Bruce McLaren's ingenuity inspires bold plan for University of Auckland
28 October 2026
Bruceʼs spirit of innovation, ingenuity and leadership is set to continue where it all began. In his home city, at the University of Auckland, with the Bruce McLaren Centre for High Performance Engineering.
Kiwi motorsport hero Bruce McLaren left a legacy of ingenuity, innovation and engineering excellence that lives on in the iconic F1 racing team and supercars that still hold his name.
That same legacy has inspired the University of Auckland to further honour this legend’s name with bold new plans for a $125 million engineering centre that will empower new generations of engineers and enable ambitious innovation.
The Bruce McLaren Centre for High Performance Engineering will tackle the world’s most urgent challenges in transportation, healthcare, space, advanced manufacturing and sustainable mobility. It will be built within the University’s Newmarket Innovation campus and is expected to attract top academic talent and industry partners.
It has the support of McLaren Automotive, McLaren Racing and Amanda McLaren, Bruce’s daughter, who is based in New Zealand and is patron of the centre.
"My father would be proud to have his name associated with such an innovative and forward-thinking initiative that embodies the essence of his ambition, vision and values," she says.
The University of Auckland has committed $45 million and a global fundraising campaign to raise the remaining $80 million launches in Auckland on Thursday, 29 October.
University of Auckland Vice-Chancellor Professor Nic Smith says: "As a young man Bruce McLaren was given the chance to test his ability against the best in the world and what followed was remarkable. But he did more than seize his own opportunity, he created opportunities for other young people and built a team capable of achieving far more than any one of them could have achieved alone.
"Bruce’s achievements are our inspiration for the creation of the Bruce McLaren Centre for High Performance Engineering, to carry his way of working into a new generation and a much wider set of challenges."
When completed the centre will operate with three interconnected areas:
The Workshop of Dreams
Building on the University’s established strengths in advanced materials, manufacturing and design, the Workshop of Dreams will connect existing research expertise and specialist facilities with new design-and-build spaces, advanced equipment and flagship research projects.
The Bruce McLaren Academy
This is where new generations of engineers will develop skills through enriched learning, participation in frontier research projects and exposure to world-leading high-performance engineering organisations. The academy will take STEM Racing into schools nationwide to inspire interest in STEM careers as students design, build and race scaled Grand Prix cars.
The Discovery Centre
The Discovery Centre will bring Bruce McLaren’s remarkable story to life in partnership with the Bruce McLaren Trust, alongside interactive experiences showcasing engineering innovation today. Visitors will see research, design and engineering in action, connecting Bruce’s pioneering legacy with the people, projects and ideas shaping the future of engineering.
Bruce McLaren’s association with the University of Auckland goes back to the late 1950s when he completed the first year of an engineering degree before he was awarded the first New Zealand International Grand Prix Driver to Europe award and “went motor racing” as noted in his student record.
In 2023, he was presented with a posthumous Honorary Doctorate of Engineering which was accepted by Amanda. The presentation coincided with the 60th anniversary of the company he created and the 140th anniversary of the University.
In line with the opportunity Bruce received when he won Driver to Europe, two standout engineering students have been awarded internships to McLaren Racing and McLaren Automotive in the UK each year since 2016.
McLaren Automotive chief development officer Mike Johnstone says: "We are proud of the partnership already established between McLaren Automotive and the University of Auckland. Through internships and shared activity, we have seen the value of connecting industry with academic talent. We look forward to seeing the centre inspire engineers, innovators and leaders for generations to come."