McLaren Tampa Bay · A Dimmitt Automotive Group dealership
Born racers.
Built to last.
Two stories began a world apart. One in a Florida showroom in 1924, the other in an English workshop in 1963. Both were started by people who lived for the automobile, and both have been carried forward by teams who refused to let that spirit fade. In 2010, they met here on the Gulf Coast.
Born racers
Ours is a story of restless technical development, told through gritty tales of heroism and human endeavour.
It started in 1963, when Bruce McLaren created the team and forged it in his image. A racing driver to his core, Bruce surrounded himself with dreamers, people for whom racing was their whole life. Talent mattered, but hard work, determination and a relentless lust for racing mattered more.
Since then, McLaren drivers have stood on the top step of the podium in the greatest races in history: the Can-Am Series, the Indy 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Formula 1 World Championship, Formula E and F1 Sim Racing.
Auckland
Bruce grew up above his family’s service station, a community hub built on generosity and service. At nine, Perthes disease kept him in traction for two years and left him with a permanent limp. It gave him time to dream, think and study.
Muriwai Beach
By 14, he and his father had restored a 1929 Austin 7 Ulster. At 15, he took it to the Muriwai hill climb for his first competition, and won his class. Winning became a habit.
Sebring, 1959
Racing for Cooper, Bruce won his first Grand Prix at 22, the sport’s youngest-ever winner. The record stood until the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.
A century ago in Clearwater, Larry Dimmitt, Sr. was building a business the same way: selling and servicing cars, one customer at a time.
Founder
Bruce didn’t just race the cars. He ran the team, designed and engineered the cars, drove the transporter and swept the factory floor. As the boss, he led by example.
He won the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix for Cooper and the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hours in a Ford GT40 alongside Chris Amon. His orange, ear-splittingly loud Can-Am cars took the North American title five seasons running, 1967 to ’71. In 1968, he scored the first of the McLaren marque’s more than 200 Formula 1 wins.
“If Bruce had walked into the workshop one morning and told us we were all going to march across the Sahara Desert, we’d have immediately downed our tools and followed him.”
2 June 1970
Bruce had told friends he would hang up his helmet at season’s end to focus on the business. While testing the new Can-Am car at Goodwood, the rear bodywork came loose. He was killed instantly, aged 32.
The grieving mechanics packed up two cars for the season opener in Canada. Despite the heartbreak, the team did what only it could.
It went racing. And it won.
“Life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.” Bruce McLaren
The evolution · Part one
Six decades of McLaren machines, each one a response to the last. Every car on this page taught the team something that ended up in the next, and eventually in the cars on our showroom floor.
Formula 1
The first McLaren Grand Prix car. Bruce scored the marque’s first World Championship point in it.
Can-Am
The first car painted papaya orange. Bruce took the Can-Am title and began five straight years of dominance.
Formula 1
Bruce won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, the first Formula 1 victory for a McLaren.
Can-Am
Won all 11 races of the 1969 Can-Am season. The “Bruce and Denny Show” at its peak.
Indianapolis 500
Johnny Rutherford won the Indy 500, a feat he repeated in 1976.
Formula 1
Carried Emerson Fittipaldi and James Hunt to Drivers’ titles, and McLaren to its first Constructors’ crown.
Formula 1
The first carbon-fibre composite chassis in Formula 1. The technology now underpins every McLaren road car.
Formula 1
Senna and Prost won 15 of 16 races. Still one of the most dominant seasons in the sport.
24 Hours of Le Mans
Won Le Mans at the first attempt, completing McLaren’s Triple Crown of Monaco, Indianapolis and Le Mans.
Formula 1
Mika Häkkinen’s first title and a Constructors’ Championship double.
Formula 1
Lewis Hamilton became the then-youngest World Champion in the sport’s history.
Formula 1
Back-to-back Constructors’ titles, and a Drivers’ crown for Lando Norris in 2025.
The evolution · Part two
Bruce always meant to put racing technology in the hands of drivers. His M6GT never reached production, but the idea survived him. Since the McLaren F1 of 1992, every McLaren road car has been built around a carbon-fibre chassis, technology McLaren brought to Formula 1 in 1981.
Prototype · V8
Bruce’s dream of a Can-Am racer for the road. He drove one himself before his death in 1970.
6.1L V12 · 106 built
Central driving seat, gold-lined engine bay and a 240.1 mph record. Gordon Murray’s masterpiece.
5.5L supercharged V8
Built in Woking in partnership with Mercedes-Benz, with a full carbon-fibre body and chassis.
3.8L twin-turbo V8
The first car from McLaren Automotive, built around the carbon-fibre MonoCell.
Hybrid V8 · 375 built
McLaren’s first hybrid hypercar, bringing Formula 1 energy recovery thinking to the road.
Sports Series
Brought the McLaren carbon chassis to a new generation of everyday sports-car drivers.
4.0L twin-turbo V8 · 720 PS
The Super Series benchmark, with its sculpted “double skin” aerodynamic doors.
800 PS · 500 built
Named for Ayrton Senna. The most track-focused road McLaren ever built at launch.
Hybrid V8 · 106 built
A three-seat Hyper-GT that revived the F1’s central driving position.
Hybrid V6
McLaren’s first series-production High-Performance Hybrid, on an all-new carbon architecture.
4.0L twin-turbo V8 · 750 PS
Successor to the 720S. Lighter, quicker and sharper in every direction.
Hybrid V8 · 399 built
The heir to the F1 and P1, and the new flagship of the McLaren line.
Milestones
From a group of scrappy young Kiwis to one of Formula 1’s oldest, most successful teams, and one of only a handful to win motorsport’s Triple Crown.
Aged 22, Bruce wins his first Grand Prix for Cooper, the sport’s youngest-ever winner.
Bruce wins the Monaco Grand Prix for Cooper.
Bruce founds Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd.
McLaren enters Formula 1 with the M2B. Bruce wins Le Mans in a Ford GT40 with Chris Amon.
McLaren’s orange Can-Am cars win five straight championships.
Bruce takes the marque’s first F1 win. Denny Hulme adds two more before season’s end.
Bruce is killed testing. His team rebuilds in his name and keeps winning.
First Constructors’ title and Emerson Fittipaldi’s crown. Johnny Rutherford wins the Indy 500.
James Hunt wins the Drivers’ Championship by a single point.
The MP4/1 introduces the carbon-fibre chassis to Formula 1.
Niki Lauda, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna win seven Drivers’ titles in eight seasons.
The McLaren F1 road car is unveiled.
The McLaren F1 GTR wins Le Mans on debut, completing the Triple Crown.
Mika Häkkinen wins back-to-back titles.
Lewis Hamilton wins the title with fearless aggression.
McLaren Automotive is launched, and McLaren arrives in Tampa Bay with the Dimmitt Automotive Group.
McLaren starts its 1,000th Grand Prix, at Monaco, where its Formula 1 story began in 1966.
10 Constructors’ and 13 Drivers’ Championships. Lando Norris carries the baton as a modern World Champion.
The Triple Crown
The Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans are three entirely different, equally brutal races. Bruce won Monaco and Le Mans, but never lifted the Indy 500’s Borg-Warner Trophy. The team he created has won all three.
Johnny Rutherford takes the McLaren M16C to victory at the Brickyard, and repeats the feat in 1976.
Alain Prost wins the first of McLaren’s many Monaco victories, the start of a long run on the streets of the principality.
The McLaren F1 GTR, a road car turned racer, wins Le Mans at its very first attempt and completes the set.
Our champions
Every McLaren champion has shared Bruce’s insatiable desire to race and relentless work ethic. Each has told a timeless tale of their own.
Championship McLarens from every era on display at the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking.
Ignited the passion of his native Brazil.
Made as many headlines on the front pages as the back.
Turned sport into science.
Alongside Lauda, turned sport into science.
His burning intensity took the team to new levels.
Won hearts with fearless aggression.
Carried that fearless aggression into a new generation.
A modern World Champion for a new era, who shines off track as much as on it.
Obsession never stops
Episode 1
Confined to a hospital bed, Bruce learned to watch closely and understand how things worked. Where others saw obstacles, he found something to work with.
Episode 2
He learned to rebuild gearboxes and push engines to their limit. A hill climb class win at 15 became a habit, and a Grand Prix win at 22.
Episode 3
From Colnbrook, under Heathrow’s flight path, small specialised teams innovated fast enough to win on both sides of the Atlantic, fuelled by “burning enthusiasm.”
Episode 4
Bruce looked to aviation, recruiting an engineer from the Concorde programme. Some ideas worked, some didn’t. What mattered was the process.
Episode 5
Engineers and mechanics were trusted to challenge convention and take ownership. A culture built on resilience and relentless ambition.
Episode 6
It all came together in the M6GT, a car that brought racing performance to the road. Racing was never the end point. It was the beginning of a way of working.
Legacy
The first McLaren team was a family in everything but name: Bruce, his fellow Kiwis Denny Hulme and Chris Amon, and the mechanics who followed them around the world. Their children still come home to Woking, where the cars their fathers raced stand alongside the newest McLarens.
We understand that kind of continuity. The Dimmitt family has been in the automobile business since 1924, four generations of caring for cars and the people who drive them.
McLaren on the Gulf Coast
Since 2010, McLaren Tampa Bay has brought Bruce McLaren’s maverick spirit to Florida, backed by the Dimmitt family, four generations in the automobile business since 1924. From the Artura to the 750S, every car we deliver carries six decades of racing in its DNA, and more stories to tell.
