Bruce Mclaren
August 27th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
After such a promising latter part of the 1969 F3 season, Hamiltonian Howden Ganley needed to move up a grade in 1970 – which meant Formula 2, or the new Formula 5000…
Bruce and Patty McLaren’s neighbour Barry Newman hadn’t been a motor racing enthusiast – but he soon became one, to the extent that the businessman became an entrant with and owner of a McLaren M10B. That model’s predecessor, the M10A, had won the inaugural British F5000 championship in 1969, but McLaren was not about to rest on its laurels and produced the improved ‘B’ with, among other changes, redesigned suspension, re-styled body fairing, an aluminium radiator, and changed wheel sizes. McLaren would produce 21 M10Bs (on top of the 17 M10As) and a deal was hatched between Bruce and his neighbour to run one for a man whose name is interwoven into the early years of McLaren.
Howden Ganley had worked as a mechanic in the early days of Bruce’s eponymous team, and was at Monaco when the first F1 McLaren debuted. He spent much of the last three years of the ’60s towing his F3 car around Europe, earning starting money, and learning race craft. He finished 1969 as one of the best F3 drivers, and his former boss saw an opportunity to give a promising fellow Kiwi a chance. Howden recalls, “The way I got the drive was that Bruce had noticed my progress in F3 so asked me to go to Goodwood for an F1 test. That led to his decision to put me in a works F5000 car. Bruce guaranteed to find a sponsor and he came up with Barry.” Read the rest of this entry »
June 16th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
On the June 2, 1970 the motor racing world was rocked – and New Zealand went into shock. Bruce McLaren, the greatest ambassador this country could have projected onto the world stage as a trailblazer for the hundreds of Kiwi motor sport people who have headed overseas in search of a dream, was dead.
At the start of his final year, Bruce McLaren oversaw the design and construction of four new models – the M10B F5000 
and M8D CanAm cars were updates of the championship-winning 1969 versions, while the M14 and M15 were new. The Formula One M14 replaced the M7s – the first of the Cosworth-powered McLarens – while the M15 would be entering new territory, the Indy 500.
A McLaren didn’t win the inaugural Tasman Cup for F5000s in 1970, but in the hands of Frank Matich, Graham McRae and Neil Allen M10s won five of the seven rounds – Bruce could have reasonably expected strong sales for the ‘10B’ and he’d have been right, with 21 built. The F1 season started in South Africa – Denny finished second, Bruce retired. A fortnight later Denny was third in the Race of Champions at Brands Hatch but Bruce, unusually, crashed out. On April 19 Denny proved the worth of the new M14 and qualified second, although he dropped out early, but the boss carried the day with what sadly turned out to be his final F1 podium, when he finished second in the Spanish Grand Prix. Read the rest of this entry »
February 8th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Less than two months after becoming the youngest driver to ever win a round of the Formula One world championship, Bruce McLaren became the second youngest ever winner. And he also became the youngest man to ever lead the world championship.
Twenty-two-year-old Bruce McLaren started the 1960 world championship exactly as he finished 1959 — winning in a works Cooper-Climax. On the second to last weekend of January he’d driven the Lycoming to fourth at Wigram, but then he was South America bound 
for the opening round of the new decade.
Ferrari had resisted any temptation to give in to the movement to put the engine behind the driver, and arrived in Argentina with three front-engined Dino 246s. Its lead driver of 1959, Tony Brooks, had departed and the cars were to be driven by Northern Englishman Cliff Allison, Californian Phil Hill and the aristocratic German, Wolfgang von Trips. Antipodeans, Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren, comprised the works Cooper team while Stirling Moss conducted Rob Walker’s private entry. BRM also stuck to the front-engined layout and had Graham Hill and Jo Bonnier as their drivers.
Lotus had made the switch to the mid-engined layout, but the ship carrying its new car, and the Coopers, was delayed and only arrived the evening before the event. Practice was extended to allow drivers some track time, but Lotus number 1 was soon giving the field something to think about. Moss was quick and nabbed pole but Scotsman, Innes Ireland, in the new Lotus 18 surprised everyone by qualifying second, with the BRMs completing the front row of the four-three-four grid.
The three works Ferraris sewed up the second row, and then two private Coopers (Maurice Trintigant in the second Rob Walker car and Harry Schell) before Jack Brabham in the first of the works T51s. That the new world champion was only 10th on the grid was a surprise, but that was nothing when you saw he was 3.7 seconds slower than Moss. His kiwi team-mate qualified another 1.2 seconds slower in the middle of the fourth row — 13th in a 22-car grid, the slowest five cars all being Maserati 250Fs — the car to have only three years earlier. Read the rest of this entry »
January 18th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
The 1969 CanAm series saw the most complete clean-up job in big time motor racing — after 10 of 11 rounds an orange car had won every round, and scored a one-two on every starting grid.
The final round of the 1969 CanAm Challenge Cup was due be run in Las Vegas, but the track was damaged in a desert rainstorm and the Texas International Speedway, a tri-oval with an auxiliary road course, substituted. Bruce McLaren 
had won round one on June 1 at Canada’s Mosport track from pole position. Denny Hulme was alongside him on the front of the grid and finished second with a staged finish, less than a second behind Bruce. Bruce also set fastest lap with a new record. They’d cleaned up — the M8A of 1968 was dominant enough but the new M8B was faster, stronger and more reliable.
Round two at St Jovite on June 15 — Bruce again on pole, but this time it was Denny who lead the one-two while they shared the fastest lap with another record. Chris Amon and Ferrari rejoined the CanAm for round three at Watkins Glen — it was a New Zealand one-two-three on the grid. Only three cars completed every lap, and all were driven by Kiwis — Denny just from Bruce, and then Chris half a minute behind. Not a bad effort for three Kiwis in upstate New York — with Denny getting fastest lap.
Read the rest of this entry »
March 31st, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
The NZ Festival of Motorsport celebrating Bruce McLaren was held over two weekends, last month. We have a full event report in the April issue of Classic Car magazine, but there were too many histroic racers and too much action for us to fit all the photos into the magazine. Rather than waste them, we have just loaded all the photos online for you to enjoy.
To see all the historic racing action from Pukekohe click on the link below and start browsing from the second installment of 146 images.
Photo Credit: Chris Poland
Read the rest of this entry »
January 29th, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
The New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing shifts from Hampton Downs to Pukekohe Park Raceway this weekend. More than 120 of the world’s most iconic and valuable historic race cars have travelled to NZ to take part in the festival and racing will start from 9am tomorrow.
There are almost 400 entries — with cars valuing tens of millions of dollars — confirmed. A total of 123 are international entries and organisers believe this is easily the largest amount of cars to travel to the country for a motor sports event.
Cars from Ferrari, Chevrolet, Lotus, Aston Martin, MG, Lola, March, Cooper and Brabham are all confirmed, as are cars from home constructors McRae, Begg and of course, McLaren. Many have been rebuilt or restored specifically for the meetings.
The cars date from the fifties through to the mid seventies and the racing will include ten classes for single seaters, sports cars and saloons and the highlights will be one of the biggest ever fields assembled of Formula 5000 cars and a field of spectacular CanAm cars, including McLaren’s that raced in the hands of Kiwi legends Denny Hulme and Bruce Mclaren himself.
In keeping with the period cars, all spectators to the event are being encouraged to wear period clothing from the fifties and sixties. “We really do want everyone to get into the spirit of the event,” commented event organiser Jim Barclay. ”This will be like a trip back in time and it would be great to see some of the many superbly restored and well-cared for classic cars in New Zealand come out for those weekends.”
“If the event is a success it has a great chance of becoming one of just a handful of globally recognised international historic motoring events, alongside the likes of the Goodwood Revival, Pebble Beach in the USA and the Philip Island meeting in Australia.”
Entries have come from Australia, the United Kingdom, the USA, Denmark, Belgium and even Dubai with around 1,000 international motorsport visitors expected to descend on New Zealand.
There is a show and shine evening tonight (Jan 29th) with the racing starting tomorrow (Jan 30) at 9am.
Tickets are available at the gate and vary in price from $30 – $110
To find out more head to www.nzfmr.co.nz
January 22nd, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
The New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing begins today and is running all weekend at the Hampton Downs Racetrack. More than 120 of the world’s most iconic and valuable historic race cars have travelled to NZ to take part in the festival.
The event is the first major international race meeting at the brand new Hampton Downs facility this Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th before shifting to Pukekohe for the following weekend (29th-31st), will mark the 40th anniversary of the passing of Kiwi racing and engineering legend Bruce McLaren.
There are almost 400 entries — with cars valuing tens of millions of dollars — confirmed. A total of 123 are international entries and organisers believe this is easily the largest amount of cars to travel to the country for a motor sports event.
Cars from Ferrari, Chevrolet, Lotus, Aston Martin, MG, Lola, March, Cooper and Brabham are all confirmed, as are cars from home constructors McRae, Begg and of course, McLaren. Many have been rebuilt or restored specifically for the meetings.
The cars date from the fifties through to the mid seventies and the racing will include ten classes for single seaters, sports cars and saloons and the highlights will be one of the biggest ever fields assembled of Formula 5000 cars and a field of spectacular CanAm cars, including McLaren’s that raced in the hands of Kiwi legends Denny Hulme and Bruce Mclaren himself.
In keeping with the period cars, all spectators to the event are being encouraged to wear period clothing from the fifties and sixties. “We really do want everyone to get into the spirit of the event,” commented event organiser Jim Barclay. ”This will be like a trip back in time and it would be great to see some of the many superbly restored and well-cared for classic cars in New Zealand come out for those weekends.”
“If the event is a success it has a great chance of becoming one of just a handful of globally recognised international historic motoring events, alongside the likes of the Goodwood Revival, Pebble Beach in the USA and the Philip Island meeting in Australia.”
Entries have come from Australia, the United Kingdom, the USA, Denmark, Belgium and even Dubai with around 1,000 international motorsport visitors expected to descend on New Zealand.
The racing starts at 9am on all three days and concludes at 4pm.
Tickets are available at the gate and vary in price from $30 – $90
To find out more head to www.nzfmr.co.nz
December 17th, 2009 by NZ Classic Car
An early interview with Bruce Mclaren
