The History Of McLaren

Before I start the facts I have collected are from the McLaren film that was released earlier this year and my memory. Now let’s get into it!

McLaren. It’s a name synonymous with precision and science but where did it all start? Well it started with a boy in New Zealand in 1937. Bruce McLaren was the man behind the McLaren racing team. At a young age Bruce had to be strapped to a frame because the ball joint in his left hip had shown signs of wear. He stayed in that frame for 2 years and he never left it. Being strapped in this frame meant that his left leg was shorter than his right.

1957: Bruce competed in the New Zealand Grand Prix alongside Stirling Moss and Jack Brabham. Jack Brabham was Bruce’s hero and a family friend because he kept his car at Les’ (Bruce’s father) service station. At the age of 20 Bruce won his first bid race.

Cooper Bob-Tail

1958: At the age of 20 Bruce went to London to work for Cooper Cars Jack Brabham was to be his teammate. It was in London where Bruce started his Formula 2 career.
The best race of Bruce’s first F2 season was the Nürburgring GP. Back in 1958 the Nürburgring GP was a F1 and F2 race. Bruce was doing so well that he overtook some of the Formula 1 cars in his Formula 2 Cooper. He finished first in his class.
Bruce always used to record tapes and send them home so he could tell his family how the races were going. Les took these tapes to the Auckland Car Club so people could hear them.

1959: After the success of his first few Formula 2 races Bruce was now a Formula 1 driver. At the Sebring GP Cooper was set to win the Constructors Championship. Bruce went on to win the race to seal the Constructors for Cooper and Jack Brabham won the Drivers Championship. Bruce’s victory meant that he became the youngest driver to win a F1 race at the age of 22. The youngest driver now is Max Verstappen.
It was then that Bruce and his team of mechanics became famous.

1961: Jack Brabham left the Cooper team to start his own F1 team leaving Bruce with a replacement teammate. Bruce’s best victory of the season was his win at the 20th Monaco Grand Prix.

1964: Bruce built his first ever F1 car to brand his name but he had to call it a Cooper because he was still contracted to Cooper. The car he built was for a New Zealand season. At the final race Bruce’s teammate Timmy Mayer thought he could brake after a bump on one of the corners and Bruce thought he couldn’t but he still tried to. Timmy tried to brake after the bump and his car got air and he hit a tree splitting his car in half and killing Timmy Mayer.
It was at Timmy’s funeral that Bruce spoke his famous quote: “I feel that life is measured in achievement not years alone.”
It was after Timmy’s crash that Bruce realised that Cooper’s best days were behind them so he went and made his own team.
They sent Ian Young to find a suitable work shop for them and what he found was in fact a dusty shed. To earn some extra money for his newly founded team Bruce became a test driver for Ford testing their new GT40 road racer and testing tires for Firestone. It was when he tested the GT40 that Bruce realised that sports car racing was the way to go for the McLaren team.
Bruce secured a spot in Can-Am for his team. The team sent Ian Young out again to find another workshop for the team as they went into the Can-Am series and he found a workshop right next to London airport, which was perfect for the team as they had to travel to America for the races.
The first McLaren Can-Am racer was called the M1A.

The McLaren M1A

The M1A was the lightest car in the Can-Am field meaning that people wanted to buy the car so they could have it. One driver was known to sell his Cobra and his house to buy the McLaren. The success of the car meant McLaren had more money to fund Formula 1 efforts.
It was later that year that Bruce decided that having a full time designer would be a good idea so they hired Robin Herd. Robin had worked on the Concorde Supersonic plane. The team was shown a material called Melite, which was light and strong. Robin is still a McLaren designer to this day.

1966: McLaren’s first F1 season as a Constructor. Bruce had high hopes for his car. So high in fact that he claimed numbers 1 and 2 for his cars. However those hopes were short lived as the second car meant to be driven by Chris Amon had major engine problems for the whole season meaning he barely got to do any racing and the engine wasn’t powerful enough to keep up with the rest of the field. It was a failure.
Later on in the year, Bruce was approached by Ford to race the number 2 GT40 at the 1966 Le Mans endurance race alongside Chris Amon and Mario Andretti. Bruce was driving the last stint and he was told to slow down to allow the other GT40 pass but Bruce McLaren didn’t he went on to win the race in the number 2 GT40.
After Le Mans 13 of the cars on the Can-Am were McLarens.

The No. 2 Ford GT40

1968: McLaren built their second F1 car the M7.
The best race was at Spa-Francorchamps where the second driver Denny Halme was in the lead but had to pull out due to a driveshaft issue. The issue meant that Jackie Stewart inherited the lead and Bruce was in first. Somewhere down the main straight Jackie pulled over with a mechanical fault but Bruce didn’t see him pull over so when he crossed the line he thought he came second. Bruce wondered why everyone congratulated him as if he had won. But then his team told him what had happened and it was at that moment he realised that he won the race. Winning that race means that Bruce became the second driver to win a Grand Prix in a car with their name on the front.
Towards the end of the year, Bruce built his own road car. The M6GT.

The M6GT

1969: McLaren won all 11 rounds of the ‘69 Can-Am series with the M8B.

McLaren M8B

1970: The Can-Am series banned high level wings so testing was underway for new wing configurations. The McLaren team were testing at Goodwood and just before lunch Bruce wanted to put some more rear wing on the back and go for another lap. During the lap Bruce was taking a corner at high speed when the car lifted and he collided with a Marshall post at an estimated 140 MPH. He was killed on impact. He died at an age of 32.

A big thank you for reading and I hope you have a good day!
-Denzloid-