27 - 1-59 28-1-59 30-1-59 SPORTING NOTEBOOK N line with the result of the New Zealand Grand Pris, the Lady Wigram Trophy once again showed the superiority of British cars. Admittedly the Continental challenge in last Saturday's 150-mile classic was not so strong as it was at Ardmore, but all the same the B.R.M. and the Cooper-Climares conclusively took the first four places. After Ardmore. which was won at record speed, it was a safe bet that speeds would also soar at Wigram. In practice, Ron Flockhart took the B.R.M. round in 1min 21.6sec and he made 1min 22.2sec in the actual race. That was about 92.5 miles an hour. But, one of the most amazing things about the race was that Sid Jensen, with his 1500 c.c. Cooper-Climax, put in a lap in 1min 27.8sec. That was only 0.3sec outside the lap record of last year set by the late Archie Scott-Brown with a 3.8litre Lister-Jaguar. Without a shadow of a doubt, it was the most fantastic performance of the day. Moreover, this Palmerston North driver was consistently fast, so that lap -his second-was no flash in the pan. that has caused many of the accidents, particularly in sports car races, overseas. As far as Wigram is concerned, if it was lapped in 1min 20sec, the average speed would be 95.22 miles an hour, at 1min 30sec the speed would be 84.6 miles an hour, and in 1min 40sec 76.20 miles an hour. As the speeds increase-and they have done so since the race was first held-the margin between fastest and slowest cars should be decreased. This may seem hard on the enthusiast who wants to , "have a go just for the fun of it," but the general safety of all competitors must be the matter of prime concern. Best Ever If there is a potential Formula II world champion in Bruce Mebaren. the brilliant young Aucklander. there is almost certainly another in Sid Jensen. It looks as though the Motor Racing Club is going to have to revise its lap speed conversion table which, for some ¡ reason, it publishes in its race prospectus but not in its programme, much to the chagrin lof the cash customers. This ¡table gives the miles an hour for laps between Imin 20sec and 2min 15sec. Ron Flockhart. who was most impressed with the Wigram circuit, expressed the opinion after practice last Friday night that several of the top Grand Prix pilots would lap Wigram in less than 1min 20sec. Hans Tanner. , list, the Swiss motor-racing, journa- who follows racing the world over, and was at Wigram. agreed with Flockhart. Dangerous The stage has now been reached where an exceptionally dangerous state of affairs could exist at Wigram. There was far too great a variation in the speeds of the cars on Saturday. The practice times showed that the night before the race. Flockhart went round in 1min 21.6sec and the car mas timed at min me. Tsec. That was about 94 miles an hour against 60 miles an hour. It is the wide speed range After the race on Saturday. Flockhart mentioned that he had experienced some unintentional balking. He was not being critical and he was not blaming anyone. The slow cars in the race just could not get out of the way quickly enough. Few of the Wigram "regulars" could have gone home feeling other than that they had witnessed the best day's racing ever on the circuit. Bad Feature It was a grand day's racing. but there was plenty of room for honest criticism. Never before has the organisation of the meeting been quite so bad. The crowd sweltered in the sun for more than an hour after the advertised time for the start of the first race, and there seemed to be no apparent reason for the delay. Nor was any explanation given over the public address system. The programme was more ambitious than usual and contained fifty-six pages. but neither an index nor a lap speed conversion table. As usual, the entry lists were incomplete. That in itself would cause a riot at Addington Riccarton, but evidently the motor-racing crowd is more tolerant because it has been putting up with it for years. It is true that the Motor Racing Club is confronted with an enormous task each year in having to start from scratch and set up all the equipment needed for a motor-race meeting in a matter of a few hours. Things never work out perfectly and this could easily account for some of the delay there was on Saturday. But this is no excuse for the short-comings of the programme. R. Flockhart Describes Experiences At Le Mans Motor-racing enthusiasts in of the noise of the cars. In 1957 Christchurch had a feast of the I couldn't sleep through excitesport last erening when they ,ment, and by 6 p.m. on the Sunflled the Repertory Theatre to day I was almost out on my feet." listen to an address and see flms Speaking on the development brought to New Zealand by Ron of the B.R.M., Mr Flockhart said Flockhart, the B.R.M. driver who there seemed no possible chance won the Lady • Wigram Trophy of the company reinstituting the race on Saturday. Members old 14-litre V-16 engine. fire car clubs in Canterbury had •When Rolls-Royce engineers been invited to attend. studied the engine after the car Describing his experiences in was withdrawn from racing, we winning the Le Mans 24-hour were assured it could be race in two successive years, Mr vełoped to an amazing 750 horse- Flockhart said that in 1957, when power with a supercharger he shared the driving the! Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar with Ivor! sure of 75lb a square inch. Pres- Mr Flockhart. "However, I can- Bueb, he had not been optimistic not imagine the company taking about the car's chances. "But it the supercharger off to conform was one of those races in which with the new regulations to come the opposition cars went so fast into force at the end of next over the opening laps that they year." blew up." Films on the B.R.M.'s successes Driving for 24 hours at an in 1955 and 1957 were shown, as average speed of 113 miles an well as films of the. 1957 Le Mans hour was an extremely tiring race. task for the two drivers, said Mr Mr Flockhart was thanked by Flockhart. His Jaguar had been the president of the Canterbury reaching 175 miles an hour on Car Club (Mr N. W. Tillman) for the Mulsanne straight-'three his address. ' Mr Tillman said it miles an hour slower than Dun- had been a great experience to can Hamilton's Jaguar, but the have met and heard Mr Flockdifference „didn't seem • to matter hart, and expressed the hope that somehow, he said, amid he would be seen competing laughter. the Lady Wigram race again next "All Facilities" year. «There are all possible facilities at Le Mans for drivers, with showers and masseurs, but it is extremely difficult to sleep during your rest from driving because 29 - 1-59 Motor Racing Sir,—I can only agree wholeheartedly with "Never Again" in his condemnation of the Lady Wigram Trophy race. The organisation was confused and there were long, unexplained delays. The announcer knew less of what was going on during the races than the public themselves. The Motor Racing Club cannot reasonably expect crowds comparable with Ardmore when the public I'he belligerent atti- ' tude of officials, who harassed the public from cars with loudspeakers, was also deplorable.-BAD SHOW. Impressive Win For Wigram B.R.M. "THE Lady Wigram interna-(very dangerous by slow cars tional trophy race is over being allowed to continue. At one stage Flockhart brought the ! for another year, and once more B.R.M. screaming down the back , a race record and new lap record straight at about 145 miles an hour have been established. Last only to find a locally-entered car ¡Saturday's race was far from the blocking : his approach to the Srun-away victory which has been bend. His car had come up so quickly that the driver in the car seen at Wigram for the last few in front hardly knew what was years, although it was disappoint- happening. This however, is someing that the New Zealanders were thing which can cause serious not able to make a better showing. accidents, and the Motor Racing Some features of the organisation Club would do well to review of the race left much to be de- this practice of allowing very sired. slow cars to clutter the course However dull the contest among and force the drivers of the faster the New Zealanders further back cars to spend most of the race in the field . there can be no doubt weaving dangerously amongst that the tussle between Flockhart them. and Jack Brabham was in deadly Another unfortunate incident earnest. The B.R.M. is at the which occurred at Wigram and BR MI5 stage where it badly needs to could have resulted in several chalk up victories in international leading drivers not being allowed races, while Brabham. wno nas! to compete was the question of been unlucky in his last two racing cars carrying registration starts at Wigram, was just as plates during the race. The anxious to take his works Cooper drivers insisted "that painted across the line first. registration humbers were sufficient, but the Association of New Creditable Success Zealand Car Club stewards It was indeed a heartening sight argued otherwise. This resulted. 'in a delay in the race programme,: to see the B.R.M. running per- and had it not been for the matter fectly. That it was seriously chal- being solved by the Minister of lenged by the Cooper throughout Transport (Mr Mathison, the the whole race made its success public might have seen a very all the more creditable, since at! small number of cars competing the speeds Brabham and Flock- in the race. It is true that the hart were travelling, it would not organising club was in no way have been in the least surprising responsible for this incident. and it one or both cars had blown up. agreed with the drivers. It was Flockhart's first victory The public address system at since his crash at Rouen last year Wigram also had its shortcomings. —which was no fault of his own The spectators were not kept -and he will be among Britain's abreast with the progress of the top six grand prix drivers in this race, and apart from the first season. His four-wheel drifts and three placings no-one seemed to general driving did not indicate know who was lying in what that his crash has had any ill- position. Fifth and sixth placings effects. were not available to the press Both drivers said after the race until the day after the race. nor that they felt it had been madelwas the official fastest lap time.