WORDS Cameron McGavin IMAGES James Baker, Autopics.com.au, Walkinshaw Racing
T
he 2017 Virgin Australia Supercars Cham-
pionship is the year of the Kiwi. Australia’s
Supercars contingent, more often than
not used to maintaining a constant win-
ning presence in its own racing series, has
been enduring the kind of trans-Tasman whipping more
often seen on the rugby field.
It wasn’t always this way. Sure, talented Kiwis have
long prospered in Australian touring cars, but typi-
cally just one has stamped their boot on the statistics
at a time, such as Jim Richards or Greg Murphy. With
a posse of New Zealand talent currently tearing the
Supercars field apart, and Murphy’s own champion-
ship endeavours kicking off 20 years ago this year, what
better time to revisit the career of one of the all-time
Kiwi greats.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
Twenty-eight race wins. Four Bathurst 1000s. Two
Sandown 500s. Nine race wins at his Pukekohe home
track. Author of probably the most celebrated lap of
Bathurst ever.
Such statistics make Murphy’s arrival onto the Aus-
tralian touring-car scene seem inevitable. But for the
young Murph of the early 1990s, making a living out of
his passion didn’t seem possible.
“Being a racing-car driver wasn’t part of the equation,”
says Murphy. “It was so far off, so foreign and unobtain-
able. So I was trying to get myself into the NZ Air Force
and go and fly Skyhawks, then I contemplated going
into engineering.”
Winning NZ’s Formula Ford Scholarship, however,
set him on the path to his destiny.Twenty years ago, Greg Murphy got his full-time break in the Australian Touring Car
Championship following Craig Lowndes’ departure to Europe. It was the start of a
glittering, sometimes controversial but always interesting career that intensified the
generational change and the connection between talented Kiwis and our sport.
WORDSCameron McGavinIMAGESJames Baker, Autopics.com.au, Walkinshaw Racing
ONCE A WARRIOR
BELOW: Greg Murphy
reunited with Craig Lowndes
in the 1997 endurance races,
though this time he was the
lead driver.