when Gordon Murray talks, people should listen
December 28th, 2005It’s rare that we see something worth mentioning in Road & Track, but in the Jan. ‘06 issue MacLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray has contributed.
We found this checklist uncannily similar to our own:
I have a “real world” checklist when designing road cars: 1) size or perceived size; is the car intimidating to drive? 2) ergonomics; primary and secondary controls, pedals; 3) luggage capacity, cabin storage; 4) drivability, slow traffic engine characteristics, overtaking; 5) ride and handling; 6) ease of parking. A road car shold be designed with a checkmark against all six.
UPDATE
We saw another truth Gordon (and I) hold to be self evident in this month’s issue of Top Gear:
the weight and weight distribution… affects everything dynamically – acceleration, braking, cornering, steering, ride.
(An engine placed as close to the car’s center as possible does wonders for all of the above).
UPDATE 2
...I’ve learned that figures are not always everything – and that I, along with most motoring journalists and a large proportion of the car-buying public, have been misled by numbers… Our car culture has taught us to venerate 0-60 times and maximum speed figures. Some of us have even bought cars on the strength of them. In the real world, these numbers can be misleading at best and sometimes they can be totally inconsequential… maybe it’s time that journalists and road testers started measuring and emphasising characteristcs and numbers that reflect more accurately the performance of a car in a real-life situation. source: evo, Jan. ‘06