On 2 September 1963, in a south London lock-up, a 26-year old racing driver founded a company that would go on to win Grand Prix, CanAm championships and the Le Mans 24-hour; his name was Bruce McLaren. This year the McLaren Group celebrates the achievements of Bruce and the half-dozen people who travelled the world racing the team's cars who laid the foundations for the McLaren Group.
Less than a year later Bruce wrote, 'Life is measured in achievement, not in years alone'. That said McLaren has racked up plenty of achievements. No other manufacturer has won as many Grand Prix races (182). In the heyday of the CanAm championship McLaren won five consecutive championships between 1967 and 1971. In 1974 and 1976 Jonny Rutherford took the team to victory in the Indianapolis 500. More recently the McLaren F1 took first, third, fourth and fifth places at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its race debut in 1995.
McLaren Applied Technologies helped British cyclists, rowers, sailors and canoeists to win 15 gold medals last summer. Other achievements include improving the care of sick children in Birmingham Children's Hospital, improving the efficiency of San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit railway and reducing CO2 emissions from aeroplane movements at airports.
A series of events and celebrations are planned for this year. The team uniforms will carry the 'McLaren 50' logo, heritage video features have been specially commissioned and the launch of the latest MP4-28 Formula 1 car on 31 January will pay tribute to the anniversary. In the company's own words: 'every lap, every corner, every mile and every road we take will be an opportunity to revel in McLaren's present while recalling our 50-year past'.
Ron Dennis CBE, executive chairman, McLaren Group and McLaren Automotive, said: "McLaren's history is long and storied, but McLaren's legacy is harder to define - and that's because it's still being vividly written every day by the dedicated men and women who work at the McLaren Technology Centre.
"Bruce McLaren wrote the beginning of the story, and the legend is going to continue for many years to come. I'm only a chapter, not the book, and I want other people to come in and write their own chapters as time goes by.
"This is a book that's still being written, and that, perhaps, is the greatest legacy of McLaren."
John Lambert - 23 Jan 2013
