26-1-59 R. FLOCKHART WINS WIGRAM TROPHY Fast Time And Finish Thrilling For the fifth time in five races, a British driver won the Lady Wigram international trophy race over 150 miles on Saturday. Ron Flockhart, of Scotland, after a thrilling tussle with the Australian, Jack Brabham, gave the British B.R.M. its first success in an international race outside Europe and provided the crowd with the closest finish yet seen on the circuit. The finish was the most exciting yet seen at Wigram and the race was the fastest. Flockhart covered the 71 laps in 1hr 41min .04sec-an astonishing six minutes faster than the record time eštablished by the late Archie Scott-Brown last year. : The crowd was not a relatively large one, and was estimated by the promoting club at 17,000. Although Flockhart had set. up! & track record of Imin 21.6sec in practice, the fastest lap in the race was imin 22.2sec—also established by Flockhart. While high hopes had been held for a New Zealander being close to the Ironi during ine race, these were completely dashed in ine first few laps when Flockhart and Brabham drove to the limit and very early established themselves in an almost unassailable position. Lap after lap, the two British Formula I racers driven by these two world-ranked drivers jockeyed for the lead, and Flockhart admitted after the race thai he considered himself somewhat lucky to win. It was the B.R.M.s first international win outside! Europe, and according to the! B.R.M. mechanies, the first in the new car since Jean Behra, l of France, won the Grand Prix of Caen. The New Zealand drivers need not seek excuses for their showing. Flockhart and Brabham had the skill to match them. the fastest cars in the race, and Bruce: McLaren drove his Cooper in brilliant style to take third place a long way back. but another big gap separated him from the rest of the finishers. One important aspect which! could have played a large part: in the result of the race was the number of comparatively slow cars competing. Flockhart and Erabham were sometimes baulked by these competitors, and Brabham commented after the race on the dangers of fast cars being forced into trouble while avoiding a siow car in front. Overseas, he said, such cars would be fagged off. Start of Race Ai the drop of the flag, Flock-i hart used the brilliant acceleration of the B.R.M. to goog advan- • tage,. ana on the opening lap be! Jed the field. MeLaren made an excellent start also, and was hard! on the heels of Flockhart for the first part of the lap. Brabham | was lying third and overhauling McLaren quickiy. Syd Jensen (Cooper-Climax), Ross Jensen (Maserati) and I. E. Clark (Ferrari) led the rest of the field, closely bunched. - Alter the first three laps, Flockhart must have felt he knew the circuit sufficiently, for be began to reduce his lap times. Looking hard into his rear-vision mirrors on the back straight, bowever, his face was grimly set as he noticed! nis lasier laps were making no: impression upon Brabham. Sitting low in his car, perfectly relaxed, Brabham was playing the waiting game, keenly seeking an! opportunity to slip through intoi the lead. Behind these two, McLaren was' holding third position, and a short distance baca was Ross Jensen, witd ine di Salvador Miaserafi firing perfectly and lapping very fast. Syd Jensen had gone back to fifth, Clark was moving his Ferrari up slowly, and F D. Cantwell (Tojeiro-Jaguar) beaded Mervyn. Nell (Cooper-Climax). d.l Mansell (Maserati), B Gibbons (Lycoming), F Shuter (laserati). and P. M. Hoare Ferrari). Bruce McLaren, at the head of the New Zealand drivers, was motoring as fast as was safe in his Cooper-Climax, but the gap between him and the leaders steadtly widened. On the seventh lap, a ripple of excitement ran through the crowd as Brabham managed to edge past the B.RMI into the lead. The two cars were as though tied together by rope, and they roared • around the circuit only yards apart. Brabham's Cooper was faster through i the corners than the Flockhart was coaxing enough extra speed out of his engine on the back straight to keep with tae speeding : Australian Jensen Retires One of the big disappointments of the race occurred when foss: Jensen was forced to retire with transmission trouble. Until then, Jensen appeared to have a genuine chance of moving up • to a higher placing for his driving of the sleek, long-nosed Maserati was excellent. His withdrawal allowed Syd Jensen to move up to fourth Back in the field, a black Maserati was making its presence felt in no uncertain manner. DicK Campbell, a well-known local racing driver, was overhauling several more-renowned with ease. Although the Maserati did not sound particularly good Campbel showed what a enthusiasm and driving skill can do. Later in the race, be was a little unfortunate to damage the nose of the car when he slid out of control. for fuel and water, be was bact once more into the fray. It was a disappointing end to a êne drive. when he lost oil pressure and was forced to retire towards the end of the race 'Brabham's Overslides At the head of the field, Brabham and Flockhart were still and in an effort to open, up a having a great tussle lead, Brabham was taking the S-bend a little too last, and was losing valuable seconds with overslides Flockhart was treating the S-bend with the respect it deserved, and was able to keep the B.R.M. on a beautifu line each lap. After more jockeying for the lead. with! re-passing going on frequently at: different parts of the circuit, Flockhart once more went into the lead and had opened up a three second advantage by the twenty-fith lap. Behind them, the position was unchanged, but was becoming confusing •because the two leaders had lapped every car in the race except Bruce McLaren by the twenty-eighth lap. Behind McLaren, miles behind the interesting contest at the head of the field, came Syd Jensen, Tom Clark, Frank Cantwell. Cantwell was the next to retire, and in a rather alarming manner. Roaring down the back straight at a very high speed, he was forced to use the escape road when the brakes failed to grip properly. The next lap exactly the thing happened, and Cantwell pulled out of the race. It was later found one of the disc brake pads was damaged On the thirty-ninth lap, Brabham was again in the lead, but on the forty-fifth Flockhart had taken over once again. Flock- : hart was lapping at this stage at about 1min 23sec, watching in his rear-vision mirrors time . Brabham sought an opening. The two leading cars held theu positions, but even with to laps the pressure was still on ¡and either the opportunity of winning. Flockhart had the narrowest of leads, but when the mechanics began putting "plus" signs for "go faster" on the last Flockhart needed no second da bidding Brabham roared past close behind him, but signalled to his mechanics with his hands as much as to say can't now ,80 any faster, I'm fat-out Around the control tower bend in a beautiful drift, through the chicane with a flick of the steering wheel, Flockhart had all the stops out. Around the high-speed bend maintained the pressure, and with to the back straight a final flourish through bend raced for the chequered flag and a fine win. Brabham finished only 2.7 sec later-the closest finish yet seen at Wigram Other Races In the sports car race earlier in the day, Cantwell gave a fine display of improved driving to beat Harris (Monza Ferrari). Cantwell led from start to finish, although G. Lawton (Cooper-Climax) offered plenty of opposition over the first few laps. One of the finest races was that driven by Jim Palmer, aged! 17, of Hamilton. His driving of the 1097 c.c. Lotus earned him a place far ahead of many of the more powerful machines. A. N. Hyslop, of Hastings, could make no impression leaders with the D-type Jaguar, a car which is not suited to Wig ram. He took fourth place. There was no car in the race for saloons to match the sheet speed and acceleration of the 3.4-litre Jaguar of R. J. N. Archibald. Reaching 120 miles an hour on the back straight. Archibald left the opposition miles behind Sprague, of Timaru, worked his Ford Zephyr to the bead of the rest of the field, and third bace was taken by I Black whose Mistral made grand showing. A handicap of 8min 25sec was [not enough to prevent Hyslop's D-type Jaguar from winning the open car race. From the back mark, the car swept through the Second place in 3s home-bute, Zephyr is worthy of the highest praise, since the car was beautifully prepared and was achieving a remarkable turn of speea. B J. Brown drove his Buckler steadily to take third place. Results were:- LADY WIGRAM IBOPEY RACE, 71 Laps (150 miles). Flockhart (Scotland), B.R.M., Ihr 41min 4sec .. •. J. Brabham (Australía). Cooper- Clímax, 1hr 41min 6.isec 2 B Micharen (Auckland). Cooper- Climax Ihr 42min 28.8sec (69 laps) .. 3 S. H. Jensen (Palmerston North), Cooper-Climax, Ihr 42min 353sec (68 laps), 4; Manseil (uakau), Maseratí. 66 laps, 5; B. Gibbons (Wel- (lington), Lycoming, 66 laps, 6; 4. Cooper-Chimax, 66 laps, (Hamilton), Cooper-Bristol, 64 laps, 8. sec Fastest lap, E Flockhart, Imin 222| Open Car Handicap (25.392 miles).- A Hyslop (Hastings) Ruther- D-type Jaguar, 8min 25sec, tord (Christchurch), Zephyr Special. imin, B. Brown (Christchurch). Buckler, 7min 10sec, 3; D. H. Law-i T.R.2 Mistral. imin 10sec, Rutherford ((Culverden), Lycoming Special, 7min 35sec, 5. Winner's tace time, 19min 29.4sec. 350 c.c. Motor-cycle Race.—M. Mc- Culcheon (Dunedin). A.J.S., McNeill (Christchurch), AJ.S., 2; J O V. Thompson (Christchurch), Norton, 3; McCleary (Christ-: church). A J.S- 4. Winner's time: 13min 20 2-5sec. 350 c.c. Motor-cycle (pool petrol) Race.-M K. Brown, Christchurch '(B.S.A.) 1. 250 c.c. Motor-cycle Race.-R. Mc- Cleary, Christehurch (Jawa). Christchurch (Trumph). D. Bishell, Christchurch (B.S.A.) 4. Winner's Lime: 15min 48sec. 500 c.c. Motor-cycle Race.-N. Mc- Cutcheon (Dunedin), Norton, I;• i D. McNeill ersonnen). Boston 3 Anderson (Nelson). B.S.A., Winner's time: 13min 45 l-5sec. Sports Car Race (50.784 miles).- D. Cantwell (Christchurch). Tojetro Jaguar, 1: K. D. Harris (Auckland), Monza Ferrari, • 2; G. Lawton (Whangarei). cooper-Cilmax, A. N. Hyslop (Hastings), Jaguar AK 120D, 4; J. Palmer (Hamilton), Lotus. Winner's time, 38min 15.4sec. Saloon Car Race (23 miles).-R. J. N Archibald sChrstehurch Sprague Jaguar 3.4, 22min 19.8sec. 1: F. E. 23min sec, Blackburn (Christchurch), Mistral, 23min sisec, 3.