School adds to McLaren legacy
A school in West Auckland has the task of trying to embody the values of one of New Zealand’s biggest names – motor racing legend Bruce McLaren.
School administrators are racing to get a special screening of the biopic McLaren, but principal Liz Wood said Bruce McLaren Intermediate wasn’t pumping the brakes in its mission to go back ‘‘to all things Bruce’’.
The Formula 1 giant’s namesake school has switched gears, changing its emblem to a racing car, and its sporting colours are now the colours of the four countries McLaren won grand prix races in.
Wood said the school had also changed its motto to ‘‘Dream, Believe, Achieve’’.
The new motto and emblem is now emblazoned on the school’s prospectus, letterhead and uniform.
‘‘It encompasses the old and will be ingrained into who we are as a school,’’ the school’s leader said.
‘‘We’re going back to all things Bruce … we want the school to reflect the inspirational figure we are named after.’’
Wood said the new motto was something McLaren wrote as a part of a eulogy to friend Tim Mayer, who died in a racing accident.
‘‘That saying was extremely special to Tim and his family.’’
The old motto was ’’Achievement: Life is measured in achievement, not in years’’.
The school even has a creative engineering hub on site where students can build race carts.
Bruce McLaren Intermediate aims to hold a special screening of the film this year.
‘‘How good would that be, to have the McLaren movie here at Bruce McLaren Intermediate School, situated on Bruce McLaren Rd,’’ Wood said.
‘‘Bruce McLaren was the lad, the legend and we here at Bruce McLaren Intermediate School are a part of his legacy and we need to uphold that by instilling the pride into the students.’’
While a date for the special screening was yet to be confirmed, Wood had received positive feedback from Australian distributors of McLaren.
McLaren, the movie on the Kiwi racing great’s life, was released in May.