16/08/2026
Sad news this morning.
Vale: Garry Pedersen
The story of Garry Pedersen is one of the true West Auckland sporting legends as the boy with a passion for cars developed into a New Zealand motorsport success story. Born in Palmerston North in 1942 but with the family moving to Auckland in the late 1950s, his interest in cars, particularly American coupes, saw him take up a mechanic’s apprenticeship at Lyndale Garage. Having also formed a relationship outside hours with the Glen Eden Motor Company (GEMCO), he eventually went to work there full-time once qualified and a 28-year association with them commenced.
Garry’s first acquisition was a 1939 Ford V8 Coupe in which he contested various Hillclimb’s and race meetings having earlier joined the Auckland Car Club in the early 1960s. Trips to Levin and Mt Maunganui were a fine initiation together with any club meetings around the Auckland area including the Western Springs Speedway track. His racing exploits had support from the GEMCO owner Richie Wheaton and close friend Peter Macks who allowed Garry to share his Humber 80 in various competition events.
Over that period, considerable experience was gained in mechanical preparation of some historic Kiwi “Allcomers’” saloon cars including the Rod Coppins Zephyr Corvette and the legendary monster, the Garth Souness Morrari. Married to Pauline Zambucka who was closely related to the Zambucka motor racing family, a lack of funds saw him searching for a new mount with plenty of power but financially viable. One day he simply struck an idea which was to prove almost life-changing in the form of a former Formula One Lotus 18 which had been locally converted to an Oldsmobile powered sports car by local racer John Riley.
Garry and Peter were able to negotiate purchase of the car but felt it needed considerable modification and re-construction. What transpired was a new-age replica of a Can-Am McLaren M8B powered by an alloy 4.5 litre Oldsmobile V8 engine. The car was totally designed, constructed and styled by the GEMCO team supported by Richie Wheaton with a dedicated crew including Peter Macks, John Bernard, Wayne Lucas and George Wilkins who were all to establish their own high reputations in Kiwi motorsport. The beautifully hand-beaten aluminium body was exquisitely produced by craftsman Ralph Cummings and was even painted in near McLaren orange colours. However, while sorting out various gremlins and set-up issues, only one meeting was contested at the 1970 NZ Grand Prix meeting where he led for a short while but enough data was gathered to launch a full assault on the 1970- 71 Sports Car Championship.
Over the next two seasons. Garry became a top competitor with many exciting races against Sport Car Champ Grahame Harvey in his Elfin 600. With various aerodynamic changes including the addition of a large rear wing and a change of colour scheme to represent his new sponsor Duckhams Oil, the team excelled to eventually win the Championship outright for the 1971 and 72 season. Together with that achievement, he also scored several podium placings when the large capacity sports cars were invited to contest Gold Star Formula 5000 races over the same season.
After the Gemco-Oldsmoble was sold, the question was what next for the ambitious team – and the answer was to move up into a Formula 5000 car. Over the next few seasons Garry contested the Gold Star Championship and Tasman Series races. The first foray in an ex-McRae, ex-Francevic McLaren M10A ended prematurely after a practice accident but the acquisition of the ex-David Oxton Begg FM4 saw Garry become a front runner with some Gold Star race wins and second overall in the 1973 Gold Star Championship. He also recorded some top ten placings in Tasman Series races including fifth at Wigram in 1974, again under Duckhams sponsorship. A later trip to the USA saw the purchase of an ex-Evan Noyes McLaren M18 in which he also contested some Australian Tasman meetings with moderate results.
During the above periods of serious sports car and Formula 5000 racing, Garry also contested many long-distance saloon car events including several Wills Six-Hour and Benson & Hedges 1000 production races. Cars he piloted included Fiat 1500, Fiat 125, Fiat 125T, Chrysler Charger, Leyland P76, Holden Commodore SS and Fiat 130 TC, Fiat Ritmo, and a Volvo with Per Gunner Andersson. Drivers he shared driving duties with included Peter Macks, Dexter Dunlop, Allan Woolf, Dave McMillan and good friend David Oxton. His best result was in the Fiat 125T he shared to score second place overall with Allan Woolf.
After retiring from serious racing Garry teamed up with good friend and top racing mechanic Mark Sheehan when they moved to the USA to assist good friend Dave McMillan with his Formula Atlantic campaign which was successful with winning the overall North American championship in 1982. The duo also worked with other knowledgeable Kiwis in assisting other drivers with building and preparing Formula Atlantic cars.
After Ritchie Wheaton sold out of the Glen Eden Motor Company, Garry and Mark Sheehan (Jandals) set up an engineering business specialising in design and construction of racing cars, in particular the newer touring car categories appearing in the late 1980s and into the 1990s. Originally building Tranzam Lights touring cars which evolved into the highly successful NZV8 Touring Car category. Garry’s son Mark had commenced his own racing career and was impressively successful in Formula Ford racing then spent time in the UK gathering engineering experience with West Surrey Racing under the guidance of Kiwi legend Dick Bennetts. The arrangement at WSR was almost a family affair as Garry’s daughter Louise also worked in the office there and nephew David was also on the race team.
Garry and Jandals built some of the best NZV8 touring cars of the era, mainly Ford Falcons for various customer drivers and teams but also campaigned a Falcon for young Mark which culminated in three Touring Car Championships. Other drivers also featured well in the category but it was Mark’s success which really saw the company in hot demand. Further racing success was also achieved when Craig Baird drove for the team and notched up another NZV8 Championship. The company also built cars for the newer Super Tourers category which were driven by various customer drivers. Although eventually retiring from actual racing involvement, Garry kept his hand in by working on other cars for various customers and along with Mark Sheehan, beautifully restored an original McRae GM1 Formula 5000 sourced from the USA.
Garry Pedersen was a genuine legend of New Zealand motor racing as was recognised by being awarded a variety of honours. He was a recipient of the Motorsport New Zealand Ron Frost Award; the Motorsport New Zealand Order of Merit; the Auckland Car Club Bruce McLaren Trophy; an inductee into the Auckland Car Club Roll of Honour. To cap it all off, the racing driver, engineer and mentor was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2011 Queen’s Honours List.
