for them to come on to the podium, and I’ll interrupt myself when they do…”
Malaysia 2000
Murray: “Wake up on the left, there! This is a terrific race going on!”
(A McLaren mechanic is lying down on the garage floor)
Monaco 1992
“We’re now on the 73rd lap and the next one will be the 74th.”
British GP
“There’s no damage to the car except of course to the car itself…”
Argentinia 1997
“I didn’t see the time largely because there wasn’t one.”
(Referring to the pit stop clock)
Qualifying, Imola 1997
“Ralf Schumacher, son of double world championship winner Michael Schumacher”
Imola 2000
“Michael Schumacher as I expected is extending his lead over Michael Schumacher”
Malaysia 2001
Murray: “You can see the cooling elements coming out of his balaclava.”
Martin Brundle: “That’s his hair.”
Here are a few more random Walkerisms:
“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”
“He is shedding buckets of adrenalin in that car”
“It’s raining and the track is wet”
Murray: “What’s that? There’s a BODY on the track!!!” ….
James Hunt: “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 Hunt: “No Murray, that’s his rear safety light.”
“Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin, unless this is the action, which it is.”
“And the first five places are filled by five different cars.”
“And an enormous gap building before Mika Hakkinen goes through in third position…when I say enormous it’s 1.5 seconds”
“I hate to be a Jeremiah, but I have to tell you that the clouds are lowering…”
How can these famous Murray Walker quotes not make any F1 Fan smile from ear to ear? 🙂 Happy Birthday Murray!
Let us know what your favourite Walkerisms are in the comments section below!
