Designing Untapped Performance

The Cartier ‘Travel with Style’ Concours d’Elegance had many a gem on display. Judging and evaluating them were two of the best automotive minds of the decade. In a free flowing conversation , FHM India spoke to them about the past, present and future of cars. Here are some edited excerpts from what turned out to be, one of the most riveting and engaging conversations I ever had.

As a fundamental concept, how would you say has the car evolved?

Read FHM India in the digital libraryEvery issue, every shoot, on TCG Media.

Gordon Murray: We are in the middle of a great revolution around cars right now. For almost 120 years the car has been essentially the same. You had an internal combustion engine, a transmission, a drive, a chasis and a body. Now, the dynamics are all set to change. Even the ownership model for cars is set to change. Many people over 30 years of age in Britain don’t have a drivers license anymore. Furthermore, many youngsters don’t want to ever own a car. Thanks to rapid urbanisation and an even more rapid modernisation,

Peter Stevens: There are two ways to look at it. One would be to say that in the last 100 years, it has changed very little. It still runs on a liquid fuel and has four wheels. It brakes and steers as you want it to. The other way to look at it is from an anthropological lens. Cars have had a massive impact in modernisation and urbanisation of the society. It has also led to an urgency that propels the ever so fast development of the society. Cars have helped the middle class mobilise themselves, in a manner which allows them to move about when they want to, how they want to and where they want to. In a way, cars are the most democratising machines ever to be built in the last 200 years.

What are your views on autonomous driving?

GM: I am very optimistic about it. I reckon in another 20 or 25 years, we will have cars that people wouldn’t recognise. My team and I, at Gordon Murray Designs are working on an autonomous car that is unlike anything that you have ever seen before. It has got no steering wheel, no pedals, nothing. You just sit in and go around. You don’t even need to face the way you are going. That being said, I also realise that my generation is probably the last one to have a passionate and deep attachment with automobiles. Yes, there is the idea of heritage and legacy with a few cars and there will always be people who are passionate about cars, but that number is diminshing.

PS: I had a very interesting conversation with my daughter the other day regarding autonomous automobiles. She is a lawyer, and she said, that when autonomous cars become the norm, the lawyers are going to have a field day and make a fortune. In case of an accident, who do we hold accountable? The person who wrote the proramme, or the person who approved the porgramme? Do we hold a mechanic, who fitted a faulty part or a manufacturer who made a part that was not up to the mark? How will the homologation authorities approve of a programmme? Do they test it using their systems? How do they factor in anomalies or even improvements? Today, with limited autonomy, we have the drivers who can take control of the car, if a situation arises. But what happens when they do not have the option to do so? Needless to say, I am very not convinced. You cannot take the human element out of the equation. Anyway, artificial intelligence is not intelligence really, it is just a quicker way of assimilating and processing data.

Gordon, how different is the process of designing a Formula One car and a road legal car.

It is completely different, mainly because of the packaging. In Formula One, every millimetre counts. Suppose you want to move the battery a little, or even want to change the size by a few millimetres. You will have to see what all components need to be altered, what effect will have that on speed and the durability of the components. You don’t have any such concerns with a streetcar, even if it’s the fastest car in the world. There is also the concern of a budget. In Formula One, if spending a million dollars on a new washer design will ensure that the car goes one tenth of a millisecond quicker, we will do it. essentially, money is no object, its only the lap time that matters. On street cars, profit maximisation is what manufacturers are really interested in. The developments and changes reflect that.

Peter, you have developed cars in both India as well as Europe. From your experience in India, where do you think we stand?

I have been coming to India regularly for the last 12 years and I can safely say, as a nation, India has evolved tremendously. Apart from snobbish reasons, I really don’t see any reason of buying an imported car. This may seem strange to the people here, and from where you sit, but from outside, this is what most people actually believe in. It is reckoned that it took the Japanese 30 years, and the Koreans about 20 years to really find their stride. With India, it took them hardly 10 or 15 years. There still is a long way to go, but the pace of development that I have seen here, in India, is tremendous.

Then there is also the Indian creativity that we have to consider. Creativity and craftsmanship is extraordinary here, as opposed to China, another market where the automobile industry saw a massive explosion. The Chinese copy what Mercedes, and BMW do, whereas the engineers in India, find a solution to the problems that are unique to the subcontinent. En itiatur? Ad qui ut aut et, quat.

From the April-May 2019 issue of FHM India.