Bruce McLaren

Bruce McLaren

McLaren in 1966

Driver Information

Born
(1937-08-30)30 August 1937Auckland, New Zealand

Died
2 June 1970(1970-06-02) (aged 32)Goodwood Circuit, Sussex, England

Formula One Career Statistics

Nationality
 NZL

Status
Deceased

Years active
1958–1970

Previous teams
Cooper (1958–1965)McLaren (1966–1970)Eagle (1967)

Races
104 (100 starts)

World Titles
0

Wins
4

Podiums
27

Career points
188.5 (196.5)

Polepositions
0

Fastest laps
8

First entry
1958 German Grand Prix

First win
1959 United States Grand Prix

Last win
1968 Belgian Grand Prix

Last entry
1970 Monaco Grand Prix

Bruce McLaren

Full name
Bruce Leslie McLaren

Date of birth
(1937-08-30)30 August 1937

Date of death
2 June 1970(1970-06-02) (aged 32)

Occupation
Team owner • team principal

Employer
McLaren

Years active
1966–1970

**Bruce Leslie McLaren** (30 August 1937 – 2 June 1970) was a New Zealander racing car designer, driver, engineer, and inventor.

His name lives on in the McLaren team, which he founded, one of the most successful in Formula One championship history, winning a total of 7 World Constructors' Championships and 9 World Drivers' Championships. McLaren cars 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 the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring.

## Early life

Bruce McLaren was born in Auckland, New Zealand, and attended Meadowbank Primary School. He was diagnosed with Legg–Calvé–Perthes disease in his hip when he was nine years old, causing his left leg to be shorter than the right.

His parents, Les and Ruth McLaren, owned a service station and workshop on Remuera Road in Remuera, Auckland. Les McLaren had been a motorcycle racing enthusiast before Bruce's birth, but due to an injury, he switched to racing cars at the club level. Throughout his formative years, Bruce spent all of his free time in the workshop, where he developed his passion.

## Career

Les McLaren restored an Austin 7 Ulster that 14-year-old Bruce used in 1952 for his first hillclimb competition. Two years later, he competed in his first official race and demonstrated promise. He progressed from the Austin to a Ford 10 special, an Austin-Healey, and eventually a Formula Two (F2) Cooper-Climax sports racing car. He immediately began to modify, improve, and master it, ultimately finishing second in the 1957-58 New Zealand championship series.

### Grand Prix

Australian driver Jack Brabham noticed his performance in the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1958 (and later invited McLaren to drive for him). Because of his obvious talent, the New Zealand International Grand Prix organisation chose him for its 'Driver to Europe' programme, which aims to provide a promising Kiwi driver with year-round experience alongside the best in the world. McLaren was the first recipient, followed by others such as Denny Hulme. McLaren went to Cooper and stayed for seven years. He raced in Formula 2 and was entered in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, where F2 and F1 cars competed alongside each other. He astounded the motor racing community by finishing first in F2, and fifth overall, in a field of the world's top drivers.

McLaren joined the Cooper factory F1 team in 1959, alongside Jack Brabham, and won the 1959 United States Grand Prix at the age of 22 years and 104 days, making him the youngest GP winner (excluding the Indianapolis 500). He then won the Argentine Grand Prix, the first race of the 1960 Formula One season, and finished second to Brabham.

McLaren won the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix and finished third in the championship that season. The following year, he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd., which continues to compete in the Formula One championship under the name McLaren. McLaren continued to compete and win in Coopers, including the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1964.

McLaren left Cooper at the end of 1965 and formed his own Grand Prix racing team with co-driver and fellow Kiwi Chris Amon. Amon departed in 1967 to drive for Ferrari. In 1968, McLaren was joined by another Kiwi, Denny Hulme, who had won the world championship with Brabham in 1967. McLaren won his fourth career race at Spa in 1968, giving the team its first Grand Prix victory. Hulme won twice with the McLaren-Ford.

The 1969 championship was also a success, with McLaren finishing third despite winning no races. McLaren's cars bore the "speedy Kiwi" logo as a tribute to his native land.

### Can-Am series

McLaren's design flair and ingenuity were graphically demonstrated in high-performance sports car racing. Just as the Can-Am series began to gain popularity among fans in Canada and the United States, the new McLaren cars finished second twice and third twice in six races.

In 1967, they won five out of six races, while in 1968, they won four. The following year, McLaren proved unbeatable by winning all 11 races. In two races, they finished first, second, and third.

### 24 Hours of Le Mans

McLaren and co-driver Ken Miles competed in the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ford GT40. After 45 laps, the car was leading but had to retire due to a gearbox failure. In 1966, McLaren and co-driver Chris Amon won the race in a Ford GT40, completing a Ford 1-2-3. The Ken Miles-Denny Hulme entry crossed the line first, but travelled a shorter distance due to the Le Mans-style start.

## Career as a constructor

McLaren was a competitive driver, but his legacy, the McLaren Racing Team, is built on his abilities as an analyst, engineer, and manager. In the early days of McLaren sports cars, McLaren was testing and noticed the fuel filler access door flapping up and down as he drove out of the pits. The current aerodynamic thinking was that it should have been pressed more firmly into place as the car's speed increased. Instead, it bounced harder as the speed increased. His frustration with the sloppy work vanished, and he had an epiphany. Stopping in the pits, he grabbed a pair of shears and began removing the bodywork behind the radiator. After getting back in the car, he immediately began turning faster lap times than before.

Later, he explained:

> "I was initially upset because the filler door had not been properly closed, but then I began to wonder why it wasn't being pressed down by the airflow. The only explanation was that there had to be a source of higher pressure air beneath it than above it."
>
>

That session resulted in the "nostrils" that have become a signature McLaren design feature.

McLaren recognised that his team's cars were less innovative than the Chaparrals of rival driver/designer Jim Hall, but their superior dependability was rewarded with race and championship wins. That culture persisted after his death, and when Ron Dennis purchased the team, it was reinforced by lessons learned in his early career as a race mechanic.

## Death

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

Motorsport author Eoin Young said that Bruce McLaren had "virtually penned his own epitaph" in his 1964 book *From the Cockpit*. Referring to the death of teammate 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."
>
>

McLaren was survived by his sisters Pat and Jan, wife Patty and daughter Amanda. He was buried at Waikumete Cemetery in Glen Eden.

## Formula One Statistical Overview

### Race Wins

 2
 3
 4

### Complete Formula One results

(key) (Races in **bold** indicate pole position, races in *italics* indicate fastest lap)

Notes

* \* – McLaren was ineligible to score points in the 1958 German Grand Prix because he was driving a Formula Two car.

## Notes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Up until 1990, not all points scored by a driver contributed to their final World Championship tally (see list of points scoring systems for more information). Numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.
2. ↑ McLaren Garage (Former). New Zealand Historic Places Trust.
3. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Eppstein, Maureen (21 January 1961), "Car Racing Dominates McLaren Household", *The Press*.
4. ↑ United States Grand Prix, Tom Burnside Photograph Collection, Revs Institute, Revs Digital Library.
5. ↑ The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search.
6. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Gray, Matthew (2009). "City of the Dead". In Macdonald, Finlay; Kerr, Ruth (eds.). *West: The History of Waitakere*. Random House. p. 380. ISBN 9781869790080.