When Howden Ganley was thirteen years old, he attended the 1955 New Zealand Grand Prix at Ardmore. This inspired him and provided him with an impetus to follow a career in racing. After leaving school, Ganley became a reporter for the Waikato Times and wrote a column for Sports Car Illustrated. After competing in a Lotus 11 in the summers of 1960/61 and 1961/62, Howden Ganley left New Zealand to seek his motor racing fame in England, although the plan to crack Formula 1 took until 1971. In between time he worked in a variety of motor racing related jobs, including as a mechanic for the fledging McLaren team – Howden in fact being on the team when Bruce raced his own car in a Grand Prix for the first time at Monaco in 1966. Howden saved enough money to purchase a F3 Brabham and spent 1967 and 1968 chasing starting money and experience throughout Europe, in much the same way as Denny Hulme had done. Armed with a Chevron in 1969 he became the first driver to average better than 100 mph in a F3 car. Bruce McLaren had noticed and put Howden into a semiworks F5000 McLaren for 1970 and the combination finished second in the British championship. BRM were impressed enough to sign him up for the 1971 Grand Prix season meaning the young Kiwi became the first and to date, the only person to race in F1 and work as a mechanic in F1. He was a blink away from winning the Italian GP near the end of the year and remained with BRM in 1972 before joining Williams in 1973. In 1972 he shared the runner-up Matra in the Le Mans 24 hour race. March hired him for the start of 1974 before the mysterious Japanese Maki team employed him – his F1 career ended after the suspension failed, leaving him with serious foot and ankle injuries. His Formula 1 career saw him start 35 Grand Prix and score 10 championship points. Howden subsequently formed ‘Tiga’ with Australian Tim Schenken and for a decade or so from 1976 over 400 racing cars were produced for a range of categories but primarily Sports 2000, Group C, FF1600 and FF2000. Howden has also provided tireless service to the prestigious British Racing Drivers’ Club as a Board member and ultimately Vice-President.