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Bruce McLaren was born in Auckland, New Zealand in 1937. His father ran a garage and service station and Bruce grew up surrounded by cars. Days after his fifteenth birthday he passed his driving test and began competing in hill-climb events, also preparing his own cars. He proved a natural racer and, after completing a degree course at Auckland Universities' engineering college, was chosen by the New Zealand International Grand Prix Association for their 'Driver To Europe' scholarship in 1957. In March 1958, Bruce set sail to England to begin his international motor racing career. By the mid-sixties, after rising up through the ranks of Formula 2 and Formula 1, he had formed his own team with Teddy Mayer - Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd. The team has become one of the most successful in history, building and running it's own Formula 1 and Indy racing cars. Amongst the first flushes of success were the team's exploits in Can-Am. Eoin Young, another founder of the team, recalls the decision to enter the Can-Am series: "In the early summer of 1964, three men - hell, we must have been boys then, not one of us over 26 - sat around a table in the cramped kitchen of a rented house in New Malden that served as the headquarters of the new Bruce McLaren racing team. Bruce, fresh from winning the Tasman Championship with a special 2.5 litre Cooper, teetered back on one of the chairs and wondered aloud whether to go Formula 2 racing with a Cooper or to try his hand at sports car racing in America. Wally Willmott, Bruce's personal mechanic, opted with Bruce to go for sports cars, but I didn't agree. Looking back I could call it a vote of caution, but in all honesty, as history has proved, I was quite simply wrong......the rest is history. Within three years the McLaren team was dominating the richest series of road races in history and in seven years they had won more than a million dollars in prize money and bonuses". In 1965 the team moved into it's new premises on the Poyle Trading Estate in Colnbrook, a couple of miles from the end of the Heathrow runways. All of the works Can-Am cars were produced at this factory, in the same workshops as the Formula 1 and Indycar projects. 1966 For the the first season of Can-Am in 1966, McLaren ran the M1B. This design had it's origins in the Zerex Special which McLaren had bought from Roger Penske and raced in events prior to the new series. It was built around a spaceframe chassis and powered by a 4.5 litre V8 Oldsmobile engine. Bodywork was styled by motor racing artist Micheal Turner. There were no wins over the 6 race series for the McLaren but, with a string of top 3 placings, Bruce finished third overall in the championship.
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