1969: What Makes a McLAREN? | Wheelbase | Retro Transport | BBC Archive
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
- Gordon Wilkins and Judith Jackson profile the New Zealand motorsport driver, engineer and executive Bruce McLaren, as his team prepare for the 1969 season.
At the age of thirty-one Bruce McLaren is at the top in the world of motor racing. He was the youngest driver to win a Grand Prix. He started his own racing team three years ago and won the twenty-four-hour race at Le Mans. He won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa last year in a car of his own design. McLaren and his teammate Denny Hulme have also been particularly dominant in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup to the extent that the Can-Am series is sometimes jokingly referred to as "The Bruce and Denny Show".
Now McLaren is Britain's biggest builder and exporter of two-seater sports-racing cars.
What explains McLaren's international success as a designer and driver since he came to England from New Zealand ten years ago?
Gordon Wilkins visits McLaren's Colnbrook factory, where he gets a sneak preview of the new McLaren models for the 1969 season, in various stages of completion - the McLaren M8B Can-Am car, the McLaren M10A Formula 5000 car, and the McLaren M9A four-wheel drive Formula 1 grand prix car. Gordon chats to McLaren designer Jo Marquart, who talks him through the design of the new machine.
Judith Jackson speaks with Phil Kerr, the joint managing director of McLaren, and some of the McLaren engineers about what it is like to work with someone who has such a hands-on approach. Wilkins speaks to Bruce McLaren himself about the advantages and disadvantages of working with a comparatively small team of 35 people, and about how his cautious, conservative approach to design is informed by his role as driver.
Finally, Jackson visits McLaren at his home, and speaks with his wife Pat and daughter Amanda about the reality of living with a globe-trotting race driver. What is it like to live with someone who is away from home for months at a time?
Clip taken from Wheelbase, originally broadcast on BBC Two, 7 February, 1969.
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To see this in colour from 1969 is amazing.
It doesn't have the 'BBC colour' ident, so I think it's been colourised.
I didn't even see a colour TV until 1968, and they only became reasonably common in the early 70s.
@@RabidJohn Its not been colourised. The BBC started Monochrome PAL broadcasts in 1962. You can check out "Jazz 625", which was the first series of programmes to be recorded and transmitted using the new system. The first colour TV programmes were recorded and transmitted firstly on BBC2 in 1967, although it was several years for all BBC and ITV programmes to be shown in colour. Some of the first extant recordings are Wimbledon from summer 1967. I remember the BBC repeating it, when rain stopped play a couple of decades ago. ITV started showing Coronation Street in colour at the end of 1969, and there are some of the first episodes available to watch. Colourising old video is still a time intensive process, and in most cases it's pretty obvious that this has been done. Of course in time, better methods will come along in time. The lack of an ident is due to be it being directly from the BBC archive, and in previous decades an ident was not shown on UK terrestrial broadcasts. I've written all this off the dome, but it's correct.
@@sandgrownun66 I don't doubt your facts.
Wimbledon was a big event and Corrie was ITV's flagship, so it makes sense for them to have been among the first to be shot in colour.
This program seems a bit 'minority' to have been given such an honour, but maybe it is one of those BBC 2 shows you mentioned.
If he could only see the Mclaren factory now and the success the team has earned since his death he would be very proud. What a legacy !
Agreed. Was just looking at his bio, and to think in basically a year he'll be dead...
If he could see the company being sold to an oil state while producing bland road cars that never do more than a few thousand miles?
@ as if Ferrari make really good cars. Had there been no outside investment I don’t think McLaren would still be here.
@@kantina4765 I'm not happy about the oil states either, but to call McLaren cars "bland" seems a bit disingenuous. Unless, of course, your daily drivers are Bugattis and Koenigsegg...
@@davidg3944 bland, ugly and unreliable it's a hat trick! No wonder they were going bankrupt. I'm sure he would be proud of the f1 though.
When he talks about safety and not wanting parts to fall off --- my heart sank.
@@lunarweasel Looking at Bruce sitting in that Can Am car ,and noting that the roll bar is well below anyone's head level , how is that safe ? , it might save the car in a rollover , but the driver.......
McLaren has been the safest F1 team ever. Only one serious injury within 60 years.
@@barrycuda3769 ... Bruce was sitting very upright for this interview. When racing he would be far more reclined with his helmet below the roll bar.
Also, this wasn't Bruce's car. It is Denny Hulme's M8A.
Bruce McLaren started the legacy, Teddy Mayer carried it on, Ron Dennis perfected it and Zak Brown is continuing it. Amazing story.
As a New Zealand motorsports fan who got his driver's licence at 15 (the age back then) on June 2nd, 1970, the same day Bruce tragically passed, l really enjoyed that family footage from 1969.
It would be great to see more Wheelbase and early Top Gear
Fantastic archive footage. Thank you BBC for releasing.
I'm always impressed with the quality of some of these archival clips.
Some of this material was shot on colour film, and then transferred to video before broadcast. This was until video took over completely in the late 70's. The PAL system with 625 lines of resolution, could almost produce a video quality similar to that of modern HD at 720p. This clip has been upscaled to 1080p to make it look even better.
What a gem of a film.
I did some research and found out the Bruce McLaren won the Can Am driver championship in 1969 the year this film was made . And in 1967 .
McLaren Cars won the Can Am constructors championship each year from 1967 to 1971 .
I know the Colnbrook industrial estate where McLaren first manufactured racing cars . Today it’s quite scruffy , back in the late ‘60’s it was probably quite neat and tidy .
I’m sure Bruce is happy up there seeing cars carrying his name still win championships 55 years later 🏆
I also liked the pilfered track signs at the beginning 😂
Me too, the Nürburgring in particular. Been going there for 22 years, the signs look the same today 😊
@ They would look great in my man cave, if only I had one 😔 Are you any relation to LJK Setright?
@secretagentbloke I have replica of the enamel sign that was posted at the 'ring in the 1960ies. A3 size, map of the circuit and the text "No trip to the Eifel region without a trip around the Nürburg Ring"
Text is in German, but I translated for you. In the early decades the words were split: Nürburg Ring.
Which means the steal we see in the BBC video was quite new at the time. Naughty McLaren, very naughty!
(Sorry. No relation, but influenced and inspired by LJKS. CAR articles and some of his books.)
That's assuming any afterlife exists?
That was an amazing bit of footage and incredible timing for the interview of Bruce Mclaren and his family. Also very interesting to hear the factory craftsmen and how such a large brand started from humble UK beginnings.
Bruce was obviously a great leader. We need more like him in our world.
Notice how he, and his designer, genuinely give credit to their team.
I watched Bruce race at Wigram, Christchurch, more than once. He also raced a Mini Cooper, the same day! Both cars, No. 47. I followed him in his career, until it came to a very premature end!
An absolute tragedy!
THANKYOU for a marvellous video!
A kiwi legend that died before his time.
Thankyou BBC Archive for sharing this on your channel. Time for me now to re-watch the McLaren documentary from 2017 again.
Fantastic! Keep this stuff coming, please. Bruce was a real innovator and huge driving talent. It's a terrible shame that a bit over a year after this was aired, he'd be gone.
In the '70s my dad had the unit next door to McLaren on Boundary Road in Woking...they had a very high wall but you could hear the F1 engines!
Thanks very much for posting this. I used to watch Wheelbase in the 1960s with my dad, but I cannot remember seeing this. It is very poignant to see the cinema verite like quality of the video, when one thinks that most of the people in it are no longer with us.
All these years & this is the 1st time I’ve heard him speak
Great video! I can’t recall seeing a clear, color video of Bruce McLaren being interviewed ever! If only he could see what McLaren has become today.
Sadly McLaren would die just 18 month following this broadcast in February 1969 just up the road at Goodwood testing the M8D version Can-Am car.
He was just 32
He died in June 1970 (16 months after this broadcast)🤔🫣😢🏁
Not to forget Jo Marquart, the guy interviewed at the beginning of the report. "In January 1994, respected racing car designer Jo Marquart died in his adopted Norfolk recently, following heart trouble. He was 57 years old." That's no age at all.
Amazing! What a fascinating look at one of the greatest racing teams of all time.. More of this kind of thing, please.
1969: What Makes a McLAREN? | Wheelbase | Retro Transport | BBC Archive 1805pm 14.12.24 the mother-in-laws tongue probably keeping him focused and on the job...
What a legeng!
Very capable F1 driver and racing driver in general. No less than 2nd in the WDC at 23 years of age. Multiple wins in the legendary CanAm series (with his own cars). And, of course, founder of the super successful McLaren brand, which was very competitive the start, given many titles to many drivers across many decades.
IMO, one of the greatest individuals in F1 history and whose influence in racing went beyond the F1's sphere.
It is joy to see him mentioned in any YT video. 👍
Good to see McLaren's ethos is still there some 55 years on. They fully deserved this years F1 WCC from an engineering standpoint.
Safety has been akways important there.
Very nice video, he was such a sympathic yet really professional person! So sad that he passed away in such a young age!
His wife and daughter were ultra cute. :)
Bruce killed by the loose bonnet was the ultimate twist if irony bc Macs were notorious for their safety..
Please keep these gems coming..SO much better that what is produced today.
It is first time when I can hear Bruce's speaking. And I think he was very charming guy. Shame that it is about one year before his death. I can imagine what impact he would have on future of racing or team.
The logo of the Mclaren team was the New Zealand Kiwi bird.(a bird that does not fly). One of the chief competitors in Can-Am was the Chaparral team from Texas. Their logo was another flightless bird...the Road Runner...(not the cartoon show) kinda a unique coincidence.
If I ever make a racing car company I’ll make the logo a chicken
The kiwi logo was was designed by the motorsport artist Michael Turner.
but think a coyote would of been a better choice Jim was always trying something new to beat Mclaren
THIS IS FANTASTIC THANK YOU SO MUCH 😀
Nice piece looking into amazing car/s from a bygone age.
That walk in the shop appears like something from 'Ufo' or 'Avengers'. I also like the drawing. Great to get more on Mc. Thankyou.
Fantastic footage! Really interesting to see how far not just F1, but the world has come in 55 years.
Reminds me of the Bob Jane’s Orange McLaren and also John Harvey who raced it too . Beautiful .
some bloody fast Kiwi drivers (and riders) have come out of NZ. must be something in the water. AU
It's interesting that McLaren competed in CanAm against Chaparral (Jim Hall) and still went down the blind alley of 4wd. Chaparral was innovating with ground effect a few years before this documentary. Considering the mechanical complexity and weight, the teams that explored this concept surprise me. Added down force seems the clear choice to compensate for the HP arms race that was occurring after the advent of the DFV. You would have thought that tire suppliers would have communicated that they were coming with massive rear tires just a few years later and 4wd would be unnecessary.
Very sad hearing the comments from his wife about not thinking about the risks when it was just a short while after this that Bruce died. It still amazes me how old people in their 30’s looked back then as well!
True, the interviewer is 32 here.
@@Magooch86 Blimey, it's amazing what genetics and cosmetics have done in the intervening years!
@@Magooch86 The male interviewer was 57.
Give them a modern haircut, jeans and a leather jacket and they're younger looking in a blink...
I don't think their faces look older than they are.
And as mentioned, the interviewer Gordon 'Sid' Wilkins was 56-57 at the time of recording.
@@Magooch86without some "😂" we don't know if you're joking. He is older by quite a margin.
No autocue, must’ve memorised all that, impressive!.
The film of the name is a great watch! Showing also some of this footage. Good to see McLaren now using the same colour scheme.
This video was uploaded just in time to honour McLaren’s first F1 Constructor’s Championship since 1998.
First time with the orange cars.
Bruce's limp wasn't from a childhood accident, it was from having one leg shorter than the other due to Perthes disease. Thanks to the interviewer we learned exactly why the Can Am cars cant be used on public roads , no headlights, indicators, that sort of thing .And what was with that comment about " these ridiculous wide tyres " ? ,thats the sort of thing my father used to say. Great to see this, and the picture quality is unusually good.
It was probably easier to say childhood accident as it covered up a lot of stuff he probably didn't want to talk about.
The picture quality is because it's a 2" quad videotape recording, and as it was a BBC Two programme, it's 625 line colour. BBC One was still 405 line monochrome in February 1969.
Bruce would’ve been so delighted with his team’s recent F1 championship. The gr8 really do die or get taken away from us too young don’t they? 🇳🇿🇬🇧
And all these years later, Amanda McLaren works as a Brand Ambassador for McLaren.
Even though McLaren have made their way back to the top and it’s great to see. Bruce’s words about getting too big are definitely something to think about, after the difficulties that they went through over the past few years.
Bruce was an exceptional man his ability to motivate and get the best from his team members was pivotal to McLaren success
McLaren Formula One cars carry the Speedy Kiwi logo. I don’t know if this was always so but certainly for the last several years.
Heartbreaking to see his family knowing that he'd be killed a year after this was filmed. Great feature on him and amazing quality. Interesting to hear them talk about the M9A 4-wheel drive car which really didn't pan out.
Interesting comment that Bruce made at around 13.40mins.
An oversight made by a team member while testing the M8D cost him his life.
McLaren are back at the very top of Motorsport in 2024.
Crowned 2024 Formula 1 Constructors World Champions 🏆
I remeber when I discovered the history of McLaren. I could hardy beleive he did all that and that the team continued and became what it did. Champions again in 2024. Amazing. Wath the great documentary 'McLaren' if you can find it. Brilliant. His book is also amazing.
Can someone please tell me how this was filmed ?
It seems to be on video, rather than film, but it also seems to be incredibly clear and in a comparatively high definition, compared to what we normally see from this time ?
Shot on PAL video tape at 625 lines on 2 inch quad tape. Carrying all that heavy equipment around must've been a chore so most of the time they used film cameras instead for interviews outside the studio. It's always great to see PAL colour VT from the 60's as the shows from that era that weren't wiped were often transferred onto 16mm black and white film, known as telerecording or kinescope, and the original VT was erased and reused, losing both the quality and the colour of the original. I'll leave the chroma-dots stuff to another time as I've rambled enough!
@@MatthewBrannigan Thank you for the explanation, this looks far better than anything produced in the United States around the same time.
@@HumbertoSaabedra Are you serious, have you ever seen footage of the Apollo program? We've had high quality film for near on a century.
@@Techo1329 All of the archival Apollo footage looks like tenth generation kinescope compared to this.
Yeah, big difference between film and VT. Old 60's TV shows shot on 35mm can be scaled to 4k very effectively, however NTSC VT from the 60's looks mushy and weirdly colored compared to PAL.
what the hell, this looks like it was filmed yesterday
Fantastic video!!!
Bruce was good friends with Jack Brabham designing race cars in the back of Bruce's dads gas station back in the early years.
Bruce McLaren was a visionary and a great racing driver. He probably wouldn’t be too happy about the current ownership.
AMAZING GUYS ❤ THANKS
Love the clipped accent,suit & suede shoes! Yes of course in 1970 came the dreadful Goodwood accident when something did fall off on the Lavant straight
Sounds like Bruce brought most of his workforce over from NZ
What a fantastic video the XJ has always been my favourite car I remember seeing one in T Baker & Son in Reading and being dared to creep in and sit in it much to be dragged out by the sales manager who did give me a brochure. To drive that car is to die for I still stroke them if I see one
Watch out for that Can Am car. Those things are insane. They'll bite you. If the long sleeves and ties around those lathes won't get you, a Can Am car will.
14:49 ooooof. He foreshadowed his own death.
Incredible.
Great to see.
I woander if Bruce was in charge of the sheep dip as we’ll.😂🤣
13:40 What Bruce says has some poignancy, considering Goodwood the following year.
Thank you this is brilliant.
RIP, Mr. Mclaren.
Eerily prophetic at 13:46
The ultimate twist of irony.
Matra and Lotus also tried 4WD, the traction was improved,but the cars understeered so had the torque split more towards the rear wheels, which negated 4WD to a degree, the cars were also heavier and more complex.
More advanced aerodynamic devices over the short period gave better traction, the Lotus 72 would be around a year later .
Production cusomer Mclarens were mainly built by Trojan .
A fascinating period piece.
@15:01 Colin Chapman would have made it thinner.
Lotuses were sloppy as hell also.
I bet Zak has watched this.
The man did all of these things and more before he even turned 33, unfortunately taken way too early
When I watched the film ‘McLaren’ on DVD, I was saddened to realize that a number of those participating in the film died soon after the release of the film: Mrs McLaren, Chris Amon, Dan Gurney, Tyler Alexander, Teddy Meyer to name a few…
its true. I worked on the McLaren doco. I was in the production office when we got a call from the producer saying that Chris Amon died. Sad day indeed. Phil Kerr to add to that list of people who died before the movie came out. He had so much to do with the doco as well.
They were pretty old already
Bruce McLaren is the best Kiwi ever besides Burt Munro. :)
That plane taking off at 18:05 sounds like Concorde taking off.
It probably was.
More likely a VC10 or other noisy jet of the ‘60s. Concordes didn’t start regular service until 1976.
He would be so happy to know that McLaren won the F1 constructors championship this year!!!
And first time orange
17:12 would've got him canceled if said today, different times lmao.
More than visuals. The quality of sound is spectacular.
In my Home cinema it sounds perfect.
Bruce should had stepped away from driving the moment the company started making profits.
If their cars were successful when built with that extra weight for safety...imagine how many he would sell if lightweight for others to drive them.
Rest in peace master.
He died way too young.
Saddest thing 😢😢
Hazarding a guess that the same guy did the intro theme tune as 'Tomorrows World'
He died in June 1970 at 32 years old which was possibly less than a years after this was recoded 😢
"Last year McLaren exported racing cars worth a quarter of a million dollars!" and 25 years later, 30 years ago, they produced a road car worth that much...
Check out Dr. Evil demanding money in 1969
The tragedy was that, in 1970, less than two years after this film was made, while testing the new CanAm car, the failure that they all talk about avoiding happened and McLaren died.
8000 pounds, bargain.
Yep, that would of got you two houses in 1969.
Tragically killed the following year in testing.
So much for no advertising on the BBC.
He builds them strong so parts don’t fall of. How did that work out for him
The ultimate twist of irony
This man is my God. I tried to live by his mantra everyday, but failed. Ron Dennis ripped out the soul of McLaren cars. He's just like Ray Croc, devoid of any identity and personality, he had to live in someone else dream. I'm sure Bruce tuned in his grave when Project 4 bought mclaren.
It's very sad that Bruce died just over a year after this programme whilst testing a Can-Am car.
i sometimes wonder what would've happened if bruce mclaren never died and ron dennis/project 4 never ended up buying out the mclaren team. would mclaren have just died out or sold to someone else and renamed like brabham or tyrrell, or would they have managed to continue existing? interesting to think about
Life too short to stay with all those what ifs IMO
Most of his team carried on until 1980 when Mac was merged with Project 4.
A childhood illness - NOT accident!🙏🙏
🇲🇾👍✔️😮
6 grand. I'' take 3
0:50... that rim🤣
@sagecouncil You have my intrigue . . ?
Great bit of tv ! But why do they ask such stupid questions? They really dont get it.The danger was the attraction hence the sport is no more.
Shame Bruce had less than a year to live
Stolen roadsigns from Belgium and Germany 😂
I don’t think Bruce would have liked Ron’s colour scheme or corporate gibberish talk 😂
£6k for a formula a race car? That's not bar given today's money you're looking at £10m plus for that race car.
th-cam.com/video/nMQKnefaCF4/w-d-xo.htmlsi=aW2MIf_q0SBL82-x
Hahaha, 4WD F1 car.
The 4WD F1 cars were too heavy, and too complex, therefore didn't last.
@@Aotearoa_Kiwi they had the massive understeer. In 1980s, tge WRC engineers of Audi and Peugeot solved the problem with the special central differentials.
@@marguskiis7711 ... Yes they sure did. And Subaru developed a working AWD system in the 1970's.
1969: What Makes a McLAREN? | Wheelbase | Retro Transport | BBC Archive 1749pm 14.12.24 may favourite make..brand... company, constructor of formula one automobiles... i don't watch formula one these days. very boring. staid... same goes for motorbikes... and the like. saloon cars as shown in the wee hours on iTV4 is probably the only entertaining aspect of motorsports...
Do you know what punctuation is?
@@jeshkam Comments on ‘1969: What Makes a McLAREN? | Wheelbase | Retro Transport | BBC Archive’ 2149pm 17.12.24 i'm pretty much damn sure it's a small spiky mammal from the outback mate... yeah like a porcupine but far smaller... and has two massive eyes for seeing in the dark... a spiky possum.
@JJONNYREPP Since when we're mates?
@@jeshkam !? (GULP)
@JJONNYREPP IKR?