Bruce Leslie McLaren (30 August 1937 â 2 June 1970) was a New Zealand racing driver, automotive designer, engineer and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . McLaren was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Cooper, and won four Grands Prix across 13 seasons. In endurance racing, McLaren won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in with Ford. He founded McLaren in 1963, who have since won 10 Formula One World Constructors' Championship titles and remain the only team to have completed the Triple Crown of Motorsport.
Born and raised in Auckland, McLaren initially studied engineering at the University of Auckland before dropping out to focus on his motor racing career. Having entered his first hillclimbing event aged 14, he progressed to Formula Two in 1957, winning the New Zealand Championship the following year. His performance at the New Zealand Grand Prix attracted the attention of Jack Brabham, with whom he partnered at Cooper in having already debuted at the 1958 German Grand Prix, where he finished fifth in his Formula Two machinery. Aged 22, McLaren took his maiden win at the , becoming the then-youngest driver to win a Formula One Grand Prix, a record which stood for 44 years. Remaining at Cooper for , McLaren took a further win in ArgentinaâÂÂamongst several podiumsâÂÂas he finished championship runner-up to teammate Brabham. After a winless season for Cooper, McLaren won the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix, finishing third in the championship to Graham Hill and Jim Clark. Cooper struggled for performance from to as Lotus, BRM and Ferrari dominated the championship, prompting McLaren to enter Formula One with his own team. McLaren founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing in 1963, with whom he competed from until his death in . With the team, he won the in and finished third in the 1969 World Drivers' Championship. In June 1970, he died while testing the McLaren M8D at Goodwood, having achieved four wins, three fastest laps and 27 podiums in Formula One.
Outside of Formula One, McLaren competed in nine editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans from to , winning in alongside Chris Amon in the Ford GT40 Mk II. He was also a two-time champion of the Canadian-American Challenge Cup in 1967 and 1969, driving his own M6A and M8B, and won the Tasman Series in 1964. His legacy has been cemented with the McLaren Group, whose achievements have included winning ten World Constructors' Championships, two Indianapolis 500s, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in . McLaren was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991.
Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Bruce McLaren attended Meadowbank Primary School. As a nine-year-old, he was diagnosed with Perthes disease in his hip that left his left leg shorter than the right.
His parents, Les and Ruth McLaren, owned a service station and workshop in Remuera Rd, Remuera, Auckland; Les McLaren had been a motorcycle racing enthusiast, but gave that up due to an injury before Bruce's birth, and began racing cars at the club level instead. Bruce spent all of his free hours hanging around the workshop and developed his passion during his formative years. The former garage was first listed as a category 1 historic place by Heritage New Zealand in 2006.
After finishing high school at Seddon Memorial Technical College, McLaren enrolled in the School of Engineering at University of Auckland, however he dropped out after motor racing success; his student record card was reported to have been ended with the words "went motor racing".
In 1972, two years after Bruce's death, his great-grandfather celebrated his 100th birthday, it was then after retrieving his birth certificate that their family found that his original surname was 'Howie' rather than 'McLaren', which was thought to have been his original family name, which began with Ben Howie, later McLaren.
Howie, born in the Australian state of South Australia had then relocated to New Zealand and married a publicanâÂÂs daughter while residing there. After returning to South Australia, he fell in love with, and subsequently began a relationship with Frances Moyle, a married woman with three children. Howie then again relocated to New Zealand with his new wife Frances, adopting the surname 'McLaren', a reference to the famous McLaren Vale wine region in South Australia (located 40 km (24 mi) south of Adelaide, the state's capital city), to conceal his old life.
Les McLaren restored an Austin 7 Ulster, which 14-year-old Bruce used in 1952 when he entered his first competition, a hillclimb at Muriwai, where he won the 750 cc class. 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 an Austin-Healey, then a Formula Two (F2) Cooper-Climax sports racing car. He immediately began to modify, improve and master it, so much so that he was runner-up in the 1957âÂÂ58 New Zealand championship series.
McLaren founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing in 1963.
McLaren's performance in the New Zealand Grand Prix in 1958 was noticed by 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 to Europe' scheme designed to give a promising Kiwi driver year-round experience with the best in the world. McLaren was the first recipient, to be followed by others later including Denny Hulme. 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 the 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 104 days, becoming the youngest ever GP winner (not including the Indianapolis 500) up to that time. This record would stand for more than four decades until Fernando Alonso's victory at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix. He followed that with a win in the Argentine Grand Prix, the first race of the 1960 Formula One season, and he would finish runner-up that season to Brabham.
McLaren won the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix, eventually finishing third in the championship that year. The next year, he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd, which remains in the Formula One championship simply as 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 Denny 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 third in the standings despite taking no wins. In tribute to his homeland, McLaren's cars featured the "speedy Kiwi" logo.
McLaren's design flair and ingenuity were graphically demonstrated in powerful sports car racing. Just as the Can-Am 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 all 11 races. In two races, they finished 1âÂÂ2âÂÂ3.
In 1965, McLaren and co-driver Ken Miles raced a Ford GT40 in the 24 Hour Race at Le Mans. The car was leading after 45 laps but retired due to gearbox failure. In 1966, McLaren and co-driver Chris Amon won the race in a Ford GT40, in a Ford 1-2-3 finish. The Ken Miles-Denny Hulme entry crossed the line first but had travelled less distance due to the Le Mans style start.
McLaren was a competitive driver, but his legacy, the McLaren racing team, stems from his abilities as an analyst, engineer, and manager. In the early days of McLaren sports cars, McLaren was testing and as he drove out of the pits, he noticed the fuel filler access door was flapping up and down as he drove. The current aerodynamic thinking was that it should have been pressed more firmly in place as the speed of the car increased. Instead, it bounced more vigorously as the speed increased. Instantly, his frustration at the sloppy work changed and he had an insight. Stopping in the pits, he grabbed a pair of shears and started cutting the bodywork away behind the radiator. Climbing back in the car, he immediately began turning lap times faster than before.
Later, he explained, <blockquote>I was first angry that the filler door hadn't been properly closed but then I began to wonder why it wasn't being pressed down by the airflow. The only answer was that there had to be a source of higher pressure air under it than over it.</blockquote> From that session came the "nostrils" that have been a key McLaren design feature, including in the McLaren P1 road car.
McLaren noticed that his team's cars were less innovative than the Chaparrals of rival driver/designer Jim Hall, but their superior reliability was rewarded by race and championship victories. That culture continued after his death and, when Ron Dennis bought the team, was reinforced by the lessons learned in his early career as a race mechanic.
McLaren died aged 32 when his McLaren M8D Can-Am car crashed on the Lavant Straight just before Woodcote corner at Goodwood Circuit in England on 2 June 1970. He had been testing the M8D when its 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 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:
McLaren was buried at Waikumete Cemetery in Glen Eden. He was survived by his wife, sisters and daughter, Amanda, who is a brand ambassador for McLaren and is one of the trustees of the Bruce McLaren Trust alongside her husband. As of 2024, Amanda and her husband had moved back to New Zealand. His wife died in 2016.
() (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
<nowiki>*</nowiki> McLaren was ineligible to score points in the 1958 German Grand Prix because he was driving a Formula Two car.
() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
() (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
() (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Joint fastest lap.<br>
Related Books:
A list of further such volumes can be viewed at Historical Books -- Bruce McLaren Trust - History of motorsport racing legend and founder of McLaren F1 and Can-Am teams.