Gary Anderson | |
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| Born | (1951-03-09)9 March 1951 (age 74) Coleraine, Northern Ireland |
Gary Anderson (born 9 March 1951[1][2]) is a Northern Irish semi-retired racing car designer and motorsport pundit/commentator.
Born in Northern Ireland, Anderson moved to England in 1972 with the dream of becoming a racing driver but instead found work as a mechanic at Motor Racing Stables atBrands Hatch. Some time later, he found a job atBrabham, helping to build theirFormula 3 cars. He then began to work with the Brabham Formula 1 team and quickly progressed to become their chief mechanic. It was during his time atBrabham that he met his future wife, who sent a letter toBernie Ecclestone on Gary's behalf seeking a job as a mechanic on the Brabham F3 team for him.
In 1975, Gary and a mechanic called Bob Simpson, who worked forTyrrell Racing, built a Formula 3 car called theAnson SA1. It was based on theBrabham BT38 and was raced by Anderson inFormula Libre. Anderson left Brabham at the end of 1976 to focus on designing the Anson SA2 Formula 3 car for 1977. Last minute withdrawal of sponsorship left the project in great difficulties and part-way through 1977, the car was withdrawn.
Anderson rejoined F1 as chief mechanic atMcLaren. He remained there for two years after which he joined theEnsign team. Soon after, Anderson and Simpson relaunched the Anson project, building very competitive Formula 3 andSuperVee cars. In 1985, Anderson went to America to become the chief engineer of theGalles Indycar team. It was here that he first teamed-up with driverRoberto Moreno. The pair would go on to have great success inFormula 3000; Anderson became technical director ofBromley Motorsport with Roberto Moreno as a driver and Moreno won the1988 International Formula 3000 title for the team, using theReynard 88D F3000 chassis.Adrian Reynard hired Anderson to design the 1989 and 1990 Reynard F3000 chassis.[3][4][5]
At the same time he also designed the Spa series of open wheelers for the Formula 3000 basedFormula Holden. Driving forGibson Motor Sport,Mark Skaife finished third in a Spa FB001 in the1990 Australian Drivers' Championship, before winning the championship in a Spa FB003 in1991 and1992.
In 1990,Eddie Jordan asked Anderson to design the very firstJordan Grand Prix car for the1991 Formula One season. TheJordan Ford 191 was designed by Anderson and entered for the 1991 season. It achieved points finishes on seven occasions throughout the year, finishing the season 5th in the Constructors' Championship table. Anderson was made technical director of the team for 1992 onwards. The team scored its first podium position in the1994 Pacific Grand Prix, withRubens Barrichello driving the Anderson-designedJordan Hart 194 (co-designed byAndrew Green). Anderson would remain with Jordan, despite offers from McLaren andFerrari, until midway through the 1998 season when he was replaced byMike Gascoyne.
Following his departure from the Jordan team, Anderson joined theStewart Grand Prix team, designing theStewart Ford SF3 for the1999 Formula One season. This season would be the most successful season for Stewart Grand Prix, achieving four podium finishes, including a win at the1999 European Grand Prix. The team secured 4th in the Constructors' Championship for that season. Anderson said of team ownerJackie Stewart that he was "the best person I've ever worked for in my life".[5] After Ford bought the Stewart team and renamed itJaguar Racing for the2000 season, Anderson remained to design their 2000 Formula One car. TheJaguar Cosworth R1 scored two points finishes in the 2000 Formula One season, ending the season 9th in the Constructors' Championship. Anderson was then replaced at Jaguar and spent 2001 in America working for Reynard inCART.
Anderson reunited with the Jordan Grand Prix team in 2002. He co-designed the 2002Jordan Honda EJ12 (withEghbal Hamidy), which managed five points finishes, finishing the season 6th in the Constructors' Championship. Jordan lost backing of theHonda engines for 2003, and the Anderson-designedEJ13, now powered byCosworth (badged asFord) engines, finished the 2003 season 9th in the Constructors' Championship, but won a race (the2003 Brazilian Grand Prix).
Since leaving Jordan in 2003, Anderson has worked for several television broadcasters: firstly for RTÉ from 2003-2005 followed by Setanta Ireland's coverage from 2006-2009 and ESPN Star Sports as a technical analyst and commentator.[6] On 12 January 2012, the BBC announced that Anderson had been recruited as technical analyst and pitlane reporter for their coverage of the FIA Formula 1 Championship.[7] In 2013 Anderson remained with the BBC1 BBC2 TV and BBC 5 Live teams as their Technical Analyst. BBC2 now broadcasting all live F1 practice on Friday and Saturday.
In 2014 having left the BBC (who wished to move away from technical reporting) Anderson continued to explain the new breed of F1 cars inAutosport magazine and web page giving the F1 fans an insight into what will be this season, the biggest changes in Formula One Cars for many years using hybrid power which is a combination of fossil fuel power from a 1600cc turbo charged V6 engine and self generated electrical power.[8]
In 2014, Anderson joined the TV production team atFormula One Management (FOM) who produce all track televised F1 pictures, mainly to assist them in explaining the complexities of the new breed of F1 car.FOM will later be launching an F1 App which will use Anderson's technical insight. He commentated on theGP3 series withWill Buxton forSky Sports in2014.
Anderson was awarded anhonorary doctorate of science by theUniversity of Ulster in 2014.[9] In 2015 he started working with the newly formed company Typhoon, a firm focusing on producing motor-assisted bicycles.[10]
Anderson currently hosts his ownpodcast forThe Race alongside F1 Journalist Edd Straw discussing the technical side of current Formula 1 news and events as well as his personal F1 experience. He also regularly appears on The Race'sBring Back V10s podcast. Since 2022 Anderson has written a technical analysiscolumn forThe Telegraph.
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