McLaren was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to Les and Ruth McLaren, who operated a service station and workshop in Remuera. At the age of nine he was diagnosed with Legg-Calve-Perthes disease of the hip, which required nearly three years of hospital treatment and left him with a permanent limp and one leg shorter than the other — a physical echo shared with several other drivers of his era who did not let early medical difficulties constrain exceptional careers.
McLaren enrolled in engineering at the University of Auckland before dropping out to focus on racing. At fourteen he had persuaded his father to purchase a dismantled 1929 Austin 7 Ulster, which they restored together. His domestic performances in a Cooper-Climax Formula Two car led to his selection for New Zealand's "Driver to Europe" programme, which enabled him to move to Europe in 1958.
McLaren joined the Cooper works team formally for the 1959 season, partnering Jack Brabham. At the 1959 United States Grand Prix at Sebring, he won his first World Championship Grand Prix at 22 years and 104 days old — a record for the youngest winner in Formula One history that stood for over four decades. He opened the 1960 season with another victory in Argentina and remained consistently competitive throughout, finishing second in the 1960 World Drivers' Championship behind Brabham.
When Brabham left Cooper at the end of 1961, McLaren became team leader. He won the 1962 Monaco Grand Prix and across his Formula One career took 27 podium finishes and four victories in 100 starts. He also contributed meaningfully to Cooper's development programme, providing precise technical feedback that helped sustain the team's competitiveness.
In 1963 McLaren founded Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Ltd., initially fielding cars in the Tasman Series and developing sports cars before entering Formula One as a constructor in 1966. Early results were difficult — the McLaren M2B used modified Ford Indianapolis V8 engines that were both heavy and underpowered — but fortunes changed decisively with the adoption of the Cosworth DFV. McLaren took his team's first Formula One victory at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in the McLaren M7A.
McLaren's greatest competitive success came in the Canadian-American Challenge Cup, a high-powered Group 7 sports car series. In 1967 the team introduced the purpose-built McLaren M6A in what became their signature Papaya Orange livery, powered by large-displacement Chevrolet V8 engines. The car won five of the six races that season with McLaren taking the drivers' title. In 1969, driving the McLaren M8B, the team won all eleven races on the calendar. McLaren and teammate Denny Hulme so thoroughly dominated the series that it earned the nickname "the Bruce and Denny Show."
At the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans, McLaren shared a Ford GT40 Mk II with Chris Amon. The race ended with Ford managing a staged multi-car finish for publicity purposes, with instructions for their leading cars to cross the finish line together. As the two front-running Fords crossed the line almost simultaneously, officials awarded victory to McLaren and Amon: their car had started further back on the grid and had therefore covered a marginally greater distance over twenty-four hours than the sister car of Ken Miles and Denny Hulme.
McLaren was killed on 2 June 1970 while testing a McLaren M8D Can-Am car at Goodwood Circuit in West Sussex. Travelling at an estimated 170 miles per hour on the Lavant Straight, the rear bodywork separated from the chassis, the sudden loss of downforce destabilised the car, and it struck a concrete bunker at the side of the track. McLaren died instantly. He was buried at Waikumete Cemetery in Glen Eden, Auckland.
The team McLaren founded in 1963 continued without him and eventually won ten Constructors' Championships and thirteen Drivers' Championships in Formula One. McLaren had written in his 1964 book From the Cockpit: "To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy. It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone."
Bruce McLaren Intermediate School in West Auckland was named in his memory shortly after his death. The Taupe Motorsport Park was renamed Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park in 2015. He was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1995.