I was talking to Bruces sister a number of years ago at manfeild ,and i said when i go to Tepuke Dennys head stone tells you what he did in motor racing, but when i go to auckland Bruces head stone only has his name it does not tell you what he did with his life and what he did in motor racing putting nz on the map .I did say it would be good to see something put up there for all to see maybe they have ,i have not been to auckland for a number of years so do not know--maybe you do.
have you seen this
Don't think I'd seen that before. Marred, as all Neville Hay commentaries tend to be, by factual inaccuracies and his tortured English
I thought Denny came over really well
I agree David, Neville Hay can be a bit irritating, my partner tends to walk out of the house when I start telling the TV that Neville is wrong! But there are some real gems in that Golden Age series including one titled Kling Wharton Whitehead and Walker check out the videos this guy has posted http://www.youtube.com/user/motorsport There is the Lotus story Gt40 story XJS story and numerous others.
Was that Denny interview at the 1992 Bathurst 1000 just before his death? Some terrific moments in that film even if the overall effect is grating with some dreadful scriptwriting on display. Bruce is consistently painted as the great guy he obviously was.
With Jenson Button having won in Melbourne, watching the podium ceremony, it got me thinking, has the McLaren team constructors national anthem ever been an NZ anthem, or have they always used the British anthem from the time they won their first F1 race in 1968?
Always the English? national anthem, I guess you could call it the British national anthem at the risk of upsetting the Welsh, Scots, and Ulstermen. Although England hasn't really got a national anthem has it, just God Save the (reigning monarch).
The cars have always been built in England, not in NZ.
Did Denny or Bruce ever get the "God Defend..." after winning a World Championship GP, or were we still using "God Save the Queen" then.Originally Posted by pallmall
Er, yeah, before my English partner Helen reads this, I should correct that and say the English national anthem. But McLaren is considered a British team. Yet it was started, according to Bruce's book From The Cockpit, with Bruce, Patricia, and Eoin Young as directors, although they were based in England. They had a small team of people from around the world working for them, there were Kiwi images on the sides of the cars, so I wondered what nationality they considered the team.
New Zealand has two national anthems - God Save the Queen and God Defend New Zealand. During the Bruce and Denny Years, God Save the Queen was used, but in more recent years we've tended to use GDNZ because it's more Kiwi while GSTQ is distinctly English.
At the time that Bruce and Denny were racing, I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying "God Save the Queen" was the NZ national anthem, and "God Defend NZ" known as the national song
It was a New Zealand team for a short while, Bruce, Patty, Eoin Young, and myself. Then along came the Americans, Teddy Mayer and Tyler Alexander. Very soon it was multi National with Poms joining the group. The first car being painted Black and Silver - for a while - until Teddy Mayer decided it was too inconspicuous and off his own bat had it painted a sort of brick red.
Don't wish to divert, but Wally could you give us a rough idea what size the workforce was when McLaren were contesting F1, Can-Am and Indy programmes together ? It's just that these days you hear figures of between 900 and 1000 people involved in the McLaren F1 programme, so I've always wondered at the relative team sizes, then and now.
Sorry 'GD' but I left in '68' - pre Indy - but at that stage we were running F1, F2,and Can-Am. From just the 4 of us at the begining, the team count was then about 25 (give or take a few).
I often think back to the days at Coopers when there were 3 of us mechanics for 2 cars, and that was from build to race track (anywhere in Europe). A few years back when there was refueling and tires at a pit stop, there were 25 over the pit wall.
That's how I remember it too, when I was at school in the 60s and 70s. Sorry for the hijack, normal McLaren programming resumes.
Thanks Wal. To repeat myself, we're stoked to have you on here : all the best for the final stages of the build. As an aside, Leo Wybrott is racing an M4A here in Perth, might have to give him a nudge to peep in...
Bruce would have turned 75 yesterday
Fifty years ago this year. Bruce won the Monaco GP for Cooper.
I was part of a large group of Kiwis who was there this year with the McLaren Trust. It was a great tour and a real eyeopener as to the respect that Bruce, Denny, Chris, Howden and all the N.Z'rs who worked in the motor racing industry are held. We were very warmly welcomed wherever we went.
"On June 2 2010, the 40th anniversary of Bruce's passing, they held a minute's silence at the McLaren factory. And then, like the racers they are, they fired up the 7.5 litre Chevorlet V8 in one of those glorious orange elephants that Bruce and Denny loved so much, a M8D, and revved it hard for a minute. And somewhere very hallowed, where the spirits of the good guys go, Bruce and Denny would have been laughing their heads off in approval of the men who continue to carry their flame."
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