September 21, 2025 • 24 mins
Greg Murphy is a NZ motorsport icon whose impact on V8 Supercars is indisputable. Known for his fearless approach and ability to perform against the odds, he has earned a reputation as one of the sport’s greats, with over 400 race starts, multiple Bathurst 1000 victories, and stints with some of Australasia’s top teams.
Beyond the track, Murph has become a familiar voice and face as a commentator and motorsport TV presenter. He is also a passionate road safety advocate, promoting smarter driving and better training through initiatives such as the “Murph in Schools” programme launched with the Motor Trade Association in 2010, and a youth-focused road safety campaign developed with Holden New Zealand in 2019.
Respected by fans and competitors alike, Greg Murphy brings his trademark energy and insight to everything he does—on and off the track.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Real Conversation, Real Connection, It's Real life with John Cowen
on News Talk s ed B.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Move Welcome to Real life on Job Cowen and a
niece of mine recently laughed at the way I drive,
laughed at me. I don't think anyone laughs at the
driving of my guest tonight. They gasp. Welcome to Greg Murphy.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Thank you John.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Okay, it was saying before, when we're chatting online, you
heard someone describe you as a legend, and you just
don't like that term, do you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
No, not at all. They should be reserved for the
true meaning of the word, people that really deserve it.
I think it's sort of gets used a little bit
too willy nilly these days, and a term that is
described for lots of people. I think we need to
reserve it for the right reasons.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Okay, if we were making this talk back show, which
it's not, I'm sure our will be lighting up with
people that would like to argue about that. As you are,
I think most would agree to be very notable, We'll
say very very notable and successful driver over your career,
your career is I mean, what have we got here?
We've got thirteen pole positions, eighty three podiums to send down,
(01:34):
five hundred victories, one Bathhurst twenty four hour victory and
four Bathurst thousand victories, and probably a hang of a
lot more that you could probably recall vividly. Yeah, yeah, probably.
So that's a pretty good you know, it's good. Good,
that's good. What are you doing now? I mean, this
is just something that you say, ah, yeah, but that's
(01:56):
then and you moved on to something.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Else, oh not something else, lots of things.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So what fills your days these time?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
My goodness, gracious, how long did you say? We've got
twenty two twelve minute segments. It's a bit of a
a puzzle. It's a bit of a puzzle. So my
days these days. Once I finished racing, I ended up,
you know, working for Supercars in Australia doing TV stuff,
So that was a reasonably significant sort of role. We're
(02:24):
sort of you know, twelve thirteen, fourteen times a year,
you know, or other than the race that was in
New Zealand, I would you know, go to Australia to
do the commentary TV commentary for that, So that was
a four or five six day kind of a segment,
you know, you know, minimum once a month, often two
times a month. So that was a you know, basically
(02:45):
living in New Zealand traveling to Australia to do that.
And so that was a reasonably big part of my
year and which was a good good way to sort
of relinquish the driving side and stay stay in touch
with the sports.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I sort of figured that media has become a big
part of what you do because when you go online
and hunt hunt up Greg, you're all over the planes
lots and lots of commentaries and clips and doing various
things and still doing a few exhibition drives and things
and different places. So the media part, and I see
(03:20):
part of that mixes a podcast that you've been doing
recently called The Driver's Seat with Greg movie. Tell us
about that.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Oh yeah, so they just launched and yeah, that's a
fresh one. So that's another part. So that commentary stuff
was super because that finished in the beginning of twenty
twenty because then something happened where the world closed down
and stuffed everything up. I no, no one wants to
remember it, So that changed things a bit. Which actually
then got me much more focused on actually in New Zealand,
(03:47):
and I don't actually miss the travel backwards and force
of Australia. So I basically filled my time with a
whole bunch of other things here in New Zealand. Which
one is working for you know a lot of different
companies around content and ambassador sort of roles and you
know brand alliance and all that kind of stuff, And
one of them is with a company called Auto Sense,
(04:07):
which do a whole lot of transport related sort of
training and other aspects as well. They provide traffic or
in cab cameras around fatigue and distraction that do a
whole lot of monitoring stuff. But also you know, one
of the things we've got to I'm doing with them
is talking about transport. And this podcast that I've just
released was with Auto Sense, and it was we used
(04:30):
the opportunity to talk to a whole lot of you know,
non kiwi's about things, but introduced the driving side of
things and road safety into it as well as part
of it, which was you know, completely sort of different
sort of approach, and we actually took everyone went for
a drive. We went for a drive at everyone at
the start of the podcast to talk about their experiences
(04:52):
behind the wheel and do something a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So it was it was good. I think you're onto
a winning formula there because Kiwi's love their cars, Yes
they do. If you talk to someone about their life
and mention some stage in their life, they could tell
you what car they are driving at the time.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
We are per capita and to you know, I was today,
I was, actually I was at a car show and
how it's a hot rod show and the amount of
people that turned up to look at these beautiful machines.
The club, the south Side streeters that put it on.
You know, they are a small club, but massive enthusiasts
with love of vehicles, and they are just a small
(05:28):
portion of the amount of people in this country that
have a love affair with cars and in some way
shape before me, the motor racing or you know sixties,
sixties cars, fifties cars, whatever it is, new cars. The
amount of high end vehicles that are in New Zealand
per capita around the world is bigger than you know,
it's the highest I think in many cases because of
(05:51):
that love of vehicles and racing and car racing as well.
So the industry is.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It does still translate into active involvement in.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Motorsports absolutely, I mean per capita motorsport participation in this country,
I would say, if it was able to be measured,
would prove that we are probably right at the top
number one across across the board. Like it is, it's
a serious, huge amount of revenue generation in this country,
maybe hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars
(06:19):
a year.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So I've wondered if that would still be the case.
Speaking very much, I sort of wondered whether the expense
of vehicles would have been putting people off where it
was still excessive. A lot of people still got a
lot of money. Oh okay, all right, and so it's
the people that have got the money.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
That do it. Oh yeah. But there's also those that
don't want to do it that find ways, and you know,
there's we are incredible in this I mean, you know,
the kiwis on the world stage and motorsport achieving at
the highest level. Again it sounds like a broken record, yes,
but per capita is beyond It's more than Australia, you know,
(06:53):
for this tiny little nation. So we really are freaks
when it comes to it, we are literally petrol heads.
It runs in our veins, and we are amazing at
supporting young kiwis who have the talent to try and
make it to the biggest stages around the world. And
we've had we've got kiwis these days in pretty much
every of the biggest, biggest stages of the most port
(07:15):
in the world.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Having competed at the top level, do you find are
you still excited by motor.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Racing very much?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Okay? Did you after the supercars and things you moved
on to other types of racing?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
A little bit of sort of, I've sort of transitioned
into enjoying the lower stress levels of motors board and
competing or not really competing, but participating in the historic
touring car side of things. And I've got some wonderful
friends that love that stuff too, and I enjoy going
(07:49):
and having a much lower stress kind of time at
some of the amazing meetings that we still have here
in New Zealand as well.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Made of mone is really into rallying. Even though if
you enjoyed rallying and what you found to be the
main difference between that sort of the buzz around rallying
as opposed to track racing.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
The buzz and rallying, there's nothing to compare it to.
It is, well, it probably is. It's probably those that
ride motorbikes really fast on racetracks would tell you that
that is, and I would imagine it would be. I've
never done that. But as far as four wheels go,
rallying as was the biggest thrill I've ever had. It
was it was the adrenaline for that was just never
(08:31):
it never ceased the entire time I ever drove a
rally car. It was just something just the skill set
is just so different and I loved it, but I
knew I was going to get myself in trouble if
I kept doing it, so had.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
To pull the pin. What gets you in trouble is
it that your your love of what you're doing overtakes
your risk assessment and.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Your yeah, I mean the risk assessment. If you if
you are too focused on risk, then you're never going
to be any good at it, and that's when you
actually make too many mistakes. So you've got to be
very selfish when you when you're doing motorsport, because you've
got to put all that stuff behind you put family
behind you, put everything behind you, and and focus on
the job at hand. And you take risks all the
(09:12):
time when you're driving, driving fast, but rallying the risks
are just next level. I mean, circuit racing is so
safe it's ridiculous. I mean it's really Oh yeah, absolutely,
the safety evolved and you're all going in the same direction.
There's no trees on the side, there's no power poles,
there's no ditches, there's no banks, there's no cliffs, and
rallying there is all of that and you can have
(09:34):
it all in one stage times you know, times one hundred.
So and that's what rally drivers love so much about
it is because that risk and that adrenaline from that
is just an incredible drug.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Okay, you say track racing safe, and so you didn't
have any qualms about Cormack and running heading into a
motor racing careers.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
You two boys, Well, they're not going to they're not
going to have careers in the sport, but they do.
They haven't a bit of a go here and there.
Ronan was racing yesterday Upuna and had a great day
down there in a very fast car. And I have
no qualms about it whatsoever. It's incredibly safe. The cars are,
you know that they drive and that I driver, you know,
(10:21):
built for basically their survival cells. You know, they're built
to survive big crashes at high speeds. And the equipment
we wear and the seats we sit in and all
that kind of stuff. You know, that's what it's all about.
So you know, I have not I prefer them driving
cars very very fast on a racetrack then driving on
(10:43):
our New Zealand roads. I mean, oh, and our roads
are incredibly dangerous because we have filled them with people
that don't have the skills to drive at fifty sixty
eighty one hundred kilometers an hour on our roads.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I want to talk to you about that perhaps in
the second half, sure, But just coming back to your boys,
I can imagine if I tried to tell my two
boys how to drive, what sort of eye rolling get you?
Did you have any success in telling your boys how
to drive a.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Little bit? But not not not at a you know,
it's not something that they would want to listen to
all the time, especially when I'm telling them what they're
doing wrong.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, that doesn't always go to people more grateful when
you tell them how wrong they are.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Well, I think that's I think that's I think that's
more a family thing. I mean, I get much better
success out of telling people that aren't related to me
what they're doing wrong and how to fix what they're doing.
They have much more respect for my opinion than my
kids do. But maybe I tell my kids in a
way that they that they don't want to listen.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
At least they've got your genes, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
They they both can drive, and they and their skills
that they learn on a racetracker are certainly making them better,
better drivers and safer drivers on the roads.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I was just thinking, Cormack grown in and your girls
Neave and the name Murphy, the Irish things pretty strong.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
It's very strong, isn't it. Yeah, well, you know my
very fat Yeah. Yeah. My grandmother was born in Belfa, Belfast. Yeah,
so you know she's and my grandfather was actually was
Danish as well. My wife really her father was born
in Belgium, so she's you know, we've got lots of
(12:24):
European blood, but also we got quite a bit of
Moldy blood as well in my side as well. It's
a good mix.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, Okay, give it a good heart shake, a goodbye
family tree, a good heart shake. That's amazing what drops
out exactly. It makes us who we are. But yeah,
you've chosen the Irish theme as being something that your
family is going to sort of rally around.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, yeah, we really love the names and and yes,
and you know with Murphy as being the surname, it's
it works, yep.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
It certainly does. We were talking before about expense and
things and your boys they had to get sponsorship and
things like that. Is that something which is still a
doable thing with industry in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Listen, it's network. Network helps, you know, and that is
something that has been a big part of the success
for a lot of young drivers in this country is
the network and is say the popularity the sport and
the recognition of the sport. You know, that's that's why
you know, Liam Lawson's got to whereas basically in many
(13:32):
ways and that's why most of the drivers that have
achieved what they have because of the love of the sport.
The Giltrap group in New Zealand, Colin Sir Colin was
was just a huge advocate for it. He contributed, the
family contributed has millions and millions of dollars to fund
and support young drivers overseas. And I'm part of the
(13:52):
Tony Quinn Foundation now as well, which is also you know,
spending a lot of money providing a lot of funding
for drivers to do what they want. And there's been
a huge amount of other individuals and people throughout that
time that have also contributed in massive ways.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Fantastic putting out of fuel in the tank of the
whole of the whole sport.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, I mean, but and you know, you need X factor,
you need you need something just a little bit more
special to make it to the top than than the
vast majority have got. And and that's that's that's unfortunately
a reality that doesn't matter how much money you got
or not. If you if you don't have that little
bit extra like Liam Lawson or like shanevan Gersbergen have got,
(14:31):
then you know you are it's going to be very,
very tough to make it to that that top. Is
Shalan of the sport.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
This is real life on newstalk, said b I'm John
Cown talking with Greg Murphy. Will be talking afterwards about
some of the the things around motor racing that he does,
including having a life so we'll be back with Greg
in just a minute. This is new Talk.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
ZB intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on
news Talk ZB.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
We go down.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
This is real life on Newstalk Seffet. I'm talking with
Greg Murphy. And it's one of your favorite songs.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Oh, it's one of the ones on my on my
one of my lists. Yeah. But who doesn't mind a
bit of Bruce Springstone.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So you're driving along the road listening to Bruce Springs?
Do you find having driven at three hundred kilometers and
how do you find sticking to a hundred bit boring? I?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
No, No, I'm sort of over all that. I think
probably when I was a lot younger, I probably did,
but you know, it is what it is these days,
and I'm you know, I'm I'm pretty pretty good, pretty
good at sticking to the to the limit. And you know,
with being a road safety advocate and working as hard
as what I am on that it's to be pretty
(16:01):
embarrassing to to be too frequently getting pulled over and
told to slow down.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No, too frequently. I did know an old traffic cop,
mister Crawford, who used to tell a story about giving
a traffic ticket to Sterling Moss and his jaw dropping
open as he realized he was giving a ticket to.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
That would have had he would have had to have
been going pretty fast back then, I reckon when Sterling
was here in New Zealand to even bother giving him
a ticket, I would have thought. So that's that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
It was a good yarn. I'm just wondering if you've
given that experience to any cops.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Confession Absolutely, yeah, I'm not going to deny that.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
But let's more major on your you're an advocate of
road safety. What is it that you actually do in
that zone?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Annoy politicians as much as possible on you try to
get them to listen to reason and understand the issues
and the problems and the failings that we have had
for decades around around what we do to prepare drivers
to drive in our roads and understand what driving safely
(17:05):
actually is.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Okay, So that's your emphasis on what's in the heads
of the drivers.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah, and it's focus on youngster young drivers too. So
part of a trust that called street Smart, which is
delivers a practical road safety course that we do and
it's primarily around providing that to young drivers, you know,
starting in that driving program because you want them to
(17:30):
have those skills and that understanding from the beginning, yep, right,
so that they are better prepared to make better decisions
and be more aware of the risks that are associated
with driving, and do that well by putting them through
practical training, closed closed event sort of training. And we
do them at Hampton Downs and we do them in
(17:51):
other other circuits because we need ashfelt, we need we
need an environment that is a closed off environment that
we can do what we want on it and teach
them some of really important skills. And it's don't they
don't go over eighty klongs an hour and if it's
not about learning how to slider and I think it's
actually understanding about how to stop you know, emergency emergency
stopping abs, understanding about how that all works and breaking
(18:14):
and what it's all about. So it's a it's a
really important set of skills that we pass on to
prepare them better to be you know, just more aware
and understand what you need to do in it and
know that things can go wrong at any given time,
and so that they're they're thinking and their cognitive learning
is actually practical, not theory, because driving is practical. It's
(18:37):
not a theory task. If you think you're going to
learn everything through theory, you're dreaming.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
No, two hundred and eighty nine young two hundred and
eighty nine New Zealanders lost their lives last year.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
It's going to be over three hundred again this year.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I guess the only consolation is the year you were
born was the most dangerous year, and that was or
I think the figure here somewhere it was.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
I think it was I don't know if it was
seventy one hundred.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
And forty three, eight hundred and forty three and seventy
two seventy three.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
I didn't think it was seventy two. Anyway, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, seventy three, and that was twenty nine deaths per
one hundred thousand. It's dropped out of five. That's still
way too high. Oh, and I guess cars, well, it's
it's high made the difference because I don't think we're
any better drivers.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Oh No, it's just cars. If we were driving cars,
if we were driving cars the same as nineteen seventy three,
or even in nineteen eighty or even nineteen ninety, if
we were driving nineteen ninety sort of spit cars. Now
the road toll will be three four five times what
it is. It's just that the cars, the cars are
so much safer, the drivers are knowing, and we're actually worse.
(19:42):
The driving is worse now than what it was back then,
because you know, we've there's so many people that actually
are not going through any licensing, and we've got tens
of thousands of people on the road that shouldn't be
on the road because they don't have licenses. They've had
no formal training, they've had nothing, they've taught themselves. And
also we've got a lot of people that are now
coming from overseas that don't have any kind of licensing either.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
What do you see on the roads that bother us here?
The is it speed or is it just the It's
not speed.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
It's not at all. It's it's it's the fact. It's
it's literally the fact that I can see people that
have no idea what they're doing. They should not be.
They're not prepared, they don't know anything about the cars,
they don't understand the mechanical side of things. They've had
no training, they don't know where they're looking their reactions
are poor. You can tell when someone someone has not
(20:32):
prepared or had any kind of training by the way
they sit in their cars. That's that's even you know,
a deed give away and have.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
An unprepared driver sits as compared to a prepared driver.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
It's pretty well, I can show you that, but it's
it's very obvious to me anyway. Okay, all right, so
there's these ends need to do these courses, Yeah, everyone does.
It's not we do it for young drivers because they
then take all those things with them on the journey,
but every single driver in New Zealand should be doing it.
It's it is, it is. It's embarrassingly easy and simplistic
(21:06):
to get a driver's license in New Zealand, it really is.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
What do you think about self driving cars?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I think it's a joke.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Do you think it's a joke? Yeah? Absolutely, how's that?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well? They should be on if you if you want
to get in one of those, just just get on
a bus.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
If you're going to get in a vehicle and go
tell the car to do it and not pay attention
to what's going on, then you should not have.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
A driver's license. Okay, so then you should not be
able to Some people see that as being the solution
of the car, and I'm sure all those people are
better than the drivers.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
I think all those people that think that probably have
also engaged in some way of benefiting financially from it
as well.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Is that right? Okay? The thing that I think is
that people are going to die when they're driving, when
they're riding in these cars, and dead people are going
to arrive at their destinations. Yeah, that'll be a shock
for the people that are king to visit.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
But also Teaseler's handed out hundreds of millions of dollars
and you know, settlements through their cars killing people because
they've been an autopilot.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
One of the things that scares me is that New
zeal that Australia are going to be the first right
hand drive countries to get these self driver cars.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I'm not self driving, I mean Tesla put something out
last week about this new level of autonomy, which is
still requires a driver to pay full attention all the
time when they you know, when they might have their
hands off the wheel now and it's a subscription based
pro so you pa one hundred and sixty dollars a
month for this upgrade software upgrade that allows the car
(22:36):
to do more kind of decision making for you. Right,
the best way to deal with all this stuff is
to actually have proper train drivers that have proven that
they are capable of driving cars in the cars and
managing that themselves. You know, the system that I'm deeply
concerned by this push in this area around transport.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Okay, well you're talking about you being able to see
how people sit demonstrating whether they can drive well or not.
I can see by your body language this is something
that you're just not doing it, not going to buy.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Well, going to acceptance and acceptance by our politicians of
this many people dying and not doing anything about it
just show shows how inept they are at understanding, you know,
these serious issues. Because the care is and the money
(23:30):
that we spend a year on road safety and transport
and programs and stuff is eye watering. And yet three
hundred people dying at a cost they reckon now social
cost at up to twelve million per person. Why can't
we just sort of forward spend some of that money
and actually improve the situation?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Makes sense to me? Greg, Hey, Greg, my producer is
telling me our time is up. We've just got we've
got to.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
I thought we just got started, John, We're.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Only just getting started and we're already finished, isn't there.
But spend great talking with you. Thanks so much for
coming in and I wish you all the best and
look forward to seeing what comes down comes down the shute.
Thanks in Greek's life soon. Hey, this is real life
on News Talks head be back with you again next
Sunday night.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, but it's nothing there to make things change.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It same for you, won't you, thay, Same for you all.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
We sail live, sick, got.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Me good go, but they don't work out luck.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
We think you have nothing there.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
He's their sake and there's nothing there to make things
change to save you.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Won't. For more from News Talks head b listen live
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
wherever you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Real Conversation, Real Connection, It's Real life with John Cowen
on News Talk s ed B.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Move Welcome to Real life on Job Cowen and a
niece of mine recently laughed at the way I drive,
laughed at me. I don't think anyone laughs at the
driving of my guest tonight. They gasp. Welcome to Greg Murphy.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Thank you John.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Okay, it was saying before, when we're chatting online, you
heard someone describe you as a legend, and you just
don't like that term, do you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
No, not at all. They should be reserved for the
true meaning of the word, people that really deserve it.
I think it's sort of gets used a little bit
too willy nilly these days, and a term that is
described for lots of people. I think we need to
reserve it for the right reasons.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Okay, if we were making this talk back show, which
it's not, I'm sure our will be lighting up with
people that would like to argue about that. As you are,
I think most would agree to be very notable, We'll
say very very notable and successful driver over your career,
your career is I mean, what have we got here?
We've got thirteen pole positions, eighty three podiums to send down,
(01:34):
five hundred victories, one Bathhurst twenty four hour victory and
four Bathurst thousand victories, and probably a hang of a
lot more that you could probably recall vividly. Yeah, yeah, probably.
So that's a pretty good you know, it's good. Good,
that's good. What are you doing now? I mean, this
is just something that you say, ah, yeah, but that's
(01:56):
then and you moved on to something.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Else, oh not something else, lots of things.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So what fills your days these time?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
My goodness, gracious, how long did you say? We've got
twenty two twelve minute segments. It's a bit of a
a puzzle. It's a bit of a puzzle. So my
days these days. Once I finished racing, I ended up,
you know, working for Supercars in Australia doing TV stuff,
So that was a reasonably significant sort of role. We're
(02:24):
sort of you know, twelve thirteen, fourteen times a year,
you know, or other than the race that was in
New Zealand, I would you know, go to Australia to
do the commentary TV commentary for that, So that was
a four or five six day kind of a segment,
you know, you know, minimum once a month, often two
times a month. So that was a you know, basically
(02:45):
living in New Zealand traveling to Australia to do that.
And so that was a reasonably big part of my
year and which was a good good way to sort
of relinquish the driving side and stay stay in touch
with the sports.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
I sort of figured that media has become a big
part of what you do because when you go online
and hunt hunt up Greg, you're all over the planes
lots and lots of commentaries and clips and doing various
things and still doing a few exhibition drives and things
and different places. So the media part, and I see
(03:20):
part of that mixes a podcast that you've been doing
recently called The Driver's Seat with Greg movie. Tell us
about that.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
Oh yeah, so they just launched and yeah, that's a
fresh one. So that's another part. So that commentary stuff
was super because that finished in the beginning of twenty
twenty because then something happened where the world closed down
and stuffed everything up. I no, no one wants to
remember it, So that changed things a bit. Which actually
then got me much more focused on actually in New Zealand,
(03:47):
and I don't actually miss the travel backwards and force
of Australia. So I basically filled my time with a
whole bunch of other things here in New Zealand. Which
one is working for you know a lot of different
companies around content and ambassador sort of roles and you
know brand alliance and all that kind of stuff, And
one of them is with a company called Auto Sense,
(04:07):
which do a whole lot of transport related sort of
training and other aspects as well. They provide traffic or
in cab cameras around fatigue and distraction that do a
whole lot of monitoring stuff. But also you know, one
of the things we've got to I'm doing with them
is talking about transport. And this podcast that I've just
released was with Auto Sense, and it was we used
(04:30):
the opportunity to talk to a whole lot of you know,
non kiwi's about things, but introduced the driving side of
things and road safety into it as well as part
of it, which was you know, completely sort of different
sort of approach, and we actually took everyone went for
a drive. We went for a drive at everyone at
the start of the podcast to talk about their experiences
(04:52):
behind the wheel and do something a little bit different.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So it was it was good. I think you're onto
a winning formula there because Kiwi's love their cars, Yes
they do. If you talk to someone about their life
and mention some stage in their life, they could tell
you what car they are driving at the time.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
We are per capita and to you know, I was today,
I was, actually I was at a car show and
how it's a hot rod show and the amount of
people that turned up to look at these beautiful machines.
The club, the south Side streeters that put it on.
You know, they are a small club, but massive enthusiasts
with love of vehicles, and they are just a small
(05:28):
portion of the amount of people in this country that
have a love affair with cars and in some way
shape before me, the motor racing or you know sixties,
sixties cars, fifties cars, whatever it is, new cars. The
amount of high end vehicles that are in New Zealand
per capita around the world is bigger than you know,
it's the highest I think in many cases because of
(05:51):
that love of vehicles and racing and car racing as well.
So the industry is.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It does still translate into active involvement in.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Motorsports absolutely, I mean per capita motorsport participation in this country,
I would say, if it was able to be measured,
would prove that we are probably right at the top
number one across across the board. Like it is, it's
a serious, huge amount of revenue generation in this country,
maybe hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars
(06:19):
a year.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So I've wondered if that would still be the case.
Speaking very much, I sort of wondered whether the expense
of vehicles would have been putting people off where it
was still excessive. A lot of people still got a
lot of money. Oh okay, all right, and so it's
the people that have got the money.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
That do it. Oh yeah. But there's also those that
don't want to do it that find ways, and you know,
there's we are incredible in this I mean, you know,
the kiwis on the world stage and motorsport achieving at
the highest level. Again it sounds like a broken record, yes,
but per capita is beyond It's more than Australia, you know,
(06:53):
for this tiny little nation. So we really are freaks
when it comes to it, we are literally petrol heads.
It runs in our veins, and we are amazing at
supporting young kiwis who have the talent to try and
make it to the biggest stages around the world. And
we've had we've got kiwis these days in pretty much
every of the biggest, biggest stages of the most port
(07:15):
in the world.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Having competed at the top level, do you find are
you still excited by motor.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
Racing very much?
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Okay? Did you after the supercars and things you moved
on to other types of racing?
Speaker 3 (07:28):
A little bit of sort of, I've sort of transitioned
into enjoying the lower stress levels of motors board and
competing or not really competing, but participating in the historic
touring car side of things. And I've got some wonderful
friends that love that stuff too, and I enjoy going
(07:49):
and having a much lower stress kind of time at
some of the amazing meetings that we still have here
in New Zealand as well.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Made of mone is really into rallying. Even though if
you enjoyed rallying and what you found to be the
main difference between that sort of the buzz around rallying
as opposed to track racing.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
The buzz and rallying, there's nothing to compare it to.
It is, well, it probably is. It's probably those that
ride motorbikes really fast on racetracks would tell you that
that is, and I would imagine it would be. I've
never done that. But as far as four wheels go,
rallying as was the biggest thrill I've ever had. It
was it was the adrenaline for that was just never
(08:31):
it never ceased the entire time I ever drove a
rally car. It was just something just the skill set
is just so different and I loved it, but I
knew I was going to get myself in trouble if
I kept doing it, so had.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
To pull the pin. What gets you in trouble is
it that your your love of what you're doing overtakes
your risk assessment and.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
Your yeah, I mean the risk assessment. If you if
you are too focused on risk, then you're never going
to be any good at it, and that's when you
actually make too many mistakes. So you've got to be
very selfish when you when you're doing motorsport, because you've
got to put all that stuff behind you put family
behind you, put everything behind you, and and focus on
the job at hand. And you take risks all the
(09:12):
time when you're driving, driving fast, but rallying the risks
are just next level. I mean, circuit racing is so
safe it's ridiculous. I mean it's really Oh yeah, absolutely,
the safety evolved and you're all going in the same direction.
There's no trees on the side, there's no power poles,
there's no ditches, there's no banks, there's no cliffs, and
rallying there is all of that and you can have
(09:34):
it all in one stage times you know, times one hundred.
So and that's what rally drivers love so much about
it is because that risk and that adrenaline from that
is just an incredible drug.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Okay, you say track racing safe, and so you didn't
have any qualms about Cormack and running heading into a
motor racing careers.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
You two boys, Well, they're not going to they're not
going to have careers in the sport, but they do.
They haven't a bit of a go here and there.
Ronan was racing yesterday Upuna and had a great day
down there in a very fast car. And I have
no qualms about it whatsoever. It's incredibly safe. The cars are,
you know that they drive and that I driver, you know,
(10:21):
built for basically their survival cells. You know, they're built
to survive big crashes at high speeds. And the equipment
we wear and the seats we sit in and all
that kind of stuff. You know, that's what it's all about.
So you know, I have not I prefer them driving
cars very very fast on a racetrack then driving on
(10:43):
our New Zealand roads. I mean, oh, and our roads
are incredibly dangerous because we have filled them with people
that don't have the skills to drive at fifty sixty
eighty one hundred kilometers an hour on our roads.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I want to talk to you about that perhaps in
the second half, sure, But just coming back to your boys,
I can imagine if I tried to tell my two
boys how to drive, what sort of eye rolling get you?
Did you have any success in telling your boys how
to drive a.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Little bit? But not not not at a you know,
it's not something that they would want to listen to
all the time, especially when I'm telling them what they're
doing wrong.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Yeah, that doesn't always go to people more grateful when
you tell them how wrong they are.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Well, I think that's I think that's I think that's
more a family thing. I mean, I get much better
success out of telling people that aren't related to me
what they're doing wrong and how to fix what they're doing.
They have much more respect for my opinion than my
kids do. But maybe I tell my kids in a
way that they that they don't want to listen.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
At least they've got your genes, you know.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
They they both can drive, and they and their skills
that they learn on a racetracker are certainly making them better,
better drivers and safer drivers on the roads.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I was just thinking, Cormack grown in and your girls
Neave and the name Murphy, the Irish things pretty strong.
Speaker 3 (12:04):
It's very strong, isn't it. Yeah, well, you know my
very fat Yeah. Yeah. My grandmother was born in Belfa, Belfast. Yeah,
so you know she's and my grandfather was actually was
Danish as well. My wife really her father was born
in Belgium, so she's you know, we've got lots of
(12:24):
European blood, but also we got quite a bit of
Moldy blood as well in my side as well. It's
a good mix.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yeah, Okay, give it a good heart shake, a goodbye
family tree, a good heart shake. That's amazing what drops
out exactly. It makes us who we are. But yeah,
you've chosen the Irish theme as being something that your
family is going to sort of rally around.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Yeah, yeah, we really love the names and and yes,
and you know with Murphy as being the surname, it's
it works, yep.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
It certainly does. We were talking before about expense and
things and your boys they had to get sponsorship and
things like that. Is that something which is still a
doable thing with industry in New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Listen, it's network. Network helps, you know, and that is
something that has been a big part of the success
for a lot of young drivers in this country is
the network and is say the popularity the sport and
the recognition of the sport. You know, that's that's why
you know, Liam Lawson's got to whereas basically in many
(13:32):
ways and that's why most of the drivers that have
achieved what they have because of the love of the sport.
The Giltrap group in New Zealand, Colin Sir Colin was
was just a huge advocate for it. He contributed, the
family contributed has millions and millions of dollars to fund
and support young drivers overseas. And I'm part of the
(13:52):
Tony Quinn Foundation now as well, which is also you know,
spending a lot of money providing a lot of funding
for drivers to do what they want. And there's been
a huge amount of other individuals and people throughout that
time that have also contributed in massive ways.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Fantastic putting out of fuel in the tank of the
whole of the whole sport.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah, I mean, but and you know, you need X factor,
you need you need something just a little bit more
special to make it to the top than than the
vast majority have got. And and that's that's that's unfortunately
a reality that doesn't matter how much money you got
or not. If you if you don't have that little
bit extra like Liam Lawson or like shanevan Gersbergen have got,
(14:31):
then you know you are it's going to be very,
very tough to make it to that that top. Is
Shalan of the sport.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
This is real life on newstalk, said b I'm John
Cown talking with Greg Murphy. Will be talking afterwards about
some of the the things around motor racing that he does,
including having a life so we'll be back with Greg
in just a minute. This is new Talk.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
ZB intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on
news Talk ZB.
Speaker 3 (14:56):
We go down.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
This is real life on Newstalk Seffet. I'm talking with
Greg Murphy. And it's one of your favorite songs.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Oh, it's one of the ones on my on my
one of my lists. Yeah. But who doesn't mind a
bit of Bruce Springstone.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So you're driving along the road listening to Bruce Springs?
Do you find having driven at three hundred kilometers and
how do you find sticking to a hundred bit boring? I?
Speaker 3 (15:41):
No, No, I'm sort of over all that. I think
probably when I was a lot younger, I probably did,
but you know, it is what it is these days,
and I'm you know, I'm I'm pretty pretty good, pretty
good at sticking to the to the limit. And you know,
with being a road safety advocate and working as hard
as what I am on that it's to be pretty
(16:01):
embarrassing to to be too frequently getting pulled over and
told to slow down.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No, too frequently. I did know an old traffic cop,
mister Crawford, who used to tell a story about giving
a traffic ticket to Sterling Moss and his jaw dropping
open as he realized he was giving a ticket to.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
That would have had he would have had to have
been going pretty fast back then, I reckon when Sterling
was here in New Zealand to even bother giving him
a ticket, I would have thought. So that's that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
It was a good yarn. I'm just wondering if you've
given that experience to any cops.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Confession Absolutely, yeah, I'm not going to deny that.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
But let's more major on your you're an advocate of
road safety. What is it that you actually do in
that zone?
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Annoy politicians as much as possible on you try to
get them to listen to reason and understand the issues
and the problems and the failings that we have had
for decades around around what we do to prepare drivers
to drive in our roads and understand what driving safely
(17:05):
actually is.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Okay, So that's your emphasis on what's in the heads
of the drivers.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah, and it's focus on youngster young drivers too. So
part of a trust that called street Smart, which is
delivers a practical road safety course that we do and
it's primarily around providing that to young drivers, you know,
starting in that driving program because you want them to
(17:30):
have those skills and that understanding from the beginning, yep, right,
so that they are better prepared to make better decisions
and be more aware of the risks that are associated
with driving, and do that well by putting them through
practical training, closed closed event sort of training. And we
do them at Hampton Downs and we do them in
(17:51):
other other circuits because we need ashfelt, we need we
need an environment that is a closed off environment that
we can do what we want on it and teach
them some of really important skills. And it's don't they
don't go over eighty klongs an hour and if it's
not about learning how to slider and I think it's
actually understanding about how to stop you know, emergency emergency
stopping abs, understanding about how that all works and breaking
(18:14):
and what it's all about. So it's a it's a
really important set of skills that we pass on to
prepare them better to be you know, just more aware
and understand what you need to do in it and
know that things can go wrong at any given time,
and so that they're they're thinking and their cognitive learning
is actually practical, not theory, because driving is practical. It's
(18:37):
not a theory task. If you think you're going to
learn everything through theory, you're dreaming.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
No, two hundred and eighty nine young two hundred and
eighty nine New Zealanders lost their lives last year.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
It's going to be over three hundred again this year.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I guess the only consolation is the year you were
born was the most dangerous year, and that was or
I think the figure here somewhere it was.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
I think it was I don't know if it was
seventy one hundred.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
And forty three, eight hundred and forty three and seventy
two seventy three.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
I didn't think it was seventy two. Anyway, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, seventy three, and that was twenty nine deaths per
one hundred thousand. It's dropped out of five. That's still
way too high. Oh, and I guess cars, well, it's
it's high made the difference because I don't think we're
any better drivers.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Oh No, it's just cars. If we were driving cars,
if we were driving cars the same as nineteen seventy three,
or even in nineteen eighty or even nineteen ninety, if
we were driving nineteen ninety sort of spit cars. Now
the road toll will be three four five times what
it is. It's just that the cars, the cars are
so much safer, the drivers are knowing, and we're actually worse.
(19:42):
The driving is worse now than what it was back then,
because you know, we've there's so many people that actually
are not going through any licensing, and we've got tens
of thousands of people on the road that shouldn't be
on the road because they don't have licenses. They've had
no formal training, they've had nothing, they've taught themselves. And
also we've got a lot of people that are now
coming from overseas that don't have any kind of licensing either.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
What do you see on the roads that bother us here?
The is it speed or is it just the It's
not speed.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
It's not at all. It's it's it's the fact. It's
it's literally the fact that I can see people that
have no idea what they're doing. They should not be.
They're not prepared, they don't know anything about the cars,
they don't understand the mechanical side of things. They've had
no training, they don't know where they're looking their reactions
are poor. You can tell when someone someone has not
(20:32):
prepared or had any kind of training by the way
they sit in their cars. That's that's even you know,
a deed give away and have.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
An unprepared driver sits as compared to a prepared driver.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
It's pretty well, I can show you that, but it's
it's very obvious to me anyway. Okay, all right, so
there's these ends need to do these courses, Yeah, everyone does.
It's not we do it for young drivers because they
then take all those things with them on the journey,
but every single driver in New Zealand should be doing it.
It's it is, it is. It's embarrassingly easy and simplistic
(21:06):
to get a driver's license in New Zealand, it really is.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
What do you think about self driving cars?
Speaker 3 (21:12):
I think it's a joke.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Do you think it's a joke? Yeah? Absolutely, how's that?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well? They should be on if you if you want
to get in one of those, just just get on
a bus.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
If you're going to get in a vehicle and go
tell the car to do it and not pay attention
to what's going on, then you should not have.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
A driver's license. Okay, so then you should not be
able to Some people see that as being the solution
of the car, and I'm sure all those people are
better than the drivers.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
I think all those people that think that probably have
also engaged in some way of benefiting financially from it
as well.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Is that right? Okay? The thing that I think is
that people are going to die when they're driving, when
they're riding in these cars, and dead people are going
to arrive at their destinations. Yeah, that'll be a shock
for the people that are king to visit.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
But also Teaseler's handed out hundreds of millions of dollars
and you know, settlements through their cars killing people because
they've been an autopilot.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
One of the things that scares me is that New
zeal that Australia are going to be the first right
hand drive countries to get these self driver cars.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
I'm not self driving, I mean Tesla put something out
last week about this new level of autonomy, which is
still requires a driver to pay full attention all the
time when they you know, when they might have their
hands off the wheel now and it's a subscription based
pro so you pa one hundred and sixty dollars a
month for this upgrade software upgrade that allows the car
(22:36):
to do more kind of decision making for you. Right,
the best way to deal with all this stuff is
to actually have proper train drivers that have proven that
they are capable of driving cars in the cars and
managing that themselves. You know, the system that I'm deeply
concerned by this push in this area around transport.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Okay, well you're talking about you being able to see
how people sit demonstrating whether they can drive well or not.
I can see by your body language this is something
that you're just not doing it, not going to buy.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Well, going to acceptance and acceptance by our politicians of
this many people dying and not doing anything about it
just show shows how inept they are at understanding, you know,
these serious issues. Because the care is and the money
(23:30):
that we spend a year on road safety and transport
and programs and stuff is eye watering. And yet three
hundred people dying at a cost they reckon now social
cost at up to twelve million per person. Why can't
we just sort of forward spend some of that money
and actually improve the situation?
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Makes sense to me? Greg, Hey, Greg, my producer is
telling me our time is up. We've just got we've
got to.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
I thought we just got started, John, We're.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
Only just getting started and we're already finished, isn't there.
But spend great talking with you. Thanks so much for
coming in and I wish you all the best and
look forward to seeing what comes down comes down the shute.
Thanks in Greek's life soon. Hey, this is real life
on News Talks head be back with you again next
Sunday night.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, but it's nothing there to make things change.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
It same for you, won't you, thay, Same for you all.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
We sail live, sick, got.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Me good go, but they don't work out luck.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
We think you have nothing there.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
He's their sake and there's nothing there to make things
change to save you.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
Won't. For more from News Talks head b listen live
on air or online, and keep our shows with you
wherever you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio.
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