Engineering students take up special internship with McLaren Automotive as company’s ties with New Zealand remain strong.
Two University of Auckland engineering students are following in the footsteps of Kiwi racing legend Bruce McLaren after taking up a three-month internship with the UK-based supercar company that bears his name.
Sabrina Yarndley and Joshua Cates, pictured, are the latest Bruce McLaren engineering scholars to take part in the scheme run by McLaren Automotive.
McLaren completed the first year of a bachelor of engineering degree at the University of Auckland before heading to the UK in 1958. He went on to become an accomplished engineer and innovator as well as a successful racing driver.
He also founded the eponymous racing team that remains at the forefront of motorsport and also unveiled the first McLaren supercar in the M6GT.
The internship for Yarndley and Cates follows a successful trip to Winton, Australia, in December, where the pair played a significant role in the success of the university’s Formula SAE Team.
The four-day event was full of “long hours and hard work,” explains Cates, but it paid off with the team winning the Australasian F:SAE EV-Class competition against 22 other university outfits from New Zealand and Australia.
As interns, Yarndley and Cates will be based at the McLaren Technology Centre and McLaren Production Centres where they will have stints with designers and engineers, as well as with marketing and aftersales teams to gain an insight into the workings of the 3,000-strong workforce.
Cates says it is humbling to be chosen as a Bruce McLaren engineering scholar.
“I personally know many others that are just as deserving of it and so to be awarded it myself is a great honour,” he adds. “McLaren is the kind of company I never saw myself being able to get close to, so I'm excited to be here.”
Jim Marsh, people and chief transformation officer at McLaren Automotive, says the company felt privileged to welcome the latest engineering scholars.
“It is wonderful to see Bruce’s vision live on in the supercars that we design and make today and that his legacy continues to inspire the next generation of talent from his home nation,” he notes.
“We are delighted with the continued collaboration with the University of Auckland that will allow Joshua and Sabrina to see first-hand what goes into creating our supercars and for them to contribute to real-world projects.”
Arriving at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking in December, Yarndley and Cates were met by University of Auckland alumna Lizzy Grant, herself a Bruce McLaren engineering scholar in 2019 and who is now working on battery technologies crucial to the company’s future electrified powertrains.
Professor Gerard Rowe, dean of the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Engineering, says the ongoing connection with Bruce McLaren’s legacy through the scholarship and internship was an honour.
“We are grateful for McLaren Automotive’s ongoing support and to the generous donors who make this possible – alumni Eric Tracey, Rob Whitehouse and Neil Paton, and Sir Colin Giltrap and the UKNZ Link Foundation,” says Rowe.
“And we are incredibly proud of our students Sabrina and Joshua. Their skills, combined with the unique experience of their internships, will fuel their passion for automotive engineering and set them on the road to exciting careers.”
Keyword: Kiwis gain supercar insights