24-1-59 Motor Racing Sir.—On what authority does Mr Greenslade base his assertion that the Maserati drivers. Schell, Shelby. and Bonnier are not as good as New Zealand drivers? Surely it cannot be his own. But if it is, then I deplore his lack of knowledge. But reading between tae lines I can see his dislike for tre Maserati trio, and this unfortunately has been allowed to show in his report in last Saturday's Sports. Mr Greenslade praises Flockhart for bringing the B.R.1f. into third place before it retired, vet he fails to see any merit in Schell's fourth. Mr Greenslade's statement that "no one will miss anything at Wigram. because the Maserati drivers . . . will not be there" smacks somehow of vin award dictiveness, and his "wooden spoon to the Buell and the "hend aks somehow Maseratis would certainly not gain him an award for sportsmanship.—BAD TASTE. -- "The correspondent apparently has not read the article as carefully as his letter would suggest," replies Mr Peter Greenslade. "No assertion was made that Scheil. Selby, and Bonnier are not as good as New Zealand drivers. In deed it would be ridiculous to make such an assertion. It would also be ridiculous to deny thatnow it has been proved that these overseas men (and this reference was not made specifically to the trio in question) have to take their chance against formidable local opposition' It is undeniable that the cars the three would have driven at Wigram would not have been good enough. I have nothing but admiratión for the three drivers and particularly Schell. But Schell drove up into fourth when the leaders had so much in hand that they could aford to slow down and nurse their cars; whereas Flockhart made his bid when the pace was on. -Finally, the Buell connections would probably be the first to admit that they qualified for the 'award.' There was virtually no pre-race preparation of the cars in Auckland and the brakes were inadequate for the circuit. From the information available regarding the circuit there was absolutely no reason why the cars could not have been fitted with brakes of greater area before the cars left Italy."—Ed.. "Star." 24-1-59 CHRI 50-M STCHURCH DRIVER ILE SPORTS CAR BEFORE what promised to be a won the premier event of t Wigram Trophy meeting to-day. Frank Cantwell, driving his i high-class field of sixteen starters in 38min 15.4sec. record crowd a Ch he morning's raci 3.8 Tojeiro Jaguar, to win the 50-mile Cantwell drove copy-book race and was followed home by the diminutive Aucklander, Ken Harris, in a monza ferrari. Harris, for most of the journey, kept within 5sec of Cantwell, but he just could not produce the extra littie bit of speed to head the flying green car. In third place was the Whangarei driver. G. Lawton, in a Cooper-Climax. Finished Fourth A. N. Hyslop, of Hastings, fnished fourth in his D-type Jaguar, and l7-year-old Jim Palmer, of Hamilton, was next in a Lotus. Although the pace was a cracker there were no retirements. However, the major placegetters outclassed the remainder of the field. In point of fact, they had sorted themselves out into what proved to be the final positions within the first few laps. Early Lead From the Le Mans-type start Cantwell was easily first away, and it soon became obvious that. unless he made a mistake, it was unlikely that he would beaten. The crowd. which must have approached 20,000 by midday, gave him a tremendous reception. It had been a long morning for them. They began pouring in the gates long before nine o'clock. The first race started more than an hour behind schedule, so everybody had to be contenti with watching the practising. The heat was terrific, and it looked as though it would be a scorcher. However, by noon there was a pleasant, cool breeze, and everyone felt much happier and much more comfortable. The sun had its effect on some of the tighter corners of the circuit. The tar began to melt and drivers had to treat some bends, particularly the chicane, with great respect. , By elminating one of the motor-cycle races, the Motorracing Club, sponsor of the 150miles Lady Wigram Trophy classic, was able to bring the Trophy race field on to the starting grid at the scheduled time, 1.45 p.m. On the Grid The first row of the grid saw Ron Flockhart, of Scotland, with the B.R.M., in the pole positon. Outside of him was the Australian, Jack Brabham (Cooper- Climax), and then came the Aucklanders. Bruce McLaren (Cooper-Climax) and Ross Jensen (Maserati). From the practice times it was obvious that new records would be set in the trophy race. Provisional results: Open Car Handicap, of 25.392 miles-A. Hys op (Hastings), D-type jaguar, 8min 25sec. Zephyr Rutherford (Christchurch), Special, 7min, 2; B. Brown (Christchurch), H. Lawrence (Wanganui). Mistral. 7min 10sec. 4; D. He . Ruther- ¡ford (Cuiverden), Lycoming Special, 7min 35sec, 5. Winner's race time -19min 29.4sec. 350 c.c. Motor-cycle Race—M. Mc- Cutcheon (Dunedin), A.J.S.. 1: Metem Chrichured christchurch A.J.S., 2; J. Thompson Vorton, 3; I. R. McCleary (Ghristchurch), A.J.S., 4. Winner's time 13min 20 2-5sec. 350 c.c. Motor-cycle (pool petrol) Race-V. K. Brown, Christchurch (B.S.A) * Motorcycle Race - K. 250 c.c. McCleary. Christchurch (Jawa), 2. G Willams. Christchurch (Velo). Christchurch (Triumph), I estell, D. Winner's cime= Christchurch (B.S.A.) 4. 15min 48sec. Sports Car Race, of 50.784 miles.- F. D.. Cantwell (Christchurch); Tojeiro Jaguar, 1; K. D. Harris (Auckland), Monza Ferrari, 2: G. : 3; A. Lawton (Whangarei), Cooper-Ciimax.: N. Hyslop (Hastings), Jaguar XK 120D. 4; J. Palmer. (Hamilton), Lotus, Winner's time-38min 15.4sec. WINS RACE hristehurch drive ing at the Lad! flew awar from a Sports Car Race 24-1-59 WRRRRRRRARARA WIGRAM САя Том RACES MHYNE N LADY WIGRAM HOW THEY FIE TROPHY "OH. DAD! COULD I PLEASE HAVE A LOAN OF THE CAR TONIGHT?"*