John Eric Murray (30 August 1907 – 11 December 1983), generally known as Jack Murray or 'Gelignite' Jack, was an Australian racing driver and sportsman, most remembered for his participation in the REDEX Round Australia Reliability Trials in the 1950s.
History Murray was born in Port Melbourne, Victoria, to Walter James Murray (orchardist in 1907) and his wife Alice Maud Murray, née Carse.
He was educated at Albert Park School, leaving at age 14 to work in a bicycle shop building pushbikes and working with cars, helping the mechanic. Jack laboured throughout rural Victoria, grape picking at Mildura, driving a tractor in Sea Lake, Victoria, and even worked as a diver's attendant on the Murray River for a few months until the river flooded. He soon was involved in motor racing activities, and in 1932 moved to Sydney, where he worked for a company testing Chrysler cars. By 1933 Jack and his brother Ray had a garage and service station 'Auto Service Ltd'. (unconfirmed) or 'Murray Bros', at the corner of Roscoe and Gould Streets, Bondi, which they ran until the mid-1930s. At this time, they purchased and moved their business, then called 'Murray Bros', to 94 Curlewis St, Bondi.
During World War 2, for about a year spanning 1944 to 1945, Murray was contracted to serve with the US Army Small Ships Section, based mostly at Finschhafen, Papua New Guinea, aboard a maintenance ship called The Half Rufus.
After the war, Jack and Ray continued their business at 94 Curlewis Street, Bondi, (referred to by all and sundry simply as 'The Garage') which they operated together from the mid-1930s to late 1971 when Ray Murray retired. There was a major fire which gutted The Garage late on the night of 30 April 1981. Repairs were made and the roof reinstated. Jack continued to own The Garage until his death in 1983. Ownership passed to his widow, Ena Murray (23 April 1915 – 24 July 2005), until her death in 2005. Their two sons, John and Philip, inherited the Garage jointly from their mother. From May 2017 The Garage was jointly owned by Murray's older son John Vivian Murray and John's son, i.e. Jack Murray's grandson, John Charles "Jonny" Murray. Three generations of Murray, including two sets of brothers have continuously owned The Garage since the mid-1930s. In 2017–2018 The Garage was leased by 'Carology'. The Garage has been leased as a mechanical workshop for over 40 years.
Motor sport Murray set the Hartley Hill (near Mount Victoria, Blue Mountains) hill climbing record in a Terraplane in 1933.
In 1937 Murray embarked on an around the world trip travelling through Europe and America. He was a spectator at race events in Britain and also the AVUS circuit in Germany, where he saw 'a little guy who was all pomp' – Adolf Hitler.
Murray raced at many Australian circuits during his career, including Gnoo Blas, Orange where he held the lap record, Adelaide's Rowley Park Speedway, the Sydney Showground, Mount Druitt, Parramatta Park, Nowra, Marsden Park, Castlereagh Airstrip, Southport, Phillip Island, and Mount Panorama.
In 1952 Murray won the Australian Sprint Championships, held at Castlereagh airstrip, driving his Cadillac-Allard J2.
In the 1964 Senior Trials Championship, Jack came second and Dave Johnson, good friend and fellow inductee into the Australian Rally Hall of Fame, won best navigator.
Crossroads Alice 1965 Murray enjoyed testing motor vehicles and oils, as well as travel — any opportunity or excuse where a group of mates could get together and set off on an adventure of some kind. He and Evan Green frequently paired up to share the fun. During November and December 1965, the duo undertook just such an adventure, one that became the documentary film Crossroads Alice. The trip was designed as a test of BMC (Austin 1800 and a Morris Mini Deluxe) cars and Castrol oil. The vehicles completed a 12,000-mile (19,312 km) Figure 8 crossing of the Australian continent. Over the years 'Gelignite' Jack competed in seven round Australia trials and many adventure trips testing cars, lubricants and drivers.
Murray competed in both the 1966 and 1967 Southern Cross Rallies driving a Prince Skyline GT with registration plates JM789. (DNF both events).
Car versus Plane 1968 As Murray and Evan Green were preparing to compete in the London to Sydney marathon later that year, the question was: ‘How could two rally tested veterans best prepare for days and nights of endless driving?’ Clearly, the answer was: ‘Spend days and nights endlessly driving. But why not make it interesting, and race a plane as well?’ Another adventure lay ahead.
At noon on Friday 26 April 1968, Jack and Evan set off from Essendon Airport, Melbourne, to race a Morris 1100 cc ‘S’ against a light plane around Australia. The boys drove day and night, living in the car, and managed to circumnavigate the continent in eight days and six hours, covering around 10,000 miles (16,000 km) in 197 hours and 40 minutes.
The details are a testament to both Jack's and Evan's endurance and ability to spend many hours behind the wheel. The tachograph showed 192 hours 45 minutes, which included 22 hours 15 minutes of breaks (12 percent of time), covering 9,682 miles (15,581 km) with an average speed of 91 km/h (if taken on actual driving time) or 80 km/h on average overall. Top speed between Norseman and Carnarvon reached 82 mph (132 km/h).
The light plane was restricted to flying during the day only. The plane was restricted to eight hours a day as neither pilot was licensed to fly at night. The car crossed the finish line in Melbourne only eight hours after the plane.
Car versus train 1971 Murray and his radio mate John Pearce teamed up again to undertake a 'Race the Train' dash from Sydney to Perth. This nonstop drive took 46 hours, and the boys ended up beating the train by an easy seventeen hours.
Mount Panorama events
Murray was a competitor at the 1946 NSW Grand Prix in a Bugatti/Ford Special previously owned by Ron Mackellar. He was fastest overall (1 hr 26 mins 24 secs for the 100 miles) and second-fastest (109 mph, 175 km/h) on the ‘flying quarter’ section, but fifth in the (handicapped) race. He declined the prize cheque, as he had his eyes set on representing Australia in the wrestling event of the 1948 Olympic Games, and did not want to lose his amateur status. Jack was NSW State Wrestling Champion in his 84 kg division in 1946. Jack asked the chairman of the organising committee to divide the £65 prize money between the Bathurst and Woolloomooloo Police Boys’ Clubs in order to retain his amateur sportsman/wrestler status. He competed in the 1947 Australian Grand Prix in a Bugatti Type 39/Ford 3.6L known as the Day Special, but was forced to retire having completed 29 of 38 laps. He competed in the 1948 NSW Hundred at Mount Panorama in the 'Day Special' finishing 9th. The Day Special was variously referred to as a 'Bugatti-Ford' or 'Edelbrock', as the 1925 built, Type 39 Bugatti chassis had been subsequently fitted with either an Edelbrock or Grancor Ford V8 engine. He raced the 'Day Special' again in the 1949 All Powers Long Handicap but did not finish. The Day Special frequently overheated. But Jack fared better in the 1950 New South Wales 100, when he placed fourth, with a flying quarter mile speed of 119.2 mph(192 km/h), the Day Special now equipped with a Grancor V8 engine. In March 1951 Murray competed in the REDEX Bathurst 100 in an Allard J2/Cadillac 4.4L. He also drove an Allard J2 in the REDEX 50 Mile Championship in October 1951, but was forced to retire in both of these events. He drove the Allard/Cadillac in the 1952 Australian Grand Prix, and came fourth, and the Bugatti/Ford Day Special in the 1954 Bathurst 100, when he came seventh. The 1967 Gallaher 500 was held at Bathurst Mount Panorama on 1 October 1967. This would prove to his last race on the Mount Panorama circuit.
The year 1967 marked a 21-year career span for Murray racing at Bathurst. He had raced the Mackellar Special, the Day Special, two Cadillac-Allards, a D-Type Jaguar and sedans such as a Ford Pilot, Ford Cortina GT, Morris Elite and Prince Skyline GT.
Murray set the fastest time in the 100-mile 1946 New South Wales Grand Prix at Mount Panorama.
In 1950 He won an event recording the fastest lap time, reaching 119 mph (192 km/h) down Conrod Straight.
In 1952, driving the Cadillac-Allard J2, Jack placed a credible fourth in the seventeenth Australian Grand Prix.
Throughout his 21 years of driving at Bathurst, Jack achieved many scratch, handicap or class placings: first (1), second (2), third (7), fourth (6), fifth (4), sixth (1), seventh (1), ninth (1), thirteenth (1), fifteenth (1) and thirty-fourth (1). Of course, race cars being race cars, there were a few DNFs and DNSs.
In 1960, in his D-Type Jaguar, he was clocked at 150 mph (240 km/h) down Conrod Straight.
In 1965, almost 20 years after first racing at Bathurst, the 'old men in wheelchairs' Murray (58) and Bill McLachlan (48) placed fifth overall and third in class driving a Ford Cortina Mk 1 GT 500. The younger brigade took note.
The REDEX Reliability Trials There were three major REDEX Reliability car trials held in successive years: 1953, 1954 and 1955. It is a little-known fact that there was also a series of much shorter REDEX 1000 trials held in the months preceding the long distance REDEX events. In both 1953 and 1954, Jack had class wins in these events – a portent of things to come. In 1954 there were also REDEX motorcycle and REDEX plane events.
These events were not races as such, nor were they 'rallies'. Rallies are timed to the second, not minute, and are more often conducted on closed roads, rather than open public roads. The winner of a rally is the fastest car from A to B. The REDEX events were termed 'reliability trials'. Very strict rules ensured that vehicles available to the general public were used, with few modifications, and replacement of parts was strictly limited. Along the way, competitors were required to meet and comply with set times established between control points. Being more than five minutes early or late on their scheduled time of arrival at fixed controls attracted a one-point penalty for each minute discrepancy. A margin of three minutes late or early per hour was allowed for secret controls to allow for possible speedometer error, and discrepancies between officials' and competitors' watches. It was a nervous navigator's worst nightmare.
The competitors who completed the trials with the lowest number of accumulated penalty points were declared the winners. Elimination sections, used to separate and test both competitors and cars, were a feature of the REDEX trials. Seemingly unrealistic and unobtainable times were often set between control points on these difficult sections.
1953 REDEX 1,000 Mile Trial This 24-hour event was staged over 2 and 3 May, starting and ending in Sydney and ran through the Blue Mountains and the back roads behind the Jenolan Caves. It had been made the 'hardest ever' by torrential rain; Murray won his Class A (395 pts lost) and came second overall to D. H. (Peter) Antill (305 pts lost), one of only nine to complete the course.
During this trial, at one stage Jack became lost. Australian Motor Sports, June 1953, wrote:'Still no track, and then salvation. A swagman was strolling down the road towards them. Firing a few questions at him and then sweeping him into the back of the Customline, Murray slid the car into the bush at the pointed out place and commenced a fearful dice down to the control. Their at-first willing passenger became petrified in the rear. As the car slithered to a halt at the control the swagman was out like a flash and into the scrub.' Only in Australia, and certainly only back in the 1950s, would a swagman ever come to the navigational rescue of a competition trial car.
1953 REDEX Reliability Trial