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About
The Measure of a Life
Bruce McLaren with the Tasman Cup in 1964. Triumphant, but thoughtful. Behind the photograph is a story of resolve, of vision… and of profound loss.
The 1964 Tasman Series marked the first championship won by McLaren, the company that bore his name. It was a moment of significance, not just a race victory, but the beginning of something enduring. McLaren the team had arrived. But Bruce McLaren, the man, had long since learned that success rarely comes without cost.
He was a child when he first encountered adversity, confined to a hospital bed in Auckland with Perthes disease, unsure whether he would ever walk unaided again, let alone drive. But limits, even then, seemed to ignite something within him - a quiet refusal to accept them.
By 1964, he was already a race winner in Formula 1 with the Cooper Car Company. He had the talent, the reputation, the accolades. But Bruce chose not the easy route of continuation, but the more demanding path of creation. He founded a team in his own name. A team that would take on the best in the world.
The Tasman Cup victory was the reward for that boldness. But it came on a weekend marked by tragedy. At Longford, where the championship was secured, Bruce’s friend and team-mate Timmy Mayer was killed in an accident.
"To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one’s ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone."
That phrase still echoes through everything McLaren does.
It is not a slogan, it is a belief.
