Bruce Leslie McLaren (August 30, 1937 – June 2, 1970), born in Auckland, New Zealand, was a race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor.

His name lives on in Team McLaren which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, with McLaren cars and drivers winning a total of 19 world championships. McLaren cars totally dominated CanAm sports car racing with 56 wins, a considerable number of them with him behind the wheel, between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors’ championships), and have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring.

Early life

As an eleven year old, McLaren contracted a disease in his hip which left his left leg shorter than the right. He spent two years in traction, but later often had a slight limp.

Les and Ruth McLaren, his parents, owned a service station and workshop in Remuera, Auckland. Bruce spent all of his free hours hanging around the workshop. The McLaren family homestead is located in Ngaruawahia in the Northern Waikato region and still stands today.

Career

Les McLaren restored an aging Austin 7 Ulster which 14-year-old Bruce used in 1952 when he entered his first competition, a hillclimb. Two years later he took part in his first real race and showed promise. He moved up from the Austin to a Ford 10 special and a Austin-Healey, then an F2 Cooper-Climax sports. He immediately began to modify and improve it—and master it—so much so that he was runner-up in the 1957–8 New Zealand championship series.

Grand Prix

His performance in the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1958 was noted by great Australian driver Jack Brabham (who would later invite McLaren to drive for him). Because of his obvious potential the New Zealand International Grand Prix organisation selected him for its ‘Driver in Europe’ scheme designed to give a promising Kiwi driver year-round experience with the best in the world. McLaren was the first recipient and Dennis Hulme was another later.

McLaren went to Cooper and stayed seven years. He raced in F2 and was entered in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in which F2 and F1 cars competed together. He astounded the motor racing fraternity by being first F2, and fifth overall, in a field of the best drivers in the world.

McLaren joined the Cooper factory F1 team alongside Jack Brabham in 1959 and won the 1959 United States Grand Prix at age 22 years 80 days, becoming the youngest ever GP winner up to that time. He followed that with a win in the Argentina Grand Prix, the first race of the 1960 Formula One season, and he would finish runner-up that season to Brabham. (Forty three years later, another Kiwi racer, Scott Dixon, would become the youngest ever winner in any major open-wheel racing formula anywhere in the world when he won the CART Nazareth (Pennslyvania, USA) 225 when 20 years, 9 months and 14 days old.)

McLaren won the Monaco Grand Prix in 1962, eventually finishing a fine 3rd in the championship that year. The next year he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, which remains in the Formula One championship simply as Team McLaren. McLaren continued to race and win in Coopers (including the New Zealand GP in 1964).

McLaren left Cooper at the end of 1965, and announced his own GP racing team, with co-driver and fellow Kiwi Chris Amon. Amon left in 1967 to drive for Ferrari. In 1968, McLaren was joined by another fellow Kiwi Dennis Hulme, who had become world champion in 1967 with Brabham. McLaren took his fourth career win racing his own McLaren car at Spa in 1968, achieving the team's first Grand Prix win. Hulme won twice in the McLaren-Ford. The championship was also a success, with McLaren finishing 3rd in the standings despite taking no wins. In tribute to his homeland, McLaren's cars featured the "speedy Kiwi" logo.

Can-Am Series

It was in powerful sports car racing where McLaren's design flair and ingenuity were graphically demonstrated. Just as the Can-Am Series began to become very popular with fans in Canada and the U.S., the new McLaren cars finished second twice, and third twice, in six races.

In 1967 they won five of six races and in 1968, four of six. The following year McLarens proved unbeatable, winning 11 of 11 races. In two races, they finished 1-2-3. (McLaren, Hulme and Mark Donohue).

In he and co-driver Chris Amon won the prestigious 24 Hour race at Le Mans in a Ford GT40.

Death

Bruce McLaren died (aged 32) when his Can-Am car crashed on the Lavant Straight just before Woodcote corner at Goodwood Circuit on June 2 1970 in England. He had been testing his new M8D when the rear body work came adrift at speed. The loss of aerodynamic downforce destabilized the car, which spun, left the track and hit a bunker used as a flag station.

Motorsport author Eoin Young has noted that Bruce McLaren had "virtually penned his own epitaph" in his 1964 book From the cockpit. Referring to the death of team mate Timmy Mayer, McLaren had written:

"The news that he had died instantly was a terrible shock to all of us, but who is to say that he had not seen more, done more and learned more in his few years than many people do in a lifetime? To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one’s ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone."

Legacy

• Bruce McLaren Intermediate School in West Auckland was named after him shortly after his death. It was originally going to be called Henderson South Intermediate.
• In 2000 Motorsport NZ and the Prodrive Trust created The Bruce McLaren Scholarship to help up and coming New Zealand racing drivers.
• Inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
• Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991.
• Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.
• The Bruce McLaren Trust, based in Auckland, New Zealand, perpetuates his memory and runs a small museum from the flat where Bruce grew up (above a petrol station in Remuera)
• On January 20, 2007, at New Zealand's round of the A1 Grand Prix series, it was announced that there is to be a movie made about Bruce McLaren.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(F1 driver results legend 2) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Pts.
1958	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T45 F2	Climax Straight-4	ARG	MON	NED	500	BEL	FRA	GBR	GER 5	POR	ITA	MOR 12			-	0
1959	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T45 F2	Climax Straight-4	MON 5	500	NED											6th	16.5
		Cooper T51					FRA 5	GBR 3	GER Ret	POR Ret	ITA Ret	USA 1
1960	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T51	Climax Straight-4	ARG 1													2nd	34 (37)
		Cooper T53			MON 2	500	NED Ret	BEL 2	FRA 3	GBR 4	POR 2	ITA	USA 3
1961	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T55	Climax V8	MON 6	NED 12	BEL Ret	FRA 5	GBR 8	GER 6	ITA 3	USA 4						8th	11
1962	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T60	Climax V8	NED Ret	MON 1	BEL Ret	FRA 4	GBR 3	GER 5	ITA 3	USA 3	RSA 2					3rd	27 (32)
1963	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T66	Climax V8	MON 3	BEL 2	NED Ret	FRA 12	GBR Ret	GER Ret	ITA 3	USA 11	MEX Ret	RSA 4				6th	17
1964	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T66	Climax V8	MON Ret													7th	13
		Cooper T73			NED 7	BEL 2	FRA 6	GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	ITA 2	USA Ret	MEX 7
1965	Cooper Car Company	Cooper T73	Climax V8	RSA 5													9th	10
		Cooper T77			MON 5	BEL 3	FRA Ret	GBR 10	NED Ret	GER Ret	ITA 5	USA Ret	MEX Ret
1966	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M2B	Ford V8	MON Ret							USA 5	MEX Ret					16th	3
			Serenissima V8		BEL DNS	FRA	GBR 6	NED DNS	GER	ITA
1967	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M4B	BRM V8	RSA	MON 4	NED Ret	BEL										14th	3
	Anglo American Racers	Eagle T1G	Weslake V12					FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER Ret
	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M5A	BRM V12								CAN 7	ITA Ret	USA Ret	MEX Ret
1968	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M7A	Cosworth V8	RSA	ESP Ret	MON Ret	BEL 1	NED Ret	FRA 8	GBR 7	GER 13	ITA Ret	CAN 2	USA 6	MEX 2		5th	22
1969	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M7A	Cosworth V8	RSA 5													3rd	26
		McLaren M7C			ESP 2	MON 5	NED Ret	FRA 4	GBR 3	GER 3	ITA 4	CAN 5	USA DNS	MEX DNS
1970	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M14A	Cosworth V8	RSA Ret	ESP 2	MON Ret	BEL	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA	MEX	14th	6

References

External links

• Bruce McLaren Photos
• Bruce McLaren Trust official site
• New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame