Team story
Origins
Kenji Mimura and Masao Ono presented an independent Japanese project in 1974, very different from Honda’s earlier industrial undertaking. The Maki F101 used the Cosworth DFV and was entrusted to Howden Ganley. Building a chassis of their own was not enough, however, to close the gap to teams with years of development and track work behind them.
The Formula 1 journey
Ganley failed to qualify in Britain and suffered a serious accident during practice at the Nürburgring after a suspension failure. In 1975 the Citizen-backed F101C passed to Hiroshi Fushida and then Tony Trimmer. The new appearances produced no World Championship start.
In 1976 Trimmer tried to qualify at Fuji with the F102A, again without success.
Historical timeline
Three chapters in the story of Maki
Three episodes to revisit the people, cars and races that shaped this journey.
First appearance · British Grand Prix
Howden Ganley · British Grand Prix 1974. The recorded outcome is DNQ. This is the first recorded race start, or the first entry if the team never started a race.
Sporting landmark · Maki
No classified race result is documented for this part of Maki’s record. The entries and cars listed elsewhere on the page provide the available reference points; they should not be read as completed races.
Latest recorded appearance · Maki
No final race start is documented for this part of Maki’s record. The entries and cars listed elsewhere on the page provide the available reference points; they should not be read as completed races.
A distinctive way of racing
Maki did not remain unchanged for three years: bodywork, designations and drivers changed, but the sporting outcome remained that of a car unable to reach the World Championship grid. Participation in the 1975 Swiss Grand Prix at Dijon illustrates an important distinction: Trimmer was able to race there, but the event awarded no World Championship points and does not constitute a championship debut.
What remains
The archive’s eight entries record attempts, not eight Grands Prix contested. Masao Ono subsequently worked at Kojima, which was a separate constructor rather than a renamed Maki. The experience remains one stage in Japanese Formula 1 initiatives: identifiable engineers and drivers, genuine revisions and a clear competitive outcome, without assigning it the results of teams that came later.