9-2-50 MOTOR-RACING IS HARUM-SCARUM YOUNG LUNATICS By Peter Greenslade AITHOUGH there is little doubt that the crowd of over 20,000 who watched the first New Zealand road-racing championship held at Wigram in February last year, will be exceeded when the event is run once again at the end of this month, there are many more thousands of people who will not attend. These people will not attend because they regard moior-racing as a dangerous harum-scarum spectacle indulged in by young lunatics, which has no value and only appeals to the crowd in the same way as dia the Roman circuses. WHILE there is no doubt that some will go to Wigram in the hope that they will see a spectacular crash and some blood-letting possibly, the great majority of the spectators will go to see not only a magnificent spectacle, but also to see cool and careful drivers handling their I cars in the way fast cars should be driven, with care, judgment, and precision, Motor-racing is not a sport for roung lunatics. Some of the ‹rivers in the road race mill be nien of mature years, and there will be at least one woman conpetitor whose young family will watch her efforts with interest and enjoyment. Indeed in Europe, where motor-racing attracts crowis of over 200,000 every week-end during the summer months, many of the best drivers have reached the halfcentury mark and some of them have been racing cars for orer thirty years. There is an airmen's saying that only the good pilots have grey hair -the same can be said of the European racing drivers. The wiry little Italian Tazio Nuvolari-known to followers of motor sport the world over as "the Maestro "—still drives on occasions. although he is now approaching the ripe old age of 60. Rigid Control MOTOR sport is so rigidly controlled in Europe and in New Zealand that only those competitors who have reached a high standard of proficiency are permitted to take part in major events. This standard is demanded to saleguard not only the drivers themselves, but also the spectators. The notable feature of most fatalities during motor-racing is that in » per cent. of the cases they are caused by the spectators and not by the competitors. Unruly crowds break down the protective barriers and force their way to the edges of the track. They have not only a careless disregard for their own safety, but also for the safety of the drivers. Those who intend going to Wigram in the hope of seeing cars overturning or gyrating madir round in circles. or taking every corner on two wheels would be well advised to stay away and make room for persons who will really appreciate what is going on. Persons who do go, and see cars skidding round bends, are not to think that the driver has lost control of his car. He has perfect control over it, and is merely taking the bend in the fastest and safest way possible-in a controlled slide. There is no such thing as skidding in motor sport. They should watch how he does it and learn something which one day might save their lives or the lives of others. How many times have newspaper reports court actions stated that the driver of a vehicle involved in a collision said he approached the bend too fast, or the road was greasy and he skidded? somebody was injured or a l death occurred, it is a fairly safe bet that it was caused through gross negligence. All that happened was that the car skidded and the driver was unable to control it. In other words, the driver could not handle his car properly. If he could have handled the car properly that skid would have become a controlled slide or would have been corrected immediately, and in nine cases out of ten the accident would not have happened. Many motorists are notori- OuSiy discourteous. For demonstration of good driving manners, watch: the racing drivers. The latter do not cut-in on other cars, they do not speed up when another driver has sig malled his intention to pass, and they make plenty of room for faster cars to pass them. NOT SFORT FOR The late Dick Seaman, acknowledged one of England's finest roadracing drivers, was the only Englishman ever to drive for a German Grand Prix team. Driving a Mercedes-Benz, he won the German Grand Prix in 1938. Not only do they carry out these Panzer divisions in the early stages little acts of courtesy that should ot the war. be second nature to every normal Motor-racing not only helped motorist, but they carry them out! when travelling at speeds two and the development of the high prethree times as fast as the normal cision engineering techniques motorist. Racing drivers realise of the Germans; it also had that discourtesy or bad road man- immense propagarida value. for ners are the prime causes of accidents. week after week. and year after rear, hundreds of thousands of From the technical aspect, motorracing is not of very great impor- people watched German cars tance in New Zealand. However, it demonstrate the superiority of is well to remember that in other countries it has played a major part German drivers and German in the development of the automotive engineering as they streaked industry and has made the motor- across hundreds of finishing car a more economical, more comfor- lines, miles ahead of their rivals, table, safer and easier vehicle to drive. in dozens of races. Nazi Subsidies ANoThER point worth refection is the fact that before the last war the Nazis saw fit to subsidise the two major car-manufacturing organisations-Mercedes Benz and Auto Union-to the extent of £500,000 a year while those firms took an active part in motor-racing. This money was spent entirely upon the development of racing cars. It has been established that the research work carried out by those firms in the field of motor-racing was applied to their aircraft and armoured vehicle production and was one of the main reasons for the acknowledged superiority of the German Air Force and the mechanised Since the war the Italians have been quick to capitalise on the propa-! ganda value of motor-racing, and for the last three seasons Maseratis and Ferraris have been leading the fields home. Britain, always slow to act, has subsidised the development of a new car, the B.R.M., which has been developed with the help of all the big motor manufacturers in England, to the extent of £150,000, in the hope that it will be able to wrest from the Italians the advantages they have gained through their motor-racing successes. Finally, motor-racing demands the physical fitness of the trained ath lete, the clear, cool brain per scholar, and the temperament sanest man.