How Bruce McLaren's death shaped more than just his F1 team

Tuesday, 2 June 1970 should have been like any other day; it was warm and sunny outside, a little girl played happily while her mother made plans for the evening. Her father had left home for work early but would be returning early too, allowing time to change before all three travelled to a friends’ house for dinner: the phone call that followed changed everything.

Amanda McLaren was just four years old when her father Bruce died in a testing accident at Goodwood. She remembers very little of that day, other than leaving the family’s Burwood Park home to still visit friends (as had been planned), and being given a new doll set, which surprised her, since it was neither her birthday, nor Christmas.

Now, more than 50 years on, she’s happily settled in New Zealand with husband Stephen, and busy representing the brand (as an ambassador) that her father started, together with keeping his legacy alive with work through the Bruce McLaren Trust, of which both she and Stephen are trustees.

“I was shielded from the events of that day… but it was so different then,” she says. “Children were only told what they needed to know, and my mother decided that my life should continue just as it was for as long as possible.

“I didn’t go to dad’s funeral [in New Zealand], nor to the memorial service at St Paul’s. I don’t even think I knew he was dead. I knew that something was wrong, but I was so used to him being away that it simply didn’t click. On the other hand, it affected mum profoundly. She not only lost dad but also the unborn child she was carrying. She was traumatised, and effectively lost a year of her own life in the process.”

Being so far from her family while attempting to provide stability for Amanda, and with the added demands of being a director of Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Limited (which included trying to provide much needed emotional support for ‘her boys’ in the race team), it’s little wonder that Patty McLaren struggled to find a way through her grief.

Amanda McLaren was just four when she lost her father. As was thought best at the time, she was shielded from what had happened

Our conversation doesn’t dwell on the darkness of these times, yet it’s clear they had a profound effect on Amanda too. She would soon be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a condition that we now know can manifest in children suffering distress.

“I think people just assumed that being the family of a world-famous racing driver, mum and I led a privileged life,” she adds. “It’s fair to say that while dad was alive, we did, but as soon as he passed, everything changed. We had a lot of support from family friends. The Hulmes, Hills and Stewarts were frequent visitors, and while the adults talked, we children would play noisily.

“But after they’d gone, there were no plans to make for the next trip to Kyalami or Monaco, and for mum, no dinner dances or photo shoots. Neither was there any income coming into the house. McLaren then was neither a Ferrari nor a Lotus; it was just a few hard-working men, dedicated to my father.”

"I had to learn more, so at home I looked through mum’s collection of magazines and the books on the shelf, and that’s when it clicked… Uncles Denny, Jackie and Graham weren’t just good friends, they were among the greatest of world champions"
Amanda McLaren

It’s a testament to Patty McLaren that she toiled to not only secure a future for what would become one of the greatest of all motor racing teams, but also devoted herself to raising Amanda while continuing her work with the Women’s Motor Racing Associates Club (otherwise known as ‘the Doghouse Club’), a charitable cause, founded by drivers’ wives, to support those within racing who had succumbed to misfortune.

“Mum always put her best foot forward,” continues Amanda. “She and Bette Hill thrived on helping others and I’m immensely proud that all these years later, I’m now a patron of the organisation that not only helped us immediately after dad’s accident, but also gave mum a mission once I started to do my own things.”

Having lost her father at such an early age, Amanda’s defining influence was Patty. And it’s equally clear that Amanda’s earliest memories of the race team do not rest entirely easily with her: “Just because mum wasn’t an engineer, it doesn’t mean that she didn’t understand the elements and challenges of running a successful motor racing business.

“She’d been by dad’s side for the entirety of the company’s existence and was completely tuned in to the requirements of both the Can-Am and Formula 1 sides of the team; and of course, she was equally aware of what he was trying to achieve in taking our race car successes to develop a production car offshoot as well.”

Years later though, Patty was convinced to sell her shares. It didn’t sit well with her, but she was told that it was the only option if McLaren was to continue. She’d lost her husband, and she now believed she was being asked to lose the family name too.

Patty McLaren remained involved with the team that her husband founded after his death

Photo by: Motorsport Images

The gradual distancing between family and team, despite Patty’s tenure, meant that motorsport didn’t figure much for Amanda McLaren, at least not until 1976 when, aged 10, she found herself at Brands Hatch as witness to one of the most extraordinary British Grands Prix ever.

“I’d been to Brands before but I’d never taken much interest in the racing, preferring instead to jump an imaginary horse around the spectator areas of the Grand Prix loop, but all that changed in 1976 when mum took me to work,” she recalls. “Suddenly, there I was, face to face with James Hunt. I had a poster of him on my bedroom wall, as did many of my friends; not because he was a racing driver, but because he was bloody gorgeous!

“It was memorable too for the chaos that followed the first-corner crash that initially saw James excluded from the restart. The atmosphere was electric, and when I told my friends at school the next day, they all wanted to know how it had come about. I explained that he drove for the team that my father had started. It was then that I realised that I knew little else.

“From that moment, I had to learn more, so at home I looked through mum’s collection of magazines and the books on the shelf, and that’s when it clicked… Uncles Denny, Jackie and Graham [Hill, who had died the previous year], weren’t just good friends, they were among the greatest of world champions. And of course, there were books and magazine articles about dad too.

“I’d known he’d been a racing driver, but the depth of his achievements – overcoming his illness, travelling across the world to become the youngest winner of a grand prix, to building his own cars, winning Le Mans, and achieving so much against the most formidable competition – was overwhelming, especially when I was then able to talk to my ‘uncles’ about him.”

Despite her heritage, there was nothing unusual about the girl who became a teenager. She loved music, fashion, boys and horses; disliked sport, and wasn’t all that keen (then) on science.

“By the time of my exams, Ron Dennis was in charge of the business,” she continues. “Being at an all-girls’ school, back in those days, there was never any talk of engineering as a career, so the thought of me joining McLaren didn’t enter anyone’s head.

“Instead, school gave us five basic options. You could become a doctor, or a vet; train as a nurse, join the police, or become a teacher. It was nursing for me. I’d spent a lot of time in hospital with my diabetes and I saw what a difference nurses can make. I was also quite fortunate that advances in medical technologies were gathering pace and, as my career progressed, I was able to not only specialise in anaesthetics and resuscitation but go on to train others in the use of defibrillators and ventilators.”

Amanda recalls watching the 1976 British GP at Brands which led to an awakening

Photo by: Motorsport Images

It’s a story that defines generations. When Patty McLaren accompanied Bruce to race weekends, the only women in or around the pitlane were the wives and girlfriends, tasked with timing, and supporting each other when things went wrong. Subsequently, we slowly witnessed the introduction of women into minor professional roles, but little else.

Thankfully, the 21st century is making amends, but it’s telling that had Amanda McLaren been male, this story might well have been very different. Yet to her credit, and to Mike Flewitt’s (then CEO of McLaren Automotive), in 2014 Amanda and her husband Stephen were appointed as brand ambassadors to the now supercar manufacturer. It’s a role that both embraced, while for McLaren it provided that most valuable of missing links – heritage.

Working with McLaren meant that just as her father had before her, Amanda (with Stephen) moved back to the UK from New Zealand. For nearly eight years, they greeted and hosted at Woking, and travelled the world to tell the story of a remarkable young man and the cars he inspires today. But now, they’re finally back home, thinking about retirement, yet knowing that their days and nights are going to be as busy as ever.

"Now I’m finally able to represent both my parents, and all they achieved. I know that I can trust McLaren to deliver dad’s vision"
Amanda McLaren

Founded in 1997, the Bruce McLaren Trust was established to not only recognise Bruce’s achievements and those of his cohorts, but also to assist emerging young drivers and engineers to achieve their potential. As Trustees, Amanda’s and Stephen’s focus is now on delivering its scholarships (with placements at McLaren), as well as preparing a new home for the Trust’s collection.

“You’d be amazed at just how many people think that McLaren is still a family business, and that I’m the beneficiary of vast profits,” she says. “I was a nurse, and I drove an old VW Beetle. Why is this important? Because all of McLaren’s current and historic intellectual property belongs to McLaren Group, and so we’re incredibly honoured that Zak Brown has joined the Trust as a patron, and that together with support from Michael Leiters [CEO of Automotive], we’ve been granted use of the original Kiwi logo, as well as being endorsed and recognised for our work by the Group.

“Although I enjoy driving fast cars, I never wanted to race; and while I found a love of science and engineering through nursing, I was able to use this in the most rewarding ways. And now I’m finally able to represent both my parents, and all they achieved. I know that I can trust McLaren to deliver dad’s vision, and it’s a great privilege that McLaren trusts us to care for some of its past.”

Amanda McLaren is now a brand ambassador for the supercar manufacturer