52 years ago, on June 2, 1970, Bruce McLaren, the famous racer, founder of the team that bears his name half a century later, died while testing the M8D sports car developed for the American Can-Am series in goodwood.
McLaren had its first Formula 1 successes in the early 1960s with Cooper and followed the lead of former teammate Jack Brabham in late 1965 by founding his racing team.
McLaren built not only Formula 1 cars but also sports prototypes for overseas series, and Bruce was Can-Am champion twice, in 1967 and 1969. The list of achievements also includes a victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: Bruce won this race in 1966, while on the same team he spoke with Chris Amon driving a Ford GT40 Mk.II.
“Trying to outdo yourself is worth dying wasn’t so stupid. If you don’t realize your talents, you just live in vain. That is why I am convinced that life should not be measured by years, but by achievements,” Bruce said at the funeral of his friend, driver Tim Mayer, brother of future McLaren team manager Teddy Mayer.
Bruce McLaren was 32 years old. He might have been 82 today. It all started with half a dozen idealists on his team, and today the McLaren group of companies has about 4,000 employees.
When he received news of Bruce’s death on June 2, 1970, his companion Tyler Alexander told staff they could stay home the next day. But everyone came to work. Because that’s what Bruce would have done.
McLaren is the second most successful team in F1 history behind Ferrari in terms of wins, podiums, pole positions, best laps and points scored.
Memories of Robin Heard, designing McLaren racing cars in the 1960s…
Source: F1 News
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