F1

McLaren and the Silverfern/Kiwi

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #128331
    Hare
    Participant

    Now, I’m an expat brit and I’m in NZ at the moment. One of my best mates here own a race team and a number of men over the age of 50 chirp on about Amon and McLaren and the other chap who’s name I’ve forgotten. I watched a 2 hr documentary on them by way of an initial rite.

    Point is. Why don’t McLaren have some sort of reference to their home country of origin. It’s a Kiwi team historically, and Bruce McLaren (died aged 32), hired a lot of Kiwi mechanics. Ok Ron Dennis made it uber brit, but.. can’t they stick a kiwi on it somewhere, to remember where they came from. To remind others where they came from. To make Kiwi’s feel a bit special because one of the greatest teams of all time, was born from the Kiwi spirit.

    I wish they would, like I wished that I found a golden ticket to Willy Wonky’s factory.

    it’s 3.30 am here, so I may be talking rubbish, but you get the gist of it don’t you? It’s only right and proper and respectful, and kind.

    #150094
    Red Andy
    Participant

    Is the “other chap” Denny Hulme by any chance? Y’know, the only one who actually won a world championship. ;)

    Whether McLaren acknowledge their history is up to them. Do we even know if Bruce would want to be associated with the spying, lying, bath tap-coloured team that now bears his name?

    #150095
    TommyB
    Participant

    Very good point. They are so ‘we are the British team’ even I forgot that the team has Kiwi DNA.

    #150096
    jihelle
    Participant

    I guess the “other chap” was actually Teddy Mayer who was American, a very good friend of Bruce McLaren and took over the team after his death. McLaren lost any kiwi reference when Marlboro became the main sponsor in 1974. Until then, the sidepods were still orange with a white “Yardley” livery. The real question is rather to know whether Renault is still a “French” team, Red Bull an “Austrian” team or Mercedes a “German team”. All the teams are pretty much multinational nowadays and only Williams and Ferrari can be considered more “british” or “italian”.

    #150097
    ogamii
    Participant

    They do mate, they have a stylised kiwi in their logos. Old and new:

    Old: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/McLaren_logo_%28original%29.png

    New: http://www.liedecke.dk/mclaren_logo.jpg

    I think it could and maybe should be clearer but I guess its all in the name.

    #150098
    Icthyes
    Participant

    Maybe because McLaren have little to do with the team Bruce set up. It was taken over 30 years ago and even then was a Kiwi team in few respects. It’s like saying Red Bull should have the Stewart tartan on them.

    #150099
    jihelle
    Participant

    Looks more like an boomerang to me and that’s australian. The “original” Mc Laren team had a strong connection to the U.S., not only through Teddy Mayer but also his brother Timmy Mayer, Phil Hill and later on Peter Revson. The team was never based in New Zealand though its first races where in the Tasman Serie in 1964. So I am not too sure they could qualify as a “Kiwi team”. Who remembers Brabham as an Australian team ?

    #150100
    Scribe
    Participant

    I think a little Kiwi somewhere wouldn’t go amiss, but I think Brucy will just have to put up with the occasional quote and 169 victories, 146 pole positions, 12 WDC and 8 WCC in his name.

    And Andy, step off, just no, abuse someone else’s connection their founder.

    #150101
    James_mc
    Participant

    Ha ha! I’ve seen the Kiwi! At long last I understand the McLaren Logo! :-D

    #150102
    Hare
    Participant

    That’s the worst ‘stylised kiwi’, in the very long and colourful history of ‘stylised kiwis’.

    It’s like saying Red Bull should have the Stewart tartan on them.

    If the team was called ‘Stewart Racing’, and was taken over by the yanks, and it was called an American team with some kinda of 2 colour logo with the vaguest of references to a checked tartan, in the form of two parallel lines that cross each other at the end and look like they’ve been inspired by the bottom of a tiled swimming pool. If Stewart had died aged 32. If he had built the cars he was racing, and had driven them to victory. If he had dominated Cam-am, and astound people in F1. If he had hired Scottish Mechanics on the basis that they were Scottish, and therefore must know something about making Scottish racing cars. If his teammates / drivers were Scottish too, and the thing was a matter of pride to a small country that doesn’t have much to shout about other than curling.

    Then yeah, I’d expect some kind of recognisable though discreet actual reference to him to show respect.

    If Senna set up a race team, people would be bouncing off the walls, ceilings and floors if they made the logo so ambiguous a new comer was to think it was a multimillion dollar flick of paint… They’d want to remember the pride it installed in them to be associated with that name

    And, Icthyes, The logo is a ‘speedy Kiwi’ (accordingly to wikipedia and Ogammi [who sounds like his name is a Ode to his bad leg, sorry Ogamii, but it is at first glance, I’m sure it’s a very respectable name]) so.. point so soundly null and void it was hardly worth the key presses, but you know. When you’re on a roll, keep rolling. ( all in good spirits of course old chap, nothing personal )

    .. AND ANOTHER THING!

    Who’s this joker?!? I’ve looked up McLaren’s logo online and some seedy back water so and so has taken it upon himself, to flip the ‘speedy kiwi’ logo, nearly knock him over on his back and use him to sell his business wares. I bet he didn’t know it was a ‘speedy kiwi’ or any other type of kiwi. It’s now a slightly over balanced kiwi if anything.

    If McLaren don’t like people selling t-shirts with reference to them, I can’t imagine they would love this guy..

    http://www.mclarenconsulting.ca/about.html

    .. it’ll probably turn out to be his cousin, 5 times removed or something.

    *breath* I need a whisky now. You there boy, Scribe, get me a Whisky, no rocks. Mucho Gracias.

    .. AND WHILE I’M HERE!

    Do we even know if Bruce would want to be associated with the spying, lying, bath tap-coloured team that now bears his name?

    I’ll go and ask his sister, I believe she runs the garage still where he grew up (home was above the garage). It’s not far from me. I’m sure she would be proud of the company. The home he grew up in is now a museum to his memory and achievements.

    #150103
    sbl on tour
    Participant

    used to have that old sticker on my door when i was a kid, couldnt get it off when we moved house,

    sblot

    #150104
    Scribe
    Participant

    Nice rant Hare, also i’m student poor so, Jägermeister and fags is all i got for you right now, so errr, it’ll do right? Served in a glass that was clean at least this week. That my friend is class.

    But I agree, the speedy Kiwi is rubbish, hardly the prancing horse, at least the Kiwi would show an incy wincy bit of originality.

    #150105
    ogamii
    Participant

    Ogami <insert faulty appendage>, that’s me mate ;)

    No offence taken.

    I’m a kiwi/brit myself but I went the other way. Parents born in the UK, I was born in NZ and moved to the UK almost 10 years ago.

    Naturally McLaren is one of my favourite teams, they had an old orange kiwi logo too but I couldn’t find a link for that one.

    #150106
    Icthyes
    Participant

    I have absolutely no idea what you’re on about Hare, but if it makes you feel better…

Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.