Bruce
McLaren

Bruce McLaren was born on 30 August 1937 in Auckland, New Zealand. His parents ran a service station and workshop, and his father raced cars at club level. At 14, Bruce persuaded him to buy a dismantled 1929 Austin 7 Ulster, which the two of them rebuilt. He used it for his first hillclimbs and club events. He later moved on to a Formula Two Cooper-Climax, and his results earned him a place on a New Zealand support programme, which enabled him to move to Europe in 1958. Jack Brabham, who had noticed his Formula Two performances, recommended him to Cooper.

McLaren made his Formula One debut at the 1958 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. In 1959 he became a works Cooper driver alongside Brabham. That year he won the United States Grand Prix at Sebring, his first win in a World Championship race, aged 22 years and 104 days. He remained the youngest Grand Prix winner for more than four decades. In 1960 he started the season by winning in Argentina and finished runner-up in the championship behind Brabham. After Brabham left Cooper at the end of 1961, McLaren became the team's lead driver. He won at Monaco in 1962 and finished third in the championship, behind Graham Hill and Jim Clark. He stayed with Cooper until 1965.

In 1963 McLaren founded his own team, which at first ran modified Coopers in the Tasman Series and also worked on sports cars. It joined Formula One in 1966. Early cars such as the M2B were let down by heavy engines that lacked power, and things improved with the Cosworth DFV. In 1968 McLaren won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in the M7A, the team's first victory. This put him alongside Brabham and Dan Gurney as the only three drivers to win a World Championship race in a car they had built themselves. In 1969 he finished third in the championship.

In sports cars he won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans with Chris Amon in a Ford GT40 Mk II. They were awarded the win because their car had started further back on the grid and so covered slightly more distance than the sister car. In the Can-Am series he won the drivers' title in 1967 and 1969. In 1969 his team won all eleven races, six for McLaren and five for his team-mate Denny Hulme.

McLaren was killed on 2 June 1970 while testing the McLaren M8D at Goodwood. He was 32. Over 13 Formula One seasons he made 100 starts, won four races and stood on the podium 27 times. The team he founded carried on in Formula One after his death.

Source: Wikipedia, “Bruce McLaren”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.