Gordon Murray, the world famous race car and road car designer is to be honoured by his alma mater, the Durban University of Technology.

The Mechanical Engineering graduate, of the then Technikon Natal, will be awarded the Silver Tusk award which is presented to alumni who have made significant achievements.

Murray built and raced his first home-built cars in Durban in the late 1960s and as a youngster he developed a passion for fast cars through the influence of his motor mechanic father and in 1969 his dreams led him to England.

Murray designed a series of new Brabham F1 racing cars and over the next 15 years won 22 grand prix enabling Nelson Piquet to win the world championship in 1981 and 1983.

In 1986, he joined McLaren International as Technical Director and two years later his Honda powered McLaren won 15 out of the 16 grand prix races and gave Ayrton Senna his first driver’s championship.

From 1991 to 2004, Murray headed McLaren Cars to design road-going supercars — the McLaren F1 and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren. During this time, he also designed the Rocket, an ultra lightweight roadster, as an independent project with The Light Car Company.

Last year Murray set-up his own company, Gordon Murray Design Limited, and is creating a radical, lightweight city car, with a new manufacturing process that aims to revolutionise the future of automotive production and the impact that personal transportation has on the environment.