James Allen Vs Murray

Ronan C

Am i the only one who thinks Murray made F1 sound like the passionate battle of man and machine that it is while James "I wonder how much fuel he took on in that stop" Allen is the most boring man alive who makes an F1 race sound like an algebra equation???

mike65

rofl! Yep Murray might send you doollally on ocassion but he lived and breathed F1 while he always worked well with his co-commentator, James Allen should get back down the pit lane and sniff the brake dust very hard!

Mike.

Ronan C

I especially hate the way James Allen gets all excited at the start and purposly says something cheesy to sound like Murray and then goes back to being a mathamatician for the other 70 laps. In my humble opinion Ben Edwards (of Eurosport's ChampCar days) should have been given the job

De Hipster

It used to really annoy me how Martin (I used to be a formula 1 driver, don't ye know) Brundle treated Murray like a degenerate senile old fart.

Some of the classic quote from the master Walker are hilarious though..."excuse me while I interrupt myself"

"He's obviously gone in for a wheel change. I say obviously because I can't see it"

"With half the race gone, there is half the race still to go"

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough ?"

"Alboreto has dropped back up to fifth place"

"As you look at the first four, the significant thing is that Alboreto is 5th"

"He is shedding buckets of adrenalin in that car"

"It's raining and the track is wet"

"and this is the third placed car about to lap the second placed car"

"they say clothes maketh the man... the clothes are Niki Lauda's, but the contents are me..." as Murray prepares to take a drive in a F1 car." [He gets a total distance of... oh, 1 foot before he stalls it.] (Apparently, this was the second attempt to film Murray in an F1 McLaren - the first, earlier that day, had gone very well, but for technical reasons couldn't be used!)

[During a F1 race, describing how the leader can see the driver following him] "... Mansell can see him in his earphone..."

"So Bernie [Ecclestone], in the seventeen years since you bought McLaren, which of your many achievements do you think was the most memorable ?" Bernie Answers, "Well I don't remember buying McLaren." [Bernie Ecclestone used to own the Brabham team].

Murrary: "What's that? There's a BODY on the track!!!" James: "Um, I think that that is a piece of BODY-WORK, from someone's car."

Murray: There's a fiery glow coming from the back of the Ferrari James: No Murray, that's his rear safety light

As an introductory piece for a rallysprint race, Murray was put in the Navigator's seat alongside Tony Pond in a Chevette HSR (270 BHP, rwd, and TWITCHY), added an in-car camera, and wired Murray for sound. The result can be deduced by extrapolating his usual excitement and enthusiasm, and adding a large pinch of raw terror! "And there's a 600 foot drop on my left..AND we're doing 120 mph... AND we're approaching a hairpin...OH MY GOD we're going to die..."

From the Spanish GP 1995: "and Eddie Jordan is in fifth place"... (actually Eddie Irvine in one of his compatriot Eddie Jordan's cars).

"...and he's lost both right front tyres" (which may have been accurate back in the days of the Tyrrell P34, but it was from 1995!)

"Ah! Now here's Senna in the pits (for the black flag). No point in saying I wish I could lip read: I can't even see his lips! There's Ron Dennis bending over at the right. This is A-! Out gets Senna! For whatever reason and I just hope we can get a message about this. I hope we can get a message. Ayrton Senna with, with rage and impotent fury etched in every line of his body, reluctantly drags himself out of the McLaren." (In reality Senna calmly stepped out of the car and walked away.)

"And there's the man in the green flag!"

"The Jordan factory is at the factory gates"

"...and there's no damage to the car.....except to the car itself."

"Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin, unless this is the action, which it is."

"This has been a great season for Nelson Piquet, as he is now known, and always has been"

"And the first five places are filled by five different cars."

"...the lead is now 6.9 seconds. In fact it's just under 7 seconds"

"You can't see a digital clock because there isn't one."

"We're watching the Finnish Driver who is third, but he won't for very much long...oh yeah, he might be actually"

"And an enormous gap building before Mika Hakkinen goes through in third position...when I say enormous it's 1.5 seconds"

"Schumacher is still the fastest man on the track, not only by virtue of the fact that he leads the Australian Grand Prix, but he also holds the fastest lap"

JP: "And Alesi spins there...spins out of the race, surely... "Yes!...NO! Alesi manages to keep the engine, does not stall, but of course he will have lost the place I think. No! he's kept the place"

"Michael Schumacher leading Damon Hill by four tenths of a second or so, because it's moving...[cut to Hill under Schu's rear wing] AND THAT'S NOT FOUR TENTHS OF A SECOND! That's Michael Schumacher!"

"The Italian GP at Monaco..."

"I'm applying intelligence and observation to the situation..."

...the enthusiastic enthusiasts... (Italy 1994)

...and the Peugeot cup of misery is filled past overflowing...

Murray: "And there are flames coming from the back of Prost's car as he enters the swimming pool." James: "Well, that should put them out then."

"Alesi is in second place and Hill is in second place..."

"As you can see, visually, with your eyes..."

"Andrea de Cesaris...the man who has won more Grands Prix than anyone else without actually winning one of them."

'Hill, Hill ... Hill is in, he's beneath me now.. .and he's got slicks! its slicks! he got a new set of slicks! this is strange' (as it was raining!)

"....Schumacher crosses the line to start another lap, and there's nothing there!"

'I hate to be a Jeremiah, but I have to tell you that the clouds are lowering...'

"That's not four tenths of a second. Look at it. It's Michael Schumacher."

(talking about bumps and puddles in the circuit, which Jonathan Palmer used to test on when McLaren had Honda engines.....) ".....and there's few [drivers] that know them more and even less better than you Jonathan....."

And we have had 5 races so far this year, Brazil, Argentina, Imola, Schumacher and Monaco!

And Damon Hill is coming into the pit lane, yes it's Damon Hill coming into the Williams pit, and Damon Hill in the pit, no it's Michael Schumacher!

"And there's a dry line appearing in the tunnel" (pause while he realises what he's just said) "Obvious really as it has a roof"

"...and now, just in case there is any CONFUSION (operative term here) this is the race order on lap 19: David Coulthard leads and has yet to stop; Hakkinen leads and has yet to stop..."

"Nigel Mansell - the man of the race - the man of the day - the man from the Isle of Man"

"An Achilles heel for the McLaren team this year, and it's literally the heel because it's the gearbox"

"And now the boot is on the other Schumacher"

"The atmosphere is so tense you could cut it with a cricket stump"

"Alain Prost is in a commanding second place"

"Now the Frenchman Jacques Lafitte is as close to Surer as Surer is to Lafitte"

"I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong" [Murray on his style of commentary]

"I like to think I come over as a slightly over-the-top enthusiast. It is a very exciting sport after all"

"We're now on the 73rd lap and the next one will be the 74th." [Monaco 1992]

"In his quiter moments he sounds like his trousers are on fire" [Clive James on Murray Walker]

"Mansell is slowing it down, taking it easy. Oh no he isn't! It's a lap record."

[hysterical as ever] "And that's Alboreto OFF!" [long pause - somber voice] "Now Michele Alboreto did not in fact qualify for the race, so how we managed to see him go off I don't know. We'll let you know." [Even longer pause, now laughing] "Now I'm
not a technician, but it appears a shot of Michele Alboreto going off in qualifying has crept into this live transmission, thank you Mr. Producer, anyway that was qualifying, this is the race..."

[Alesi, then in a Tyrrell, was passed by Senna at Detroit, or was he...] "And Senna's going through on the inside, or is he, YES!, but now Alesi has the inside, side by side, Alesi! Wow! Great Stuff!"

$Leon$

murry is a legend.
never had much to complain about james.
he sure beats peter "failed radio dj" collins and dave "when i was in f1 " kennedy. dave had one race and failed to qualify

De Hipster

$Leon$ wrote:

dave "when i was in f1 " kennedy. dave had one race and failed to qualify

point...but that bites!

dinjo

First thing ........Murray Walker is a legend and always will be.......but i think most of the comments above are being very harsh towards James Allen. I think he is a very good comentator.......he might not be a s exciting as murray but he is very good at what he does.......he knows all the info to keep the viewer informed as the race goes on......so cut the fella some slack....he took on the impossible job of replacing murray walker, and in my view he is doing pretty well... especially when you see some of the other comentators other channels have.......RTE have the worst and the most boring commentators ever......and when sky had the PPV formula 1 channel (i dont know if it is still there) there comentators were rubbish.....all i can say is thank god ITV have to fella's who love there job and actually know what they are talking about........ James Allen and Martin Brundle are good comentators.......its as simple as that!!!!!!

De Hipster

dinjo...I'd agree with ye on James Allen (but calling your son Enzo??!!), I also have a lot of time for Ted Cravidtz (sp?), Louise Goodman and Tony Jardine but as for Jim Rosenthal, Martin Brundle & Mark Blundell...words are not enough.