Above: Murray Carter is still a regular at track meets, here pictured with wife Carol and the red Corvette. By Delima Shanti
SAVOURING a cup of ice cream that is quickly melting in the sweltering heat, Murray Carter sits beside his wife Carol in the car service centre he owns in Cheltenham.
On the wall beside him are photos of race cars he has owned over the years, along with a picture of his 17-year-old self standing astride a motorbike.
“That was (taken) in 1948 in Melbourne. As I grew up, it was either motorcars or motorbikes, and I was too young for a motorcar then, so I started on motorbikes when I was 16,” he said.
And he has not stopped racing ever since. The Cranbourne resident celebrated his 80th birthday last month at the Victorian Historic Race Register in Box Hill and the 90-person guest list was some indication of the life he has led.
“Most of the people who were there were people I’d known throughout my racing career, and everyone knew each other,” Murray said.
For the duration of his racing career, Murray was mainly a privateer, meaning he was not sponsored by a major automotive manufacturer. Instead, he relied on smaller sponsors from local businesses and friends.
Later on, he funded his expensive hobby with the service workshop business he set up in 1960.
“You couldn’t put a price on it. Whatever you wanted to spend, or whatever you could spend, it (racing) took it all. Luckily enough, I had a lot of support from many people, whether it was finance or product. If I wanted new tyres, someone might give me a set of tyres. I would’ve done it whether I was sponsored or not,” he said.
Being a privateer never stopped him from aiming high. Over the span of 30 years, he raced about 50 times at the Mount Panorama Circuit in New South Wales.
“I did all the Bathurst 1000 races,” he said as he smiled proudly.
“All my development and preparation in building a race car was based on the thinking, ‘would that be good at Bathurst?’ Because if you wanted to win a race, Bathurst was the ultimate.”
Murray certainly came very close to reaching that ultimate goal, coming third in a race meeting.
He almost turned his hobby-turned-career into an international career when he considered going to England in 1958, but instead he bought some land beside the now sprawling Southland Shopping Centre and in 1960 he built the workshop where he now spends most of his days.
When asked if he has retired from racing, he laughed and briskly walked to the garage area, where a bright yellow Z06 C6 Corvette is parked, its innards visible through the open hood. Beaming, Murray explains that he spends up to six days a week tinkering with the race car in preparation for future races. “I’d probably only do a race a month now.”
With his infectious enthusiasm for racing, it is little wonder that he has introduced racing into the lives of his five now grown children, all residing in Queensland.
A picture of his daughter on a red motorcycle bears an uncanny resemblance to the picture of Murray taken over 60 years ago.
Although he no longer races professionally, his insatiable need for speed means slowing down is definitely not an option. Murray plans to race in the Phillip Island Classic to be at the Phillip Island Circuit next month where he plans to take his 10-year-old Corvette, which he once raced in 1982.
