Bruce McLaren

New Zealand racecar driver, designer and team owner

Bruce McLaren, driver and constructor

Bruce McLaren won Grands Prix for Cooper, then built his own team and won in a car carrying his name.

Bruce McLaren was born in Auckland, New Zealand, on 30 August 1937. His parents ran a service station and workshop, and as a teenager he restored a 1929 Austin 7 Ulster with his father and raced it at local hillclimbs. He left engineering studies at the University of Auckland to go racing.

He made his World Championship debut for Cooper at the 1958 German Grand Prix, driving a Formula Two car. In 1959 he won the season finale, the United States Grand Prix at Sebring, and he opened 1960 by winning in Argentina on the way to second place in the championship behind his teammate Jack Brabham. A victory at Monaco in 1962 helped him to third in the standings.

In 1963 he founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing, and from 1966 he raced his own cars in Formula 1. At the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa Francorchamps he won in a McLaren, the team's first Grand Prix victory and the last of his four wins, making him one of only three drivers to win a championship race in a car of their own construction. He finished third in the championship again in 1969. Away from Formula 1 he won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans with Chris Amon in a Ford GT40 and took the Can Am title in 1967 and 1969.

McLaren made 100 starts, with 4 wins, 3 fastest laps and 27 podiums. He was killed on 2 June 1970 while testing a McLaren M8D sports car at Goodwood. The team he founded went on to win ten constructors' championships.

0 world titles, 4 wins, 0 pole positions, 100 starts.

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