25-2-50 HEC GREEN WINS FROM MRS LUPP AT WIGRAM FTER covering 100 miles at a killing pace to keep clear of Gart Coglan, the erack Australian racing driver, Hee Green, of Christehurch, driving a Wolseley Special, won the second New Zealand motor road-racing championship at the R.N.Z.A.F. Station, Wigram, to-dar. Green and Cogland early shot away from the other eleven starters, and until the Australian was forced to take a pit stop they the lead. When Coglan's motor eut seventh lap, Green had only t last five miles to win. It was a race whieh had been packed w tralian withdrew. NITs S. Lupp (Dunedin), the only woman driver in the championship,! drove a courageous race for second place. Her handling technique on the bends did not look as attractive as some of the other drivers, but there was no question of her ability, and she lapped steadily at just under seventy miles an hour. Morrie Proctor, the winner of the first championship last year, retired with engine • trouble about half may through the race He was one of the eight of the thirteen starters who failed to finish the course. A feature of the event was that Cogian, after having driven desperately to make up ground lost when he made his first stop, filled third place in the handicap section. There were three scratchings-A. S. Farland, of Paimerston North (Singer Special); J. Tutton, Christchurch _(TA M.G.); and P. J. Harrison, Rotorua (M.G. Tiger). The Start Hec Green in his red Wolseley Special drew pride of place for the start, on the inside of the front row, because of fastest time yesterday of Imin 48.8sec. Next to him was R. J. Roycroft (Auckland) in his super-charged Austin, and the other driver in the front row was Gary Coglan, the only Australian starter. Morrie Proctor, first national chan in his Brooklands last row. He did terday. the winner of the pionsnip last year. Riley, was in thei not practise yes- had a thrilling duel for ; out dead on his fortyo drive gently over the a sudden anti-elimax to vith thrills until the Aus- There was a sudden gunning of powerful motors and the feld was away. •Cogian dwelt slightly at the start, but before the first lap was finished he was right up with Green, who had led out from Roycroft. By the time six of the fifty laps had been completed, Green and Coglan hảd swapped the lead twice and had sorted themselves out from the restof the field, which was led by. J. McMillan in the Jackson Special, with Don licLean in the big black Invicta, and Mrs Sybil Lupp, in her super-charged 11.G.. close up. At that stage, Green and Coglan had a lead of quarter of a mile. At lap 8, Cogian had almost lapped the field. This he did on lap 9, and at this stage, driving brilliantly, he had established a lead of more than 200 yards on Green. It was at about this stage that J. McMillan in thei Jackson stopped with engine trouble. Averaging 70 m.p.h. With ten laps gone, Green, who did his first lap in 1min 58.1sec, was still tailing Coglan by a quarter of a mile, Cogian did the twelfth lap at an average speed of 70.3 miles an hour, and Mrs Lupp did 69 miles an hour. The order at that stage was Cogian, Green, McLean, and Mrs Lupp, with Halsey Logan next in the Logan Special. Second to retire was Don Ransley in his Riley. Mrs Lupp continued lapping consistently at from 69 to! 70 miles an hour. BIG CAR RA With thirteen laps gone, Roycroit and W. J. Cope (Austin) had retired. Mrs Lupp was hanging grimly to McLean, hurling her little M.G. through the bends with consummate skill. On the fourteenth lap. Coglan's motor sounded unhappy and be pulled into the pits next time round This allowed Green to race away into the lead he too was lapping consistently at an average speed of 69 miles an hour. Tyres Tested Tyres were obviously beginning to wear under the fierce driving! and on the bends, long, black tralis of powdered rubber told their tale of threat of impending changes. By the sixteenth lap, Green had! half a lap lead on Mrs Lupp, who had passed McLean in the Invicta, and Logan was following McLean, but some distance behind. Green con-! tinued to increase his lead, and in! the meantime, Proctor stopped and Cogland had restarted, but was one: and a half laps behind Green, and his motor was decidedly unhealthy. About the nineteenth lap. Green started to ease his speed. obviously realising tnat the cracking pace wast tearing ine life out of his tyres. By lap 20, Mrs Lupp had gained about a quarter of a mile on Green, bui Green seemed to be taking it coma vara' vely easy. F! ¿ laps 21 to 2s the distance Grien and Mrs Luppi Se -'ace never varied. Cogt race after another gat 73 miles an h effort to catch !* r. Marint. abow wet crass „nor of the abilit arged M.G, reputed astest of its type in the / The apon Frozen ms speec "little blue M.G. men circult at an average: yes an nour on the thirtieth: * gradually: cut down his ten ttle less than two laps. ween / laps 35 wan: -was doing his ssen the gap to Green who sepa Coglan passed G ‹o be slowing. and lap 38- was- SUDE three and a half" miles Mrs tuppiwas still in дсе: Kvav of the big black Invieta piloted by D. McLean. There was a spectacular crash in the stock car race when R. E. Smith ploughed through the bales of straw on the wide south-western bend and ran down the side of a ditch, narrowly missing a solid concrete culvert. He had a miraculous escape from serious injury, receiving only a cut lip when he was thrown forward on to the steering wheel. Results: New Zealand Championship 3. Green. Christchurch (Wolseley Special), Ihr 30min 57sec •.• Is Shrin Benedin (TC.V.G): 32min 2 H. R. Logan, Nelson (Logan's Special), 1hr 40min 53sec ••.. 8 F. Zambucka, Auckland (De Soto Special), 1hr 41min 39sec D. Owens, Christchurch (R. A. III), Ihr 42min 26sec 5 Handicap Section-Mrs Lupp_ (3 laps) 1, I. H. Green (2 laps) 2, G. Logan (3 laps) 3, H. R. Logan (5 laps) 4, D. Owen (5 laps) 5. Vintage Cars Handicap, twenty-one miles-P. Dirren (Chrysier), Imin 57sec, 24min 18.8sec, 1; W. J. Cope (Austin 7), 5Tsec, 26min 5.4sec, 2; D. Greig (6} litre Bentley), scr. 30min 10.2sec, 3. High Speed Reliability Test-Class I (up to 10 h.p.): V. L. Neate (Humber) Class 2 (from 10.1 to 15 h.p.): D. T. Narra (Austin A40) 1, G. H. Hall (Vorris Oxford) Class (from 15.1 h.p.): H. G. R. Seagley (Riley) 1, C. I. Rhodes (Austin A70) 2. Class limited): A. E. Gardner (Humber Super Snipe) 1. CHAMPIONSHIP CAR RACE FAST DRIVING AT WIGRAM CHRISTCHURCH MAN'S SUCCESS F. Green, of Christchurch, driving scarlet 1604 c.c. Wolseley Special tnat ran with the efficiency, but not the silence, of a sewing machine, easy and skilful winner the New Zealand championship road race at Wigram on With consistent Skill ne covered Saturday une 105 miles course in a few seconds more than an hour and a half, giving average speed of more than 68.4 miles an hour. A woman driver, Mrs S. A. Lupp, of Dunedin, at the wheel of a supercharged M.G., was second nearly two minutes later, after a steady exhibion a ga driving, and H. R. Logan, lin a 972 c.c. Logan Special, was third. Only two other drivers completed the course 1. Zambucka, Auckland, driving a De Soto Special with a four ltre engine, who was fourth, and the! youngest driver in the race, David Owen, driving an R.A. Special (powered with a Fiat engine), finished fith. The race was spectaculat he driving and many of its thrills came from of a man who did not finish because of a broken fuel line which flooded his engine. He was the only overseas! driver in the race, Gary Coglan, off Sydney, whose supercharged M.G. put up some brilliantly fast times, and on l lap speeds was the fastest car in the cornering was brilliant, but f never reckless, and in the straights along the 2.1 mile course he flashed past most of the other competitors in the race. He pulled into the pits after being winner half-way through the race, lost two laps-hem in a fair way of making up again when a fuel break near the control tower made him pull up, right out of the race he had dominated. so! long. Another unlucky driver was H. Me- Lean. of Christchurch. handlinz eifortlessly the big black Invicta which did so well in the race last year. Thirteen cars started, and five finished. Full of Thrills The race full thrills. Some of the thousands of spectators preferred to watch the cars flashing down the straights, often at more than 100 miles an hour, but many found the most attractive vantage point the parking places near the S-bend which slowed the drivers down. to about 20 miles an hour, and tested their gear-changing ability and their judgment in braking to the utmost. For the enthusiast in car racing and the attendance showed that there are now many such in Christchurch-the day was full oi enjoyment. The two minor events on the programme a vintage car race and a high speed and reliability test for production cars (the sort of saloon cars now on sale in city showrooms)—were equally exciting. Production Model Test The production model test provided the one smash of the day. R. E. Smith. Christchurch. driving a maroon Riley. standard saloon body. was about to pass another driver after a bend going into the back straight, when he suddenly felt one tyre so soft. He shot off the track at full Fused into tea and tally speed up, with the car still right way up. many spectators at a distance seemed that the himself said that it did not. To the surprise of the crowd, however, the car was pulled from • the ditch, Smith later drove it' round for two laps at full speed tribute to the strength of the car and the courage of its driver, who had to have several stitches in his face. Another by H. G. Sedgley, of Dunedin, covered 28 laps (58.8 miles) in and a Humber Super Snipe, driven by an houte E. Gardner, also Dunedin, covered the same distance in the same time. The stability of the Rileys on the corners was remarkable. A remarkable performance was put ap Marra, driving (10.6 h.p.), covered 27 laps and wa: magnificently driven to average 56.7 miles an hour. A Humber 10 (V. L. Neate), a Morris Oxford (G. H. Hall), and a bigger Austin A70 (C. L. Rhodes) also completed i the course in fast time, and the performances of all of the cars in the race a tribute to the performance of post-war cars of all sizes. A feature of the production car early duel between Jowett Javelin, driven by R. Archibald, and Jowett i sightly the better of the race until defect cooling system (which could have been fixed in minutes) caused the car to overheat neat the end of the race. Old, But Still Fast In the vintage car race some of the six entered were older than their drivspeeds were again high. Only three cars- finished. Chrysler roadster, driven by p. Dirren, was driven consistently well over 10-lap course and finished fast and fuil of running in spite of its age. A tiny and a huge 62 litre driver: by D. Greig third. Behe Bendey with a bonnet longer than that of most-buses, was not junnin ¡as smoothly as it should at any stage of ¡ the race, and its great length brought it : sidewars out of most fast corners. Blandford, driving ancient but remarkably fast O. V.. Was recording fastest lap times until the car end bearing. A Vauxhall, driven by came in through the race with an ominous clanking sound, and a huge eight-vlinder Delage (in spite of its age a beautifui car in appearance) developed piston trouble the first time round. Aiter the main race crowds congregated round the pits and watched the prize-winners receiving their trophies Coglan, the Australian driver. whose skill in handling his M.G., the fastest car in the race says. only gets the • full benefit of of paranger between : 100 and 120 miles an hour) received many congratulations on his skill and condolences on his bad luck with the car. Coglan, driving for the first time in i New Zealand championship, had only one criticism to make of the course. The pits were too close to a bend for high-speed driving, he said, and watching for signal frOm lis pit a driver found himself on the first bend too soon. He had to brake going past the pits. His car was nevęr , running really well. he said, and in the straights he could get it up to no more i than 100 miles an hour.