Secret identities and missing parts: F1's most mysterious team

In December 1973, Formula 1 midfielder Howden Ganley received a mysterious phone call. In broken English, someone spoke of a new Formula 1 team arriving from Japan. The New Zealander assumed someone was pranking him, but as the calls continued and the March team for which he was racing struggled for cash, he agreed to meet these mystery men at the Pizzaland in Earl's Court, London. Introducing themselves as Mr Togo and Mr Yamamoto, they asked him to not only drive their car but also find their people a workshop. Conveniently, he already had one in Slough, Berkshire, inherited from his old team boss, Frank Williams. "He wasn't really sure that he believed they were really going to appear with an F1 car," Autocar reported in March 1974, "but was sworn to secrecy; so much so that he had to tell [fellow F1 driver] Tim Schenken, with whom he shares a house, the Oriental voices on the telephone were his collaborators in a Chinese restaurant venture! "Finally, only a few days before the car's press showing, he was left in no doubt: eight mechanics with toolboxes and suitcases arrived from London airport in a taxi fleet. When the crate containing the car arrived, it was short of one or two essential parts - like a gearbox and brakes - but it should be ready to race in a few days' time." The team was called Maki, and while its F101 was conventional in using a Ford-Cosworth DFV V8 engine, a Hewland gearbox, Koni dampers and Firestone tyres, "the body shape and the positioning of the enormous radiators parallel to the curving sides show originality". Maki Engineering seemingly had no link to any of Japan's blossoming car firms; rather it was an unknown with the stated objective of making "progress in the automotive field" by developing "new powerplants and energy sources for everyday cars". Funding came mainly from a firm called M's Brain, whatever that was; Maki was its boss's surname. MD Junsuke Fukuoka told us "the design was formulated by a team of engineers who have been working in secret in Tokyo for the past eight months. None has previously worked in F1 and they come from 'all areas of motoring backgrounds'" - but all of them looked very young, and one had to wonder how many of them had read the car regulations... The F101 didn't arrive for its expected debut in Spain in late April (the fourth grand prix of the year), supposedly because Maki was still waiting for the correct wheels to arrive from Japan, and nor was it present at the following four races. "We gather that this contender is alive and reasonably well in Slough," wrote Autocar in late June. "Ganley has tested it a number of times, and several modifications have been made, including repositioning the side radiators just ahead of the rear wheels. The first car turned out to be [135kg] overweight, so a lightening programme is in progress." Or as Ganley put it: "We have been drilling a lot of holes." After one more no-show, in France, Maki at long last introduced itself to Ferrari, Lotus, Tyrrell, McLaren and co at Brands Hatch in late July. After missing practice because the F101 still wasn't ready and there were "a few scrutineering problems to iron out", Ganley finally got going in qualifying - and ended it 1.3sec shy of securing a place on the grid. Next was the fearsome, 14-mile Nürburgring - where on Ganley's first practice lap, "something broke coming out of a fast right-hander. The car careered into a guard rail and the whole front chassis section was knocked off, being bolted and riveted to the centre, not welded. He broke both ankles and damaged a foot but can count himself lucky, considering the state of the car." In an interview with Motor Sport three decades later, Ganley claimed that Maki had then sued him for his failure to drive at the next race - and that Togo and Yamamoto were false names, taken from the architects of the Pearl Harbour attack. Bizarre... Apparently they also repeatedly told him that Honda was backing Maki without ever showing any evidence. His seat went to British rookie Tony Trimmer - whom the F101 likewise "nearly killed" during his three DNQs across the 1975 season. And that was that - until another Japanese team, Kojima, pitched up at the 1976 season finale at Fuji with a suspiciously familiar-looking car and a number of ex-Maki people. It likewise immediately suffered a heavy crash, in the hands of local Masahiro Hasemi, and then wasn't seen again for an entire year after which it too vanished without trace.

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Secret identities and missing parts: F1's most mysterious team

The Maki team had bold ideas but was beset by intrigue and a lack of experience

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Secret identities and missing parts: F1's most mysterious team

The Maki team had bold ideas but was beset by intrigue and a lack of experience

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

We recommend

Legal bits

About Autocar