The Bruce McLaren Trust has revealed that the graves of team founder Bruce McLare, his wife and parents, have been vandalised.

"It is with dismay that we need to inform our followers that the graves of Bruce, Patty, Ruth and Pop at Waikumete Cemetery in Auckland have recently been vandalised," confirmed the Trust on its website.

"They have been sprayed with gold paint and had toy cars stuck onto them," the statement continued. "We are lost for words as to why anyone would do this.

"A very kind offer has been made by The Grave Guardians, a voluntary organisation that restores head stones to repair the damage, for which we are extremely grateful. While this work is being undertaken, the stones are wrapped and unable to be viewed."

Quite why this has happened is not clear and one has to hope and pray that it has absolutely nothing to do with the current battle for the world championship.

The fact that toy cars were stuck on the headstones suggests that the act was not intended as an outright display of hate, more a totally misguided form of tribute, but even so it is vandalism of the worst possible kind.

Indeed, it would appear that the act was not a one-off, for after the damage was first discovered in late September by George Stewart-Dalzell of Grave Guardians, protective sheets were placed around the graves but were subsequently removed. It is believed that the perpetrators - who are understood to have returned several times - vandalised a number of other nearby graves.

We are proud to say that Amanda McLaren and her husband Stephen are long-time friends of Pitpass, and we can imagine how much this has hurt them and indeed all genuine fans of Bruce and his legacy. Along with our readers we send them our best wishes.

While the McLaren F1 team has yet to react to this disgusting insult to its founder, one has a feeling that Ron Dennis will already be seeking the means of assisting the Trust with the repairs.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 22 hours ago

"Disgusting. I hope this person is caught and committed. I yearn for the return of the days when people had a sense of shame and respect was held in high regards by the general public. Society today is like the game of limbo, it's all about how low you can go."

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2. Posted by BillH, 06/11/2025 19:22

"Terrible behaviour and situation of a complete lack of respect, one that certainly doesn't reflect well on New Zealand.
Sometimes I do lament what has become of society over here, though, there is still good things happening."

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3. Posted by Wokingchap, 06/11/2025 13:27

"Absolutely sick minds do this. There's no limits to vandalism. My positive wishes go to the whole McLaren family..... how distressing for them."

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McLaren family grave vandalised

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