Bruce McLaren

[futuretiger9]

I'm currently reading an excellent biography of Bruce McLaren, by Eoin Young, entitled "McLaren Memories". It has served to remind me what an excellent driver, engineer and team boss Bruce was.

It's hard to believe that Bruce was still in his late twenties when his team entered F1. Today's equivalent would be Mark Webber starting an F1 team from scratch!

As well as laying the foundations for the mega-success of the team in later years, Bruce also dominated Can-Am racing, along with Denny Hulme.

It's fascinating to speculate how things would have worked out had Bruce lived. He would have probably retired from driving around 1972, and concentrated on running the team. Would we have ever heard of a certain Ron Dennis? Possibly not.

Bruce McLaren - a fine driver and a good man.

[BeansBeansBeans]

Would we have ever heard of a certain Ron Dennis? Possibly not.

I'm sure we would have, as Ron is a very driven man. Although the team bears Bruce's name, it would be ridiculous to suggest that Ron Dennis somehow inherited the success that has occured under his stewardship.

It's also worth remembering that McLaren International was formed when McLaren (then run by Teddy Mayer) merged with Ron Dennis's Project Four organisation.

[futuretiger9]

True, but if the McLaren entity had not existed in the first place, Ron would not have had the vehicle to realise his dreams.

[ArrowsFA1]

Before Ron's Project Four team linked up with McLaren they were looking to break into F1 themselves with John Barnard as designer IIRC.