VISIT OUR BRAND NEW WEBSITE lep.net.nz E D I T O R I A L Last month I wrote a short piece about Bruce McLaren – an appreciation really of his overall sterling contribution to New Zealand engineering and motorsport and of his enduring legacy that lives on in the racecar team that bears his name. A week after going to print I received an email from a gentleman in the US about his particular connection to McLaren and a truly interesting story about what he does, with two fantastic images, which I have included. “Hello Steve, I am a Kiwi living in Texas, USA. I moved from Christchurch to California in 1979 and recently moved down to Texas. As a child growing up in New Zealand, and for as long as I remember, I have been a follower of F1 racing. I left NZ at the age of 32 years. One of my brothers in NZ just sent me some pages from the March issue of your magazine where there is an article “We can be Heroes” about Bruce etc.... nice article, one which I will keep. I am a Master Modeller and before I left New Zealand I was awarded first place in a national Modellers competition. I still have that plague. I handmade a scratch built model of Jim Clark’s Lotus 32 and in 1969 had the pleasure of meeting him as he wanted to see the model – it was approximately 14 inches long and everything was built by me, even the tires. “While at that meeting at the Lady Wigram Trophy race I was also introduced to Bruce McLaren and during that time he asked me if I could agree to be commissioned to build some models for him of his own F1 cars. After he left NZ in 1969 his company, thru Phil Kerr, sent me all manner of his car samples so I could start the building of his M7A F1 car… unfortunately he was later to be killed but I still have a number of items preserved as I started to build that car. Yours, Robert Gwynne.” Robert’s models are incredible and the imagery tricks the eye so that they appear, almost, to be the real thing. His letter got me thinking about this magazine – what it does, where it goes and who reads it – and more importantly about the things that engineers of all ages and interests do and what they make. So this is an open invitation to you – tell us what you’re doing, what you’re making, how you’re doing it. We will print one contribution each month and highlight the true ingenuity of the Kiwi engineer – carrying on the legacies of previous engineers, such as Bruce McLaren. Remember he started in a garage, tinkling away on an engine with his father – taking something old and making it new, improving it, refining it, making it faster. He’s just part of the wider community of engineers in New Zealand – working on projects and products from the very small to the truly colossal. Steve Best Acting editor sbest@hayleymedia.com CARRYING THE TORCH
1-48 NZEN Apr16-LR
To see the actual publication please follow the link above