Swiss-born Hans Tanner and American Temple Buell were apparently among the many overseas visitors who arrived in New Zealand for the Ardmore Grand Prix (GP) and Lady Wigram Trophy in January 1959. Unlike Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Ron Flockhart, Harry Schell, and Carroll Shelby, who lined up for the sixth New Zealand Grand Prix (NZGP) that year, Tanner and Buell were not racing drivers, but they were key players in international motor sport. Neither the rotund and cheery Buell nor the multi-faceted Tanner was keen on being photographed, so the word ‘apparently’ is used in the absence of hard evidence that Buell actually arrived in this country 64 years ago.
As a 13-year-old school lad struggling to produce a fledgling cyclostyled motoring magazine, I was fortunate enough to meet Carroll Shelby in the Ardmore pits that year but was unaware that either Buell or Tanner was in Auckland. However, one source says the pair made quite an impression in the conservative New Zealand motor sport circles.
A few months before, in late summer 1958, Frank ‘Buzz’ Perkins, the extravert and livewire secretary of the New Zealand Grand Prix Association, had arrived in Italy on his mission to secure name drivers for the upcoming Ardmore airfield circuit race. In Modena, he began negotiations with Tanner to secure a Maserati entry after discussions with Enzo Ferrari to bring one of his cars proved fruitless.
Frank ‘Buzz’ Perkins, the extravert and livewire secretary of the New Zealand Grand Prix Association, had arrived in Italy on his mission to secure name drivers for the upcoming Ardmore airfield circuit race
Hans, a broker and wheeler-dealer, suggested two Maserati 250F open-wheelers for Frenchman Jean Behra and American Harry Schell, but at the last minute Behra signed with the Ferrari Formula
