Ganley, Bell and the Mirage
Howden Ganley (born 24 December 1941) is a former racing car driver from New-Zealand. From 1971 to 1974, he participated in 41 F1 Grand Prix, finished twice fourth and scored 10 championship points. He was also an excellent endurance driver for Matra and Mirage.
Picture above: Howden Ganley (left) and Derek Bell, seem confident, minutes before the start, their Mirage M6-Ford has a chance to shine in the 1973 1000 km of Spa.
For these 1973 1000 km of Spa, Matra Sport entered two MS670B’s for Henri Pescarolo-Gérard Larrousse and Chris Amon-Graham Hill, while the Scuderia Ferrari entered a pair of 312 PB’s. One for local hero Jacky Ickx and Brit Brian Redman and the second one for Brazilian Carlos Pace and Italian Arturo Merzario. These four prototypes were the clear favourites.
Early on, they indeed drove into the distance, but one by one, at some stage of the race, each Matra and Ferrari encountered some problems and the beautiful Gulf-livered Mirages M6-Ford scored a fantastic 1-2. Bell – Hailwood (picture below) won the race in the #5 Mirage after a fast and steady race, with a two-lap advantage on the sister car of Ganley-Schuppan-Hailwood.
