This Day In History - Race car driver and designer Bruce McLaren dies in crash

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Race car driver and designer Bruce McLaren dies in crash - Jun 02, 1970 - HISTORY.com


The 32-year-old race car driver Bruce McLaren dies in a crash while testing an experimental car of his own design at a track in Goodwood, England on this day in 1970.

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, McLaren contracted a childhood hip disease that would keep him in hospitals for several years. By the age of 14, he had recovered fully. His father, a part-time mechanic with an interest in racing, helped young Bruce build his first car, and he entered his first competitive event, a hill climb, when he was 15. Bruce McLaren also studied engineering at the University of Auckland. Aided by his mentor, the Grand Prix driver Jack Brabham, he became the first-ever winner of the New Zealand International Grand Prix Association’s “Driver to Europe” scholarship. McLaren announced his arrival on the European racing scene in 1958, finishing fifth in the German Grand Prix at the famous Nurburgring and winning the Formula Two division of the combined Formula One and Two race.
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