The McLaren garage in Remuera, where Bruce McLaren spent his early years, is set to undergo a reconstruction, reports stuff.co.nz. The place is one of Auckland’s oldest, iconic service stations.
The garage is from 1926. It is a special category building on the Heritage New Zealand’s website: “a historic place of special or outstanding historical or cultural significance or value”.
The developer company is Mike Pero Real Estate. According to them the reconstruction was necessary to preserve the building for future generations. But a spokesperson for the Bruce McLaren Trust said it is surprising how much the developer would change the building.
“The trust regrets that it was unable to succeed in its endeavours to preserve the full originality of the building”, he said, quoted by stuff.co.nz. “The trust tried to purchase the building to preserve it for its historic importance. But we were unable to compete on monetary terms with the purchaser.”
The Bruce McLaren garage in Remuera is one of Auckland’s oldest, iconic service stations
Heritage New Zealand is working with the company to ensure the building’s historical value was not diminished.
Bruce McLaren died in a test drive crash when he was only 32-year-old. He founded the McLaren team, which exists to this day. The team is one of the biggest and successful in Formula 1, winning a total of 8 constructors’ and 12 drivers’ world championships. McLaren cars totally dominated CanAm sports car racing with 56 wins between 1967 and 1972 (and five constructors’ championships), and have won three Indianapolis 500 races, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring.
This year the McLaren brand returned to Indianapolis 500. The team worked with Andretti Autosport and Honda, while Fernando Alonso was behind the wheel. The Spaniard was extremely popular with both the fans and the press. He could not finish the race as his engine blew on the 179th of 200 laps. Still Alonso thanked everybody for the experience when he picked up Rookie of the Year award.
A special moment tonight as our founder, Bruce McLaren is inaugurated into the Indy Hall of Fame. His daughter Amanda accepts the award. ? pic.twitter.com/fIA7SAI6uf
— McLarenHondaAndretti (@McLarenIndy) May 26, 2017
