M-Sport Member Spotlight​

Campbell Murray

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Campbell Murray, our Transmissions Supervisor at M-Sport, leads a crucial team responsible for managing the gearboxes of our championship-winning cars. Below is an overview of his experience with the company.

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How long have you been with M-Sport, and how did you come to work here?

I started here in May 2000. I was working for Toyota at the time, and I spoke to Malcolm Wilson on a Portugal Rally and as I was thinking about moving back from the UK from Germany, I asked him if there were any jobs going at M-Sport and it went from there.

 

Have you always been in transmissions?

No, when I started at M-Sport I started in the Workshop and I think I did two years in there, and then I moved into the Engine department, but I cannot remember exactly how many years I was in there, it was approximately nine or ten years and then I moved into the transmissions department.

 

Have you worked on any specific projects?

Back then it was always only the World Rally Championship rallies and then in the Engine department it was mainly customer car engines and then we started doing our own engines for the team after that. It was the Ford Focus when I first started in the workshop, so we were on Focus engines and then we moved onto the Ford Fiesta engines. Then I moved onto the Ford Fiesta in transmissions. We did Bentley gear boxes as well. In the beginning it was all rallies, but on the transmissions side I went to two or three events for GT3 Bentley as well, which was quite interesting. It was nice to go because it was something different but I much prefer the rallies when we moved around different countries. Once we went to central services, that comes much more circuit racing, so your based in one area so I prefer to travel around. But now I don’t go on many rallies.

 

What skills do you need as and what’s involved in your role?

You need a good understanding and a general knowledge of how things work. You need to have good attention to detail, because everything needs to be perfect. Theres no second chances, once its built up and gone in the car, especially now they have some linked rallies so it needs to last for a couple of events, which has changed, because when I first started doing engines you basically rebuilt the engine after every rally for the team cars, the customer cars they had to last a bit longer and last the season. But yes you need to have a good eye for picking up any wear or any flaws on the components, so yeah general knowledge of how it goes together.

 

Do you see yourself in transmissions forever?

Who knows, if things change, I’ve still got a few years to keep going yet, but if things change who knows. The likes of electric cars for example don’t have a gearbox, so who knows what the future brings.

 

You mentioned working for Toyota, what were you doing there?

I was a mechanic building the cars in the Workshop and going on events and testing rallies. I started my trade as an apprentice in a little local garage and went from there. I used to go rallying with my friends and do a little bit of co-driving and was interested all the time. I actually applied to Ford before it was Malcolm Wilson’s place and wasn’t successful at that point, but then I found a way of getting into Toyota and I was pleased to get that and moved to Germany and stayed out there for a couple of years and like I say moved back over here to work for M-Sport.

 

So, have you always been into rallying?

Yeah, rallying is more my thing than circuit racing. Formula One bores me. I’m interested in the Formula One with some of the teams and the technology, and I’m interested in Bike Racing but rallying is my main interest.

 

What’s the best thing about your job and what is your most memorable moment? 

It was fantastic when we first won the Championship in 2006 with the WRC rally team, that was quite an achievement. There's been lots of memorable moments, winning championships. Things like the Bentley when we won the Bathurst race. Lots of memorable moments. I wouldn’t say there’s one in particular that stands out anymore than the rest, just seeing your work be a success is the best thing.

 

Do you have any hobbies outside of work?

I used to play Rugby, although I gave that up a few years ago. I play Golf, I also play Badminton and I’ve just started to learn to play Squash, so I try to keep myself active and busy. Both my sons play Rugby, so a lot of my weekend is spent travelling round the country to watch them play. I watch Rugby on the TV, football isn’t my thing, and I don’t really watch Formula One, but I did used to watch the qualifying sessions for a while, because it was more interesting than the racing, the racing tends to be once they’ve set off its just a procession! In the summer me and my family have a house in Spain, so we enjoy going out there too.

 

Any plans for the future?

Who knows, obviously we started a new project with the Dakar Rally which will be interesting to see how that pans out. Hopefully we will have some success with that.

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