22-1-59 THESE CARS MADE • WIGRAM : The day of the home-built special in New Zealand's international motor races is now virtually past. But when racing started in Christchurch in 1949, the fields for such events as the classic Lady Wigram Trophy were made up largely of home built cars. PERHAPS the two: men who made the greatest impact in this field were Hee Green, who won the trophy race with his Wolseley Special at 69.79 miles an 13 Hec Green, at the wheel of hour in 1950, and Jack one of his racers (above) was one of the enthusiasts whose Brewer, who is now sec- home-made cars gave such boost to motor racing in retary of the Motor Rac- Christchurch in past years. • Home-made racers are now ¡ing Club. history, but they played a big the sport These two enthusiasts were The R.A. (top) was responsible for the design and construction of a number of suc- Green's mosi successiul, cessful cars which had names and to a large extent it forewith the letters "RA. shadowed the world - beating preixed 157 Cooper Climax. earlier Some of them are sti racing. •Green car, his Wolseley Spe cial, is on the leit Prettiest Perhaps thé prettiest special ever bullt in this country, If noti in other countries where motor racing enjoys popwarity. was! Green's last car, the ra. It had a number of novel featutes, but perhaps one of the most remarkable things about it was that, to a large extent, ¡foreshadowed the famous Coop- ¡er-Climax racers which are world-beaters to day. motorists hare Dories paie been supported in their campaign against bad roads by a newspaper follow-up Photographers have provided daily evidence to-day's worst"-anything up to 3ft: 474-034 Pat Hoare, a well known driver, will seek the trophy in his 3-litre Ferrari (above). He, should be among the major place-winners. NOT FOR THRILLS ALONE, BUT BUSINESS, RESEARCH LTHOUGH the men and women who race motor- These drivers command very big salaries. Figures are not cars do so for pleasure, there is much more to often disclosed, but it is fairly common knowiedge that Fanit than that. annual earings were To-day motor racing is big business—for the manu- gio's about £50,000 for a long time. turers of victorious cars as well as for the general This money is spent for a industries of the countries from which the winning purpose. The ends are just the same as those of Germany in cars come. the 'thirties' Peopie who think racing is a;sor "works" teams in interna- Dividends death-or-glory sport should rid tional rallies and reliability increased exports not only themselves of the idea. Al-trials. Others engage whole. motor vehicles, but of all sorts though to-day younger drivers heartedly in sports car racing. of commodities. dominate international In the Grand Prix field-the racing means scene, for years the greatest acme of competition-the most British than that. It means better drivers were not young men. successful cars for the ordinary motor- Five times world champion, trom industrialists who ist to drive. Juan Manuel Fangio retired last not manufacture motor cars but A racing car is a highly. year. He is in his late forties. only accessories. These are the precision - built B.P.M. of the Owen Group, Van- and stressed, Undoubtedly most driv- vehicle designed to go as quickare people who the Vanwall of Mr Tony ly as possible, as safely as posdervell. cumb to the, twentieth cen- But in recent years the spe- Sible. tury fascination tor speed. cialist car manuracturers have Into it go the best materials Also the interest in things been coming into the Grand Prix the world's finest engineers and scientists can devise. It incormechanical has become almost field. The start was made by -porates the latest design obsession with people in the Cooper Car Company which Itures aimed at improving roadwalks of life, particularly has had some notable Grand steering, since the end of World War II.. Prix successes. And it was fol- I holding, lowed up by the Lotus firm of tyres, performance and reliabil- This European Not all the features of Grand see the debut of the Grand Prix Prix or sports-racing cars are suitable for use ordinary But there : much more Aston-Martin, which is the pro- vehicles. motor-racing than the interest of duct of the David Brown group. many things learnt on the race individuals. Germans For some years now Aston- circuits, and many new compon- Martins have been one of the thoroughly proved this before World War dominant powers in internation- ents have found their way into the 'in those days the Mercedes al sports car racing. mass-produced family cars. and Auto-Union racing teams, Obviously these people do Perhaps the most sponsored by the Nazi Govern- not sink money in motor portant development ment, won European race after racing just for the fan of it. the disc brake. It has alo all over Europe. Millions Developing successful ready made appear of pounds were spent by Ger- team of racing cars rins many high-permany to develop world-beating into hundreds of thousands formance British cars and and securing of pounds if undertaken on the time is not far off when necessary it will be ased on medium Rewards came in in- achieve regular success. and low-priced cars. creased national prestige, Throughout the European disc brake enormous boosting of summer, major races are troduced for aircraft about 1945. German sales, almost every weekend. have tol Teams applied and in the accumulation of of three or four cars by Jaguar, who used them ou technical knowledge be moved from one circuit to the C-iype sports models which which proved of immense another. won the Le Mans twenty-fourvalue to Germany in the ini- accompanied by large squads of hour race some years ago, and a highly mechanics other experts. subsequently mechanised war. The cost of maintaining a team types which went on to a suc Since 1945 Germany has made is great. cession of victories in only one brief comeback in in- years in the same event, as well ternational racing. But a succes- as otners. sion of victories resulted in en- This brake eliminates • brake ormous German inroads in the Then there are drivers. fade that almost always follows worid motor market. The Grand Prix drivers consti- frequent and extreme use of nor- Profting German les- tute the elite of motor racing.|mal brakes. other eountries have en- are infrequently more It can be said that racing has international motoring than a dozen in the world cap-made a major contribution (competition. Today few Britishlable of extracting the best out road safety in providing a new manufacturers spon- of the worids best cars. itype of brake.