SATU P. Whitehead Car Race in Ferrari ENGLISUNAN Peter Whitehead, driving his Italian Ferrari, won the Lady Wigram Trophy Rare from Anstralian-born Tony Gaze (H.W.N.) at Wigram this after Britain's C200,000 B.R. his crippled rar the Indeed-mile journes f It was a race of thi the overseas drivers. positions at the start, a noon, while N., Ken Whe last quarter • take third I rills and was i the pilot of arton, pushed' -inile of the place. dominated bos They jumped to leading nd held them to the finish. For Wharton it was a heart. braking rare. The B.R.M. badl led from the first to the forty. second of the forty-eight laps. Wharton had lapped the circuit al more than ninety miles an hour. But Whitehead and Gaze had The lived up to its reputation, lost all its power when the race seemed won, and the other two overseas drivers had everything their own way. Although hopelessly outclassed, the New Zealanders did not disgrace themselves. Wellington driver Jolin MeMilan brought his brilliant red 2.9 litre Alla Romeo home in fourth place; while the Levin speedster, Arnold Stafford finished fitth. Whitehead averaged about eighty miles an nour, to com- Were has selim in 320 sec, and then the B.R.M., in 76min 19.5 sec. Warning Siren A hush let over the crowd, estimated at between 10.000 and 15,000, that lined the 2.1-mile circuit in the brilliant summer sunshine. The five-minute warning siren sounded, and Wharlon took the B.R.M. round for a warm-up lap. Then the B.R.M. came up Into line and, by virtue of his fastest practice lap or 1min 23sec—an average speed of about 90 mlles an hour-he took the. pole posttion on the grid. The cars were lined up rows of four and three alter. nately, and among those near the back was New Zealand's star driver, Ron Roycroft (Alfa Romeo, who had not qualified for a good starting position. With two minutes to go, the Perrari was started, then. one by one, the other cars burst into life, but it was not until the last minute that the scream of the B.R.M, drowned all other sounds. Into Lead At the drop of the flag it was Whitehead who Jumped into the lead from Wharton, Gaze, and Shuter, but before the pack was round the first corner, Wharton was in front, and, first time round, the order was Wharton, Whitehead, Gaze, Shuter, Green, and Ross Jensen' in his red Austin-Healey. The B.R.M, completed the standing lap in lmin 32.68ecan average speed of about eighty-four miles an hour, Royerott came into the pits. He was out of the race with oil trouble. it was a sad start for the New Zealanders. Al the end of two laps, Whatton had opened up a gap 011 Whitehead and Gaze, his time for the flying lap being 1min 27.3sec. Behind the overseas flyers came Shuter, Green, Jensen, Archibald, Zambucka, Mc- Millan, Stafford, and Stanton. After three laps, the first three places had not changed. Shuter was fourth, a long way back from Gaze, and already the field was well strung out. The B.R.M., Which was travelling at miles an hour down the long, back straight, had lapped the last man, E. A. Kennard (piat special, and Zambucka was in the pils. Intervals of 4sec separated Wharton, Whitehead, and Gaze after five laps, and the trio had lapped the field. Of the New Zealanders, Green was going as well as any. fifth place, lapping • steadily at 1min 38scc, but it was obvious there was not a New Zea- Jander who could approach the three front men. Next time round, Shuter was out with a broken piston, and Zambucka, who had restarter. came in to the pits again to go out for good. Scream Its unearthly scream overshadowing everything else, the B.R.M. drew away from the field. Wharton taking a perfect line through every bend and obviously enjoying himsell. Whitehead seemed to have something in hand, but Gaze was contented to sit back and stave off the best of the New Zealanders. With twelve laps gone, the overseas drivers held the same positions, with Green, Archibala, McMillan, Stafford, and P. J. Ward, next mide. driving a little So they raced on until after Wharton, Whitehead, and Claze dictating their OWn rules. Then Gaze began bridging the gap to the Ferrari, until the .w.M. flashed and went away from Whitehead. Hold-up At that. stage, Archibald the pit straight, and straw bale which locked his front wheels. He drove on to his pit, pushing the bale before him. The wheel was changed.-and he was on his way again-but he had lost his fourth place. Wharton was still leading, Whitehead was second, with Gaze, then Green, Meillan, and Then Green came Set mentor tyres hen fuel, and Memillan moved up to fourth. With the race seemingly in hand, Wharton slackened speed, and In the forty-second lap, to the amazement of the' spectators, the B.R.M. came to the JRDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1954 Wins Lady W1g ram THE START of the 100 mile motor race for the lady Wigram Trophy at Wigram this afternoon is shown above, with the winning driver, l. N. Whitehead, leading the field away in his Ferrari. The photograph at right shows Whitehead during the race. pits, and Whitehead few by into first place, with Craze halt a minute behind. Power Gone Thirty-six seconds later the B.R.M. was off again, but obviously its power was gone and the race was as good as over. Whitehead won easing up after an incident-free, non-stop drive. He was followed in by Gaze. Then Green came by, flames belching from the rear of his car. He drove it to the infield, and jumped clear, while a fire tender drenched the blaze. And on the other side of the circuit there was excitement. A quarter of a mile from the finish, the B.R.M had stopped. Whar. ton hopped out, and slowly pushed to the line for a plucky third place, while the remainder of the fiekl, miles behind, flashed by. Provisional results: Lady Wigram Trophy Race (100 mlles.) T. Whitehead (Ferrarl, England), 69mln 51.3ser 1 I. A. O. Gaze (H.W.., Ingland), 70min 32.3чec 2 K. Wharton (B.R.M,, England), 76min 19.5sec 3 J. NeMiHan (Alfu Romeo, Wellagton), 70mln 59.4ser A. •Stafford (Cooper-Norton, Levin), 77mla 5 R... N. Archibald (XK120 Jaguar, Chrlstchurch), 78min 19.5ver .. 6 Saloon Car Maudleny (Pifteen mlles) 1. A. Archibald (Citroen, Christchurch), 1mln üsec, 15mln 47 ser 1l A. P'. Moflat (Riley, Ashburlon), 2min 10sec, 16min 13.5xec) ... 2 W. . Croble (A40, Invercargill), Обес, 16min 42.8ser 3 P. R. Womersley (Ford Zephyr, Oxford), 1mln 4ăser