A chartered accountant and entrepreneur, David Murray raced an ERA and then a Maserati in events all over Europe, and between 1950 and 1952 made four Formula One World Championship appearances but failed to reach the end in any of them. In 1951 while practising for the German Grand Prix he crashed and, so the story goes, realised his driving ambitions would not succeed and so turned his efforts and cash to joining forces with mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson, the pair founding the Ecurie Ecosse team. Originally based at Murray's garage business in Merchiston Mews in Edinburgh, the team expanded - Murray's final F1 drive was under the Ecurie Ecosse flag - and in 1956 and 1957 they won the Le Mans 24 Hour. But financial problems escalated through the 1960s even though Murray poured more of his money into it. In 1968 he was summoned to a meeting with the Inland Revenue and, fearing the worst, he fled to the Canary Islands where he died five years later from a massive heart attack following a minor traffic accident.

Martin Williamson November 2009