The bestlaid plans
When James Howden Ganley left New Zealand in March 1962, he had no idea how long he’d be away. His goal was simple and singular: to make it to Formula 1. He didn’t have the leg-up of being our ‘Driver to Europe’ — a privilege enjoyed by future F1 icons Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme — or the patronage of an existing GP team, like the one that Chris Amon stepped into.
After a handful of drives, including a brief foray in Formula Junior, Howden made the pragmatic decision to get on the tools to help pay his way. Although not a qualified mechanic, he was intelligent and hard-working and these attributes did not go unnoticed by McLaren as he was getting his young team off the ground. Despite what you might read elsewhere, Howden is the only person ever to drive in a F1 GP after having been an F1 mechanic — although it happened only once when he joined fellow Kiwi Wally Willmott and Bostonian Tyler Alexander on the crew for Bruce’s debut as an F1 manufacturer at Monaco in May 1966.
