📍Upland Road, Remuera, Auckland 1050, New Zealand
1937 – 1958“I grew up above my father's service station and garage on Upland Road in Remuera, Auckland. My father, Les, had driven petrol tankers before buying the business in 1936, and he was also a keen motorcycle and car racer; my mother, Ruth, kept the household and the books. Cars, engines, tools and the smell of oil were part of every day, and I spent hours in the workshop with my father and his mechanics. When I was nine, I developed Perthes disease in my left hip after a fall, and I spent two years at the Wilson Home in Takapuna, strapped in a frame on my back. It was a long, frustrating time, and I came out with one leg shorter than the other and a limp I kept all my life. But I also came out determined. My father restored an old Austin 7 Ulster, and in 1952, at fourteen, I entered my first hill-climb at Muriwai Beach and won my class. I studied engineering at Seddon Memorial Technical College and kept working on the car. I raced all over New Zealand, and in 1958 I won the first Driver to Europe scholarship. In 1959 I became the youngest Grand Prix winner, and in 1963 I founded my own racing team, McLaren, which built cars that won in Formula One, Can-Am and at Le Mans. The spirit of the Upland Road garage, where we built and fixed things ourselves, ran through the team. McLaren's newer logo was inspired by my father's old service station, and Bruce McLaren Intermediate in Henderson carries my name.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today