BRUCE MCLAREN

 

“TO DO SOMETHING WELL IS SO WORTHWHILE, THAT TO DIE TRYING TO DO IT BETTER CANNOT BE FOOLHARDY”

– BRUCE MCLAREN

AUGUST 1937 - JUNE 1970

Bruce Leslie McLaren was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1937 and was killed tragically whilst testing one of his cars at Goodwood Circuit, England in June 1970. From the young school boy with Perthes Disease, strapped to a metal frame at the Wilson Home in Takapuna, Auckland, to a world-class international motor racing driver, engineer and designer whose name is still used in Formula 1 motor racing today, is a remarkable achievement.

A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Bruce was the youngest driver to win an F1 race – a record he held for nearly 50 years. He was 22 years and 104 days old when he took the win at Sebring, USA, on December 12th, 1959.

  • Bruce’s victory at Sebring in 1959 also made headlines back home, as he became the first New Zealander to win a Formula One motor race.

  • In his lifetime he was the winner of 4 F1 Grands Prix: The 1959 US GP at Sebring, the Argentine GP in 1960, Monaco in 1962, and the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps in 1968.

  • 1963 marked the beginning of an exciting new era as Bruce became the first New Zealander to found his own racing team – Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, founded in September that year.

  • Bruce won his first home Grand Prix at Pukekohe in 1964, paving the way for McLaren's overall victory in the first Tasman Series.

  • Bruce battled with fellow Kiwi Denny Hulme throughout the 1964 Tasman Series and came out on top, winning the 1964 Championship.

  • In 1968 he followed in the footsteps of his old Cooper teammate Jack Brabham, becoming the second driver to win an F1 GP in a car bearing his own name, at the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps.

  • Victory at Le Mans with Chris Amon, 1966.

  • The McLaren team experienced success in the Can-Am Series with Bruce taking championship wins in both 1967 and 1969. Teammate Denny Hulme won the championship in 1968 and 1970.

  • Bruce was awarded the Ferodo Trophy for his ‘tenacity of purpose in making and developing [racing] cars’, 1968.

  • He was awarded the Royal Automobile Club Segrave Trophy in 1969 (posthumously) ‘for the design, development, and driving of cars that won every round of the 1969 Can-Am Championship’.

  • Bruce has been inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame, the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame, the International Sports Hall of Fame, and the Indianapolis Hall of Fame.

THE LEGACY LIVES ON

Bruce was also an engineer and his ability to design and build cars, and manage a racing team, as well as drive at the highest level, was a rare combination of skills. Most importantly, he had an innate ability to inspire and motivate his team. After Bruce died, while testing an M8D Can-Am car at Goodwood, England on 2nd June 1970, his team carried on ‘for Bruce’. Today the McLaren Group, McLaren Racing, and McLaren Automotive still bear his name which is a wonderful tribute and a superb acknowledgment of his achievements. Of the current F1 teams, only Ferrari has a longer history.