2-4-51 ROAD RACE AT WIGRAM L MOORE WINS IN ALFA ROMEO CROWD ESTIMATED AT 8000 Driving his 2.9 litre Grand Prix Alfa- Romeo with more luck and much more assurance than at Mairehau in February, L Moore (Christchurch) won the Motor Racing Club's 100-mile race on the Wigram airstrips on Saturday: For 36 laps the veteran Auckland racing motorist, G. C. Smith (Ford V8 Special) the almost undisputed leader. After a few attempts to overtake Smith which almost brought disaster, Moore dropped back to a posi- IOn several hundred yards behind Smith, and waited for the Ford's engine to crack under the strain. This happened on the thirty-seventh lap, and Moore was untroubled to lap the course another 11 times, miles abead of his nearest rival. There were several light showers during the practice laps earlier in the day, and rain began to fall steadily about 1 arızzle rapidly dampened A thick penetrating the track and the spirits of the 8000 spectators. There were many hair-raising slides when drivers underestimated the dis- tance to a corner or the amount of water which had not been splashed out of the puddles by the car in front. Curtains of spray were thrown up by the cars, all but one of which had no mudguards. and at least one accident was caused by the blinding effect of this spray on the driver of a following car. three most thrilling sections of the cir The crowd was concentrated along the hangars, the artificial S-bend at the north- cuit-the high-speed curve in front of the east corner, and the start finish straight. The spectators were kept well back from the course behind rope fences. and hundreds of straw bales considerably slowed the progress of sliding cars. One car was put out of action in the first lap when it struck a bale of straw. The race was not as well organised as other races have been, and practice laps started an hour late. With such a short course the fastest drivers soon lapped and relapped tail of the felothe spectators were soon unpractised scorers among in difficulties. As the less reliable cars retired, however, it was not difficult to see which drivers were going to flll the first six places. Eighteen cars started in the race, and 10 finished. Perhaps the most interesting car entered, H. Green's new Standard Vanguard Special, did not start because a hole suddenly appeared in the top of one piston during the practice laps. This car is the most unconventional and ambitious special ever attempted in New Zealand, and embodies several new applications of old engineering principles. Australians Fail None of the three Australian drivers who came to Christchurch for the race finished the course. J. Nind's 1100 C.c. Cooper-J.A.P. slid off the track an its frst lap and was badly bent, and I. Sulman's Grand Prix Maserati reopened an cylinder-head crack which had been. six-cylinder Magnette was extensively damaged when it was struck by H. Logan's car at speed in the long back straight. Tubman's car had been travelling very slowly for that section of the course (70 miles an hour) because one cylinder contained a piston with several broken rings and was not fring, when Logan's car came trom behind in a shower of spray at 100 milesi the Nut. and colded with the rear off the MG. Two identical cars from which much! was expected were the 1100 c.C. Cooper-J.A.P.'s, driven by Nind and R. but neither fian Symonds (Christchurch), ished the race. Symonds's ear ran very! uneveniy for 30 laps before its gearbox; seized, and for several laps before retiring it was plodding along cylinder instead of two. Weighing only 6201b and powered by a motor developing 90 horse-power, both cars got their drivers into trouble on S-bend byi dancing about when too much power was! applied to the rear wheels with the car. anything but a straight line. The winner of the 100 miles race at! Mairehau, R. Blackburn, again drove his little green Austin 7, but with no suchour for 37 laps, and then the radiator hose burst. Blackburn quite the fastest driver on the usually bend. He eased the car into the bend in| exactly the same slight controlled slide on every lap, and gave the impression that he could beat any car in New Zealand on a course with short straights and plenty of corners. One of the fastest cars in the timed laps before the race started was D. Wild's well-known blue Fiat special. Wild gave a consistent performance with the reliable little car for 36 laps, and then was struck in the eye by a stone as he was changing from third to top gear at 70 miles hour. The shock of the blow apparently second was engaged by mistake. a broken connecting-rod came through the side of the crankcase. Progress of Race The front positions on the starting grid were taken by the three fastest cars 1n: the timed laps. These were Smith's-Ford, F. Shuter's Ford V8 special, and R. Roycroft's XK120 Jaguar, and they completed the first eight laps in that order. Moore was well to the Iear of the field for thel first lap, but in the second he was in fourth place, and starting to ciose the gap between his car and the three leaders. On! the sixth lap Logan and Tubman col-i lided. and retired and in the seventh the last from the race sulman, Australian. found his motor missing and retired with a cracked cylinder head By the ninth lap, Smith had drawn well away from Shuter and Roycroft, and Moore had caught up with them. Ine next time round Moore was ahead of Shuter and Roycroft. and obviously setting out in pursuit of Smith. By the thirteenth lap Moore was just behind Smith.. and the two had lappsed the tail of the. field twice. Smith increased speed considerably. Le the start The Are cars in the front teres enemitalian de and detailed to i hast i footato tanned and a show, TOP • Roycroft, who finished second, and_G. Smith, who led for most of the way. TOP RIGHT: The winner, I. Moore (No. 19) about to take the lead from Smith. BOTTOM LEFT: Seven cars can be seen in this picture taken on the beacon ben dut the boto of the back tray. e fre three go the fier as dete Mean, too an enter respectived torton pande. Moore kept just behind Smith until the eighteenth lap, when he made his first bid to overtake. Driving far more powerful car, Moore might have been successful, but he covered a lot of extra ground by weaving all over the track in the attempt to accelerate sufficientiy, and apparently decided that the safest way to, win was to keep pushing Smith as hard as possible and hope for the Ford's motor! to break before the Alfa-Romeo's. About the thirty-first lap Moore tried once again to outrun Smith, but was again unsuccessful. Smith's car began to feel the effects of the hard drive on the thirtysixth lap, however, and was missing badly enougt to allow Moore to go past. Smith pulled into his pit on the thirty-seventh lap. He found that the cylinder head was cracked. Moore then eased up, and won In his own time. About 50 members of the Papanui Returned Services' Association acted as collectors and officials at the race, and marshalled the hundreds of cars on the aeroarome. Major placings were as fololws:.. L. Moore (Christchurch), P3 Alfa-Romeo, Itt 27min 41sec R. Roycoft (Auckland), XK120 Jaguar, Ihr 3lmin llsec F. Shuter (Christchurch), Ford V8 Special, 1hr 32min i5sec 3: J. Momillan, (Wellington). Jeep special, 1hr 40min 47sec 4 D. Drewerr (Christchurch), Singer : Special, Ihr 43min 16sec 5 P. Hore (Christchurch). Vauxhall Special, Jhr 46min 26.6sec 6 Brewer {Christchurct.). Wolseley Special, 1hr 47min 12.4sec The following were the results of the fastest lap competition conducted before the start of the race:- G. C. Smith (Auckland). Ford 78 Special. 1mın 51.6sec- Boycroft. 1min 54 4sec; Shuter, Imin 55sec: Moore. Imin i 56.4sec; J. P. Nind (Sydney). Cooper-t J.A.P., Imin 56.6sec: C. A. C. Ransley (Christchurch). Alfa-Romeo. Imir. 58.isec: T. Sulman (Syaneyl. 4C Maserati. Imin 59; sec: D. Wild (Christchurch). Fiat Special.: 1min 59.6sec. (All other drivers times! were slower than tivo minutes for the 2.1 miles lap from a firing start.