-3-49 -3-49 SPORTSMAN, MARCE 87 MOTOR RACING HISTORY MADE AT WIGRAM Diana, a Proctor i Bellingtat me die history hen hearsage i first New Zealand ero-mile road racin a few years ago in @ second-hand soleroom championship with it at Wigram Aerodrome. In spite of the array of newer cars lined up against it, experienced racing men before the start looked long and earnestly at this veteran, wnich had won a two-day thousand-mile event on the famous track at Brooklands in the early 1930's. Undoubtedly. one of the fastest cars in the race was H. Green's Wolseley Special, powered by a 14 horsepower motor. Green and his car have proved a formidable combination in motoring events in Canterbury during the past two years, and the manner in which he took the Wolseley to the front in the big race at Wigram right from the start made him look dangerous. It was only pit stops that kept him from winning. Proctor and F. B. Bennett, whose big black Invicta filled second place, drove throughout without stops, whereas other cars, many of them reputed to have more speed than many of the placed cars, were forced to call at the pits repeatedly. Among the latter was a factorybuilt supercharged Austin 7 from Auckland, entered by the C. and R. team (C. Chatteris and K. Roycroft), two well-known racing motorists. Their car was reputed to have done 120 miles an hour. The Rootes type supercharger, fitted in the nose, was much larger than the tiny engine, which had been tuned to reach exceptional speeds. Public interest in the big race had been mounting in Christchurch for weeks, and . there was great disappointment when the police announced that they had no statutory authority to close the roads in Waimairi County, where the fixture was originally to have been held. Interested parties immediately took the matter up with the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) and the upshot was that Wigram Aerodrome was made available. ONLY ONE CRASH When it was learned that only a flat track around the perimeter of the aerodrome was available, fear was widely expressed among the uninformed public that there would be accidents. Actually it was a tribute to the skill of the drivers that only one occurred, and that only a minor one for all its spectacular appearance. The driver of the car invoived was G. J. Parker, of Christchurch. He was thrown from his M.G. when, taking a bend in the twenty-first lap, it failed to respond to the wheel, ran off the track, hit several bales of straw strategically placed for the protection of spectators, and after several somersaults came to rest upside down in an open ditch. Although badly shaken, Parker was uninjured except for a cut thumb. ..The tense atmosphere at the start reminded travelled people among the spectators of the atmosphere at English and Continental tracks during big fixtures. It became fairly plain after half a dozen laps that, apart from accidents or engine trouble, the issue lay among Roycroft, Bennett, C. A. ' C. Ransley, Green and Proctor. Ransley had built a racing body on his Riley, already well- known in hill-climbing events in the South Island, for the big race. - At the end of the fourth circuit, Green had lapped the field. He had a great duel with Roycroft, which provided the main interest of the race. Green's Wolseley showed terrific speed on the straights and wreat acceleration out of the bends. Roycroft in his Austin drove a great race, hanging grimly on to Green and Bennett in their much bigger cars. He passed them time and again, and then seemed to lose his advantages, but the only reason apparent for his dropping back on many occasions was that in going to the front he wanted to see if they had any speed in reserve. He provided one of the thrills of the race by touching another competitor in the bend at the top of the straight at 60 miles an hour. CAR DISAPPOINTS One car which disappointed was that of P. M. Hoare, who is chairman of the Association of New Zealand Car Clubs. Powered by a Singer engine of advanced design. it was owned and raced by the late Jack Tench, having been built in a workshop in Ferry Road. It has a tubular steel chassis, independent frontwheel suspension of the wishbone type. hydraulically damped, and quarter - elliptic springs. friction damped. The propeller shaft is connected to the rear axle by an unconventional system of chains and sprockets. The clear superiority of a small proportion of the cars over the www..uimiti-nitcenov.cos minnies. Proctor winning the first New Zealand road racing chompionshio _ot Wiaram. N.Z. SPORTSMAN, MARCH 89 remainder was clearly shown by the fact that four of the first five in the handicap event were included in the first six to finish in the championship. Bennett, of course, with his 4500 c.c. Invicta, was on scratch in the handicap race, and was not placed in it. In the championship he was less than a minute behind Proctor, who had captured the lead only the last few laps. A feature of Proctor's driving was that he was never spectacular—he wore the field down with sheer steadiness and consistency. Before the race Mr. J. B. Callinan, an English newcomer to Christchurch, but well acquainted with motor-racing at Brooklands where he has driven, looked over the entrants and passed this opinion, "If the Brooklands Riley is well driven, it will win. H. R. Logan, of Nelson, driving his Logan Special, a car with a Singer Le Mans engine in a Fiat 500 chassis, did particularly well to fill third place in the handicap section. This light car had recorded 17 3-5sec for a standing quarter-mile at Nelson lately-an outstanding performance for a 9 h.p. 972 c.c. engine. The holding of this classic at Wigram brought to a climax a period of activity and worry unprecedented in the all too short history of motorcar racing in New Zealand. For weeks before the race scouts were trying to break through the curtains of secrecy surrounding the camps of rivals. When the competitors went. out to Wigram for a few trial runs the night before the race, thousands attempted to gain admission for. a preview of the thrills expected next day. Nothing spectacular happened that night, however, except that F. A. H. Sharman, trying out his type M.G., with which he has filled places in many contests, nearly climbed the back of another M.G. taking things a little more easily. Great credit must go to the Canterbury Car Club for its organisation of this biggest event in the New Zealand motor world, and the first of its kind in the Dominion. It was the initiative of the club that enabled people to see for the first time factory-built racers brought down by northern teams, as well as cars specially built for the event in various workshops and garages. Staffs and drivers worked as teams, as is done in international Grand Prix motor races. Signals exhibited to drivers by members of their staffs were the only guides the men behind the wheels had to their progress. It is to be hoped that the holding of this big • national championship without serious mishap wil have allayed the fears of many who fore told disaster in 'one form or another. Fear of a fatality is unofficially considered to have been mainly respons ible for the clamping down on the Waimairi course. With the ice broken, however, there is no reason why the big racers should not gun away from the mark to contest the title every year. 230-46 Bars. Sibil Lupp, of Dunedin, only womon driver in the face last-tood adjusize for the best turned-out cor before itse rose, dees