Howden Ganley on Tim Schenken: My Greatest Rival

My rivalry with Tim started in Formula 3 at Castle Combe in 1967 and went on for a long time. I was working on my Brabham and this guy comes over, we got talking, and we were compatible, both of us coming from the other side of the world [Ganley is a Kiwi; Schenken an Aussie]. Our rivalry went all the way from there to F1.

At Cadwell Park, Formula 3, we got into a huge scrap for the lead. I thought I had it won, but as I pulled out to pass him, he put me on the grass. I’ve never let him forget it.

At the end of the season at Brands, I beat him, got the first 100mph lap, which earned me my McLaren F1 test, and the rivalry seemed to be going my way. Some rivalries get nasty, but we never fell out. It was a nice rivalry. I mean Tim, Ronnie [Peterson] and I used to exchange gear ratios with each other. We had different styles. Ronnie was all tail out, but both Tim and I were a lot tidier, less flamboyant. You can pick up lines from a rival, subconsciously, but you always think you’re faster than the other guy.

In ’70 I was doing F5000, he was in Formula 2, so it was a more distant rivalry, then he got the F1 drive with Williams and I was envious of that.

In ’71 we were both on the F1 grid, Tim in the Brabham, me in the BRM, and we found ourselves battling each other lap after lap at the Race of Champions, and at the Spanish Grand Prix, and at the end of the season we were equal on points. By that time we were sharing a house and people said to us, ‘You race together, you live together, what’s wrong with you guys?’ Tim got the Ferrari sports car drive for ’72. I thought, ‘You lucky guy,’ but then I got the Matra drive, with François Cevert, so now we were rivals in long-distance racing.

In ’73 I was at Williams and I persuaded Frank to give Tim the other seat in Canada, so now I had to beat him as my team-mate. No way was I going to let Schenken get one over me in the same car.

After my shunt in the Maki at the Nürburgring in ’74 I wasn’t sure I’d be able to race again but Tim got me to share the Mirage with him at the 1000Kms at the ’Ring in ’75. We almost won but the team decided to do an extra fuel stop and we came in second, so now we’re sharing a car but it was still a rivalry. You want to be the fastest as long as you don’t break the car and hand it over in good condition.

There was always a mutual respect between us and in ’76 we created Tiga Race Cars together. It was a good partnership.Tim is very organised, and I could make things faster than anyone on the shop floor, so it worked. But that’s another story.”

Howden Ganley and Tim Schenken head-to-head

Stats taken from Formula 1 World Championship seasons 1971-74