HOW I GOT HERE

GORDON’S FIRST CAR

‘I grew up loving speed. I wanted to race cars. When I was in technical college at Durban I designed and built my own car and engine and raced it in ’67 and ’68. That was my first car [the T.1, below]. It looked like a Seven but was lighter and sti er.’

MOVING INTO DESIGN

‘In building the car, I got into suspension design, spaceframe stress analysis, bump steer… In my second season, I realised South Africa was a dead end. The other 50 per cent of my love is music. In the winter of ’69, London was the centre of the universe, so that’s when I came to the UK.’

STARTING IN F1

‘I got an interview with Brabham and joined in 1970. I started as a design draftsman. Bernie [Ecclestone] made me chief designer in 1972. I was technical director at 26. After 17 years in F1 I’d had enough but then Ron [Dennis] courted me. I wanted complete control over everything technical. Ron agreed.’