Howden
Ganley

Howden Ganley was born in Hamilton, New Zealand, on 24 December 1941. At the age of thirteen he watched the 1955 New Zealand Grand Prix at Ardmore, which inspired him to pursue a career in racing. Immediately after leaving school he worked as a reporter for the Waikato Times. In 1970 he finished second to Peter Gethin in the European Formula 5000 Championship, which drew the attention of the BRM team.

Ganley drove for BRM in Formula One in 1971 and 1972. In his first year he finished fifth in the non-championship Race of Champions and received the Wolfgang von Trips Memorial Trophy for the best performance by a newcomer to Grand Prix racing. In 1972 he ended the World Championship in 12th place, his best result of the season being fourth at the Nürburgring. In 1973 he drove an Iso-Marlboro for Frank Williams Racing. At the Canadian Grand Prix a timing mix-up involving the pace car very nearly saw him declared the winner, but once the results were corrected he was classified sixth. In 1974 he raced for Maki and March, but an accident in practice for the German Grand Prix at the wheel of the Maki ended his Grand Prix career. He made 35 starts from 41 entries without a podium finish.

Outside Formula One, Ganley took second place in the 1972 24 Hours of Le Mans, sharing a Matra-Simca MS670 with François Cevert. In 1975 he started a Formula One project of his own in Windsor, the hand-built Ganley-Cosworth 001, but it never raced. The following year he founded the racing car constructor and team Tiga Race Cars with the Australian Tim Schenken. A planned entry into Formula One in 1978 did not go ahead.

Source: Wikipedia, “Howden Ganley”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.