1984 Anson SA4

Gardy Anderson was from Coleraine in Northern Ireland. At the age of 19, he moved to England with aspirations of becoming a racing driver but found work as a mechanic at Motor Racing Stables at Brands hatch. A short time later, he found a job at Brabham, helping to build Formula 3 cars. Soon he was on the F1 team. During his free time, he - along with Bob Simpson who worked for Tyrrell - built a Formula 3 car which was called the Anson SA1. The car was built using pieces obtained from Brabham production boss Ron Tauranac, so it was understandable the SA1 was similar to the Brabham BT38. The Anson team acquired a converted bus as a transporter and, with Simpon's sister Jennie working as team manager, began competing in Formula Libre races.

In 1976, Simpson quit Tyrrell and a new SA1 was built. Driven by Dick Parsons, the car finished third on its racing debut. At the close of the season, Anderson quit Brabham to design the SA2. Unfortunately, sponsorship negotiations failed. A short time later, Anderson went back to Formula 1 as chief mechanic at McLaren. He stayed there for two years before joining Mo Nunn's Ensign. After Clay Regazzoni was paralyzed in a crash at Long Beach, the team quickly faded.

Anderson and Simpson decided to re-launch Anson, and this time they enjoyed much more success. The Anson F3 and SuperVee cars were very successful and highly competitive, going against such names as March, Ralt, and Chevron. Their greatest success was winning the German F3 Championship in 1983 with Franz Konrad. Tommy Byrne came in 6th in the 1984 European Championship.

The SA4 was followed by a modified version to comply with the 'B' specifications. In 1985, the SA6 was introduced and it featured a deeper monocoque and shorter sidepods than the SA4. The car had little success in racing, suffering from insufficient structural rigidity. At the close of the season, Anson stopped producing F3 cars.

Years later, Gary Anderson worked as a designer in Formula 1, most notably with Jordan.

By Daniel Vaughan | Oct 2011