An important aspect when taking over the Trust in 2022, was for the incoming Trustees to set new aims and objectives. One of these was to re-establish and build strong relationships with educational institutions including The University of Auckland, and the Bruce McLaren Intermediate School in Henderson, New Zealand.

On Thursday 4th July, a number of people gathered at the Bruce McLaren Intermediate School to celebrate Bruce’s legacy with the staff and pupils there.

The Trust was represented by our four Trustees, Stephen Donnell, Michael Clark, Amanda McLaren and Warwick Mortimer; our Office Manager Zeta Panton and her husband Rodney Holland; and Warwick’s support team, Tony Christie and Gary Lawford. Staff from The University of Auckland, members of their Formula SAE team, and McLaren Auckland, New Zealand’s retailer for McLaren Automotive, were also present. 

After a whakatau from the pupils to welcome the visitors, Stephen introduced each of the guests and asked a number of them several questions. Amanda spoke about the value of having a school named after her father and encouraged the pupils to achieve their dreams while Simon Evans, the Brand Manager for McLaren Auckland, explained the significance of selling McLaren cars in Bruce’s hometown, and the learnings the cars took from the F1 cars. 

Also in attendance was a former Bruce McLaren Trust Scholarship recipient, Alex Barbarich-Bacher who spoke of his experience spending 3 months as an intern with McLaren Racing in the UK.

The University of Auckland was represented by The Dean of Engineering, Professor Richard Clarke, along with Stuart Angel, Nina Cohen Bohn and Cristina Gonzalez Pestana. Professor Clark recalled the experience that a number of the Bruce McLaren Intermediate School students studying the STEM subjects had when they visited the Faculty of Engineering at the University that the Trust had facilitated.

The University’s Formula SAE team Deputy Chief Executive Officer Frank LIn then explained what the Formula SAE 47 team does and how his passions led him to join the team. Then, their Chief Technical Officer talked about their competition winning M022 car which they had brought with them to show the school, and detailed on what it means to be a woman in engineering.  Business Leader Nikesh Nama also attended and talked to many students and staff members about the business operations in a student-led motorsport team as well as taking the wonderful photographs included in this post.

Warwick had also brought along his orange McLaren M8E/F. This mighty Can Am car was started up during the morning and some of the children had the opportunity to sit in the car which created great excitement.                        

Simon and his team Reuben Griffiths and Jesse Leet had kindly brought a McLaren Artura and a McLaren 750S with them and gave rides to selected pupils and staff members.

The University’s Formula SAE team had brought their championship winning car from 2022 along as part of the display. This car created a huge amount of interest especially with the children.

The Trust will continue to make regular visits to the school and plans to organise a ‘McLaren Day’ bi-annually so all students passing through the school will have the opportunity to experience one of these special occasions.

A wonderful relationship now exists between the University of Auckland and the Bruce McLaren Intermediate School. As a result, the University and the Formula SAE Team will also continue to support the school by hosting visits to their Engineering faculty and workshop.

The Trust would like to acknowledge all of the individuals and groups in making this day so very special for all the pupils, staff and the School Board who attended. We would like to sincerely thank you for giving of your time and efforts involved in making this event the special day it was.

Pictures and a Newshub report are available on our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/BruceMcLarenTrust