Every motor racing enthusiast mentally compiles their own world-class pilot lists. One of them is necessarily entitled “a safe, experienced and highly qualified driver; unsinkable. " Bruce McLaren led the list for many. Therefore, the shock, in addition to grief, after his sudden death in Goodwood during the testing of the new McLaren car for Can-Am, was especially severe. All the more ironically cruel was the fact that he intentionally decided not to participate in two McLaren races in Indianapolis and returned to England to take up, as usual, the test of immaculately prepared Can-Am machines.
The pilot, who was only 33, with his ageless, joyful, young appearance, easily forgot that of all world-class drivers, he, with the exception of his friend Jack Brabham, was the most experienced of all in terms of length of time in the competition.
McLaren Bruce: biography of the racer
Born 08/30/37 in Auckland, New Zealand, in the family of Les and Ruth McLaren. At the age of 16, he was already the holder of a license participating in his first mountain races at Austin 7. His father, an engineer and motorcycle racer, encouraged him and was his biggest supporter.
Bruce Leslie McLaren, especially when he was tired, was limping noticeably. This was the result of an ailment known as Legg-Perthes disease, which unexpectedly affects previously healthy nine-year-old boys and puts them to bed in the orthopedic department of the hospital for up to two years. After recovery, the hip joint no longer functions as before and sometimes aches.
Looking back, it becomes clear that Bruce's exceptional sense of humor, stamina, patience and mischief originated or, at least, crystallized during this long period.
Hospital case
One case is worth remembering about it. Bruce has always been a quiet leader and, while in the clinic, led his peers, locked in four-wheeled wheelchairs, into secret night sorties down winding, smooth, inclined paths. The steering was, of course, miserable, and, of course, there were numerous collisions with flower beds. An important part of this story is that all members of the team and its leader returned in their beds uncharted and unharmed.
Of great importance in his early life were his parents. Their support and parental care clearly helped to develop Bruce's adult joyful acceptance of life's ups and downs, his compassion, kindness, interest in other people and his great determination to succeed.
Trip to Europe
It is quite appropriate to add the objective genetic factor of inherited traits. Bruce was the first recipient of a scholarship from the Association of New Zealand International Grand Prix "Racer to Europe." This allowed the young pilot to come to the Old World, but upon arrival he remained almost on his own. 20-year-old Bruce Maclaren with his friend Colin Binland as mechanics entered English soil in 1958. Jack Brabham, John and Charles Cooper replaced his father so necessary then, and two New Zealanders moved to their workshop to literally build their own Formula 2 Cooper race car.
It was not long before Bruce McLaren, Formula 2 driver, with his successful performances, forced enthusiasts to look into the racing program to find out who this small and very young representative of the Commonwealth was. But everyone was surprised by the 1958 Grand Prix of Germany, which combined the F1 and F2 races at the Nurburgring. The ending of this episode was best commented by Jack Brabham: “I don't know. "A few Arabs came with three wrenches and a spare wheel just to fill out the list of participants, and then they won this damn race."
Start at Tirrell
In general, Bruce came fifth and first among F2 cars, rising to the podium next to Tony Brooks, who on the same day won the Formula 1 race in Vanwall. It was then that Bruce McLaren began his real racing career.
The rider’s biography changed dramatically when in the same 1958 the Tirrell team, which was distinguished by the ability to select talented pilots, invited Bruce to ride his F2 Cooper, and this friendship and educational experience played a big role. Maclaren's perfectionism began to manifest in many ways. The late Noddy Groman and Mike Barney were Cooper's friends and meticulous mechanics. An hour before the start, Bruce approached them with a small list in his hand and said: “Noddy and Mike, did you fill it to the top with oil?” The mechanics, not even deigning to answer, cast deadly glances at him. If they didn’t even look at him, then Maclaren could not help but open the filler cap to look inside.
Going to Cooper
The following year, he, along with Jack Brabham and Masten Gregory, joined the Cooper team. Few people know that Bruce McLaren studied at an engineering college and in the following years there were no other two drivers who would take more time to test, develop and prepare cars than he and Brabham. This was the period of the most important and happy hard work.
It was also a time when sports leaders began to realize that although it was important to have maximum engine power, lap times could be shortened by tuning the chassis. Ken Tyrrell was a pioneer here, and he always had a high opinion of Bruce in this regard. As Tyrrell explained this, one of the most difficult things a driver must provide when testing is to drive at a constant speed, round and round, and then the opportunity to talk about the behavior of the car, etc. It was here that the foundation was laid for the subsequent formation of the entire field of motorsport.
Experience and stability
At the end of 1959, Bruce McLaren at age 22 became the youngest driver to ever win the Formula 1 World Championship race - the US Grand Prix at Sebring. For Cooper, 1959 was the first of two consecutive golden years, as the team won the manufacturers championship, and in 1960 Jack retained the world title, and 23-year-old Bruce took second place in the drivers' standings. McLaren won a total of four Grand Prix: USA (1959), Argentina (1960), Monte Carlo (1962) and Belgium (1968). An indicator of his experience and stability over the years is that in the cumulative ranking of all championships, he took fifth place after Graham Hill, Fangio, Jim Clark and his friend Brabham.
He remained on the Cooper team until 1966, replacing Bradham as the No. 1 driver when Jack left her in 1962 to build his own sports cars. At this time, McLaren began a stubborn diversified expansion in all sectors of motorsport, including sports cars. He enjoyed it and made many friends in the USA. In 1966, he won the 24-hour race at Le Mans with Chris Amon on the 7-liter Ford Mark IIA and the following year the 12-hour race at Sebring with Mario Andretti on the Ford Mark IV.
Own team
Another important stage was achieved in 1963–64, because he wanted to separate and have his own team. For Tasman's Formula, he had two of his own purpose-built 2.5-liter Coopers. The late Timmy Meyer spent his first European season in Formula 3, playing for Ken Tyrrell's nursery, and Bruce, extremely impressed by his talent, invited the young pilot to join him on the opposite side of the globe. This was supposed to be a kind of rehearsal, as John Cooper was also impressed enough to sign a contract with a young American next season as co-pilot and McLaren in place of the first. Although Bruce won this championship, the new team returned in mourning due to the tragic death of Timmy during practice before the last race of this series. For Teddy Mayer, the manager of the deceased brother, and the mechanic Tyler Alexander, however, this was the beginning of their long subsequent collaboration and, ultimately, the creation of McLaren Racing Ltd. in 1966 with Teddy Mayer as a partner. From that moment, McLaren showed another quality. He became an astute businessman and a hardworking leader.
Bruce McLaren remained a world-class driver, but more and more his maturity allowed him to calmly relate to the fact that others were faster than him, and that his future lies in the field of design, construction and development. Then McLaren Formula 1 cars were built and Bruce won in 1968 in the Belgian Spa on his own McLaren-Ford, and then in the same year his team pilot Denny Halm won the Italian and Canadian Grand Prix.
Tragic ending
All this time, plans were being made in the minds of Bruce and Teddy Mayer, which was supposed to lead to the top of his career - the Canadian-American Cup for sports cars of group 7. McLaren Racing Ltd. received sponsorship from Chevrolet, Goodyear, Reynolds and Gulf, and created a car that won five of six races in the 1967 series, four of six in 1968 and all 11 in 1969. This superior dominance in the series gave many awards and Bruce Leslie McLaren, whose biography was so suddenly and tragically interrupted, was to receive the Royal Car Club Seagrave Trophy for these outstanding achievements. But this was not destined to happen.
Bruce McLaren, whose death occurred on June 2, 1970 on the Lavant straight line of the Goodwood track just before Woodcout's turn, tested the new M8D when the rear part of the car split at full speed. The loss of aerodynamic downforce destabilized the car, which began to spin, got off the track and hit the fence.
Personal life
Bruce married Patty Brickett four years after they met at a party in Timaru, where he went to local competitions. November 20, 1965 their daughter Amanda was born.
