{"id":719789,"date":"2026-06-06T21:49:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/719789\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T21:49:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:49:24","slug":"f1-news-bruce-mclarens-daughter-on-mclarens-kiwi-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/719789\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: Bruce McLaren\u2019s daughter on McLaren\u2019s Kiwi legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Daughter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAmanda McLaren is helping keep the history and legacy of her father and McLaren alive. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n

It is a landmark that speaks to longevity, reinvention, and survival across six decades of relentless change.<\/p>\n

But for all the modern success, glittering facilities, world champions and corporate evolution, the McLaren story does not begin in Monaco, Woking, or any of the circuits that now define its global footprint.<\/p>\n

It begins on the other side of the world, in the land of the long white cloud \u2014 New Zealand \u2014 with a history that is often overlooked or forgotten by many modern fans of the sport.<\/p>\n

And as the team prepares to celebrate its historic milestone, the daughter of its founder Bruce McLaren, Amanda, has been reflecting on the legacy of the team and its enduring New Zealand roots.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Speedcafe from her home in New Zealand, she said she enjoys keeping her father\u2019s story alive for new generations of fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of, especially the younger fans who sort of learned all about Formula 1 on Netflix, don\u2019t know where the McLaren name comes from. Or didn\u2019t know that Bruce was a New Zealander,\u201d Amanda said.<\/p>\n

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It is that history and legacy that is pivotal to the story of the iconic brand.<\/p>\n

Founded by Auckland-born Bruce McLaren in 1963, Bruce McLaren Motor Racing spent several years competing in lower categories before eventually making its Formula 1 debut at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix, where Bruce and fellow Kiwi Chris Amon took the striking white M2B to the streets of Monte Carlo.<\/p>\n

It was not an ideal debut for the team, with Bruce retiring after nine laps due to an oil leak and Amon withdrawing before the race even got underway.<\/p>\n

Despite the result, the spark for F1 history started then and there with the team becoming a staple of the F1 paddock ever since, going on to achieve 203 Grand Prix wins, 561 podium finishes, 177 pole positions, 13 drivers\u2019 championships and 10 constructors\u2019 titles.<\/p>\n

Bruce continued to race for the team right through until his death in 1970, with his final race, ironically, also coming at the Monaco Grand Prix that same year.<\/p>\n

It is a level of connection to the principality that Amanda says is particularly poignant, given the team\u2019s 1000th Grand Prix milestone is being celebrated at a circuit so deeply tied to its origins, and the fact that the planned earlier celebration in Miami was reshuffled after the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian rounds earlier in the season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s dreadful what\u2019s happening in the Middle East for people there,\u201d Amanda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the fact that what happened caused the race at Monaco to be the 1000th Grand Prix, which was actually the first grand prix that we ever raced, is kind of serendipity or something.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just lovely to see. It\u2019s 60 years on. It\u2019s incredible that it is the race it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda was four when her father passed away, but remained closely connected to the world of F1 thanks to her mother Patty\u2019s involvement with the team, where she remained a director of the company until the late 1970s.<\/p>\n

\"Amanda<\/p>\n

A young Amanda with her father Bruce. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n

And while Amanda does not have direct memories of her father, she grew up close to several iconic names of the era, many of whom were considered family.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeeting people like James Hunt and Emerson Fittipaldi prior to that. I grew up with people like Graham Hill as \u2018Uncle Graham\u2019,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd really, actually for a long time, I didn\u2019t think anything of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally until the James Hunt penny drop moment when all the girls at school started asking me questions. And it was really from sort of then onwards that I started reading the books Mum had.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsking questions of the people that, you know, I grew up in the age where you called anybody older than yourself uncle or aunt, so asking all these uncles questions about themselves and my dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then sort of realising what he\u2019d achieved by the time he was killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amanda watched the team succeed from afar after her mother stepped away from close involvement, particularly during the Ron Dennis era at McLaren, when the man who transformed the team into one of F1\u2019s dominant forces drifted away from its roots and focused more on building its future.<\/p>\n

\u201cRon was a genius. What he created,\u201d Amanda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he is on record as saying I don\u2019t look back, I only look forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the history and the heritage to Ron wasn\u2019t so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

That all changed in the late 2010s, however, when current CEO Zak Brown joined the team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was during this period that Amanda also became more involved with McLaren, having been asked to join the team as an ambassador for its automotive division in 2014 \u2014 a role she held alongside her husband Stephen until 2021.<\/p>\n

After the pandemic scaled back her paid role, both she and Stephen stepped into honorary brand ambassador positions for McLaren Racing and Automotive.<\/p>\n

She said it was in this period that the legacy and history her father created truly began to return to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cZak is well known for his love of history and heritage. You\u2019ve just got to look at his car collection,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he has embraced Dad more and more.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

McLaren has shown a variety of tributes to its New Zealand roots over the years. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n

\u201cYou walk into the technology centre (MTC) now, and the pits at the grand prix, and the Paddock Club, and there are pictures of Dad on the walls.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there are a lot of his quotes around, both at the races and the technology centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the Speedy Kiwi is on the race cars. That \u2018Kiwiness\u2019 is very evident.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that connection to New Zealand also remains strong among McLaren staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband and I were in the UK in March, and we were at the MTC, and we had a lunch with McLaren employees of both racing and automotive. There were over 30 people in the room,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat real sort of Kiwiness, New Zealand spirit was there. And they are proud of the fact that Bruce came from New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the fact that it\u2019s being recognised by both companies is very special to them, and to me, and to the wider family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resurgence of that identity has also coincided with McLaren\u2019s competitive revival and a growing global interest in both the team\u2019s history and New Zealand itself, something Amanda believes are closely linked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s way easier for me now to sort of talk about racing when we\u2019re at the front of the grid, not at the back, and current double world champions,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the younger fans want information and they get their information from social media. So there\u2019s so much more ability to access the stories.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean 10 years ago, I was working for automotive at that point, and yes I did interviews through that, but I am doing more now than ever because of what\u2019s happening. Especially with racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo all of a sudden it\u2019s at the forefront of everyone\u2019s attention and \u2018Oh, let\u2019s talk to Amanda\u2019. And then there\u2019s been a lot of interest in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Oh, it\u2019s the birthplace of Bruce McLaren, the founder of McLaren. Oh, it\u2019s a beautiful country. Let\u2019s go visit\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo journalists are coming over. Media is coming over. And there\u2019s also been quite a revival of the Bruce McLaren Trust over here because my husband and I and some others took over the trust and made a lot of changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s starting to get more attention in that sense. It is bringing New Zealand into the story more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, six decades on from the team\u2019s debut, McLaren is preparing for its 1000th Grand Prix \u2014 a milestone that invites reflection not only on success, but on what might have been.<\/p>\n

Amanda believes her father always had a vision that extended far beyond Formula 1 itself, and would be extremely proud of what the team has become since his passing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowden Ganley, one of his original mechanics, and later a very good family friend\u2026 he said Bruce was building a legacy,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cDad was, at the time he died, they were doing Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 5000, hill climb cars, IndyCar, road cars. He was going to do Group 4 racing back at Le Mans \u2014 and he had big, big plans for Bruce McLaren Motor Racing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe probably wouldn\u2019t still be alive today. But I am sure that had he not been killed, he would have carried on to grow that company.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he wasn\u2019t a Ron Dennis, maybe we wouldn\u2019t have had the McLaren Technology Centre, but he had this vision for the company to be involved in all those different aspects of motor racing \u2014 and produce road cars.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think we would have had something similar to what we\u2019ve got today. And I\u2019m sure he would have set it up to continue after he passed. But we\u2019ll never know.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sure he would be absolutely delighted that his name does carry on.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as that name continues to sit at the forefront of world motorsport, and on some of the most iconic road cars ever produced, it all traces back to its origins in New Zealand \u2014 something Amanda believes remains central to the team\u2019s identity and to the pride it brings to Aotearoa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think New Zealanders are very proud of the fact that McLaren was founded by a New Zealander,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got so much support from New Zealand and from New Zealanders. And that\u2019s wonderful to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd long may that continue.\u201d<\/p>\n


\"\"\/
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