6-11-59 24-11-59 Ame rican Racers To Compete At Wigram new Formula cars «LTHOUGH the club is still Owen organisation with a viewi: His negotiating with other over- to a B.RJM. being brought to adopting the Scarab name of the drivers to compete in the New Zealand, but the offer was Reventiow sports cars fitted with seas event, the Motor Racing Club in not accepted. It is possible that Chevrolet Corvette engines-will Christchurch has been success- Ian Burgess, who has a great deal be watched with great interest as. they battle at Ardmore, Wig-i ful in obtaining the entry of two of success in a Cooper-Maerati, cars owned by the American may favour the approach made ram, and the other circuits with Woolworth heir, Lance Reventiow, to him. already well-established racing the Lady Wigram Australian drivers have been machinery. The engines will be tional motor race at Wigram on approached by Mr I. E. Clark, of of a new design. an January 23. Reventlow's cars, Auckland. and his representa- The Scarab is named after with Chuck Daigh and Reventlow tions have been directed at the Egyptian black beetle which is a himself as drivers, will probably leading drivers across the Tas- symbol of immortality and good be the major attraction man. As a result, it would not be luck, and Reventlow is fervently race. surprising if Arnold Glass is seen hoping that his trip to New Zea- The club's secretary (Mr J. A. in action in a 250F Maserati and land will mark the beginning of Brewer) said yesterday that the Len Lukey in his 2.2-litre Cooper. a successtul career in grand prix racing. final line-up for the race would not be known for some time. "We Big Drawcard are negotiating to bring the best Even 11 the Motor Racing Clubi drivers and cars possible to Wigram, but apart from Revent- only received the entry of Reventlow's cars, the success of low's cars and two others, noth- the Wigram race would I be asing is yet defnite." sured. The New Zealand circult of races marks the international Lotus Entry debut for these cars, which have Besides the certain entry been built to put America the American cars, two Lotus cars from England were motor racing from also definite entries, said Mribeen absent for so long. Brewer. One, fitted with a 2.5- Aged 23, Rentlow was to have lite motor, will be driven by David Piper, and the other, with Iwas unable to reach New a Lz-litre motor, will be driven land in time. As a good friend New Zealander to be se-of the late Stuart Lewis-Evans, lected by the company. In re- he was particularly keen to race sponse to New Zealand requests, in New Zealand with him. the motor of the second car may Reventlow's interest in motor be changed in favour of a 2.5- racing is so great that thousands litre motor before being shipped of dollars are being poured into to this country. his Scarab cars project each In England, Reg Parnell, racing year. But as the her second Son manager of Aston Martin and a Barbara Hutton and good friend to New Zealand motor husband, Count Kurt von Haug-i racing, has been acting on behalf witz-Reventlow, Denmark, of the . New Zealand circuit of money is no object to him promoters for English drivers. It is known that he approached the 18-12- MOSS W WIN SHIRLING MOSS may ne Prix at Ardmore ear. that he would be driving a but the latest reporis fron entered by the Yeoman C -59 Motor Racing Veteran IVEN the Lady Wigram international trophy race and supporting events are held on January 23, one of the most colour- Iu personalities present will be Lou Kingsley, a 71-year-old Australian who claims to be the world's oldest racing driver. Kingsley will be driving a specially-prepared Holden Special saloon. The Holden which Kingsley drives is remarkable in several ways. The motor was developed by Repco Research, Ltd., of Melbourne, and apart from the gearbarts are standard are car her already done over 50,000 miles, some of which has been done tow- ing a caravan. The car is capable of over 100 miles an hour. Kingsley began motor racing when he was 66 in a Mark VII Jaguar, and later changed to a Mercedes-Benz 220 A. The latter car, when fitted with three S.U. carburettors, became the fastest of its type in Australia. When the Holden was tested in Australia in 1958, its performance figures were startling: 0-50 in 7.9 sec, 0-60 in 10.7sec, petrol consumption under hard driving, 20.2 miles a gallon. In 38 events in which it has been enterea the Holden has gained 29 placings—ten irsts, nine seconds, and 10 thirds. ILL HAVE TO WORK N.Z. GRAND PRIX lot have things all his own way in the New Zealand Grand ly in January after all. The general impression has been a Rob Walker Cooper-Climax in the classic 150-mile race, n Britain are that he will, in fact, be handling a Cooper Credit Racing Team. Now this Cooper will be a different kettle of fish entirely. Rob walker has an arrangement with the Coventry-Climax firm whereby he secures the latest and best motors for his cars. The Walker car that it was originally supposed Moss: would drive was at least 15 peri cent up on power output on the works Coopers. But Yeoman Credit is not in the fortunate position of Waiker, and it seems highly probable that Moss's car will slightly under-powered in comparison with the works Coopers to be driven _by Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren. This is all to the good. Moss looked like making hacks of the field with his greaer ability and more powerful car. Now he will really have to mork for his Moss will drive a Rob Walker Cooper-Borgward South Africa. Incidentally the young English champion has definitely signed up for the Rob Walker stable for the next European season. He will drive the Walker Special-details of which are still on the secret list-and Cooper-Climax i73 Formula I events, and possibly one of the new Porsche singleseaters in Formula II races. Now the club has been advised that Len Lukey with a 1960 Cooper-Climax, and led Gray with the Tornado Corvette would also like to race here if favourable terms can be settied. This means that there is a possibility of at least five Australians starting at Wigram—the biggest Australian field to date. On the overseas front various euipes making their plans for the 1960 European season. The brightest news is that Tony Vandervell will be back in Grand Prix racing once more with an entirely Not for Sul. There has been a lot of talk among. South Island enthusiasts about the possibility of Moss competing in the South Island in the Lady Wigram Trophy, but now it can be said that he definitely will not be here. In an effort to keep faith with its thousands of supporters, the Christchurch Motor Racing Club has made every effort to retain Moss for Wigram, but Ken Gregory, Moss's manager, informed the club yesterday that other commitments made it impossible for Moss to appear at Wigram. But the Wigram race is attracting widespread interest among the overseas men. For instance, at the outset it was understood that only three Australian drivers were prepared to race in the South Island. new type of machine. No driv ers have been named so far but the reports indicate that •Mr Vandervell is : not worried i about that. In Cooper leam Jack Brabham and Bruce Mc- Laren will be with. the works Cooper team again next season. Graham Hill will move into the' B.R.M. team for Formula I events and will probably race Porsches in sports car races. And talking about sports cars-Austin-Healey milli most likely be back on the scene next season with a semi-official works entry in the Grand Touring category at Le Mans. The intrusion of the new Formula Junior into British motor racing is becoming more marked. John Cooper, chief of the Cooper Car Company, has announced that his Cooper-Austin has been completed in prototype form and has lapped Brands Hatch in less than . 61sec, which is a very good time indeed. Speed Attempt Mickey Thompson, the young American driver who made an attempt at Bonneville salt fiais, Utah, on the worid land speed record earlier this year, proposed to try again in September, : 1960. He will use a completely revised version of the car fitted with four Pontiac engines with which he annexed a number of • class records recently. Donald Campbell will also be there with his gas turbine car to attempt the record also. Finally New Zealand's Bruce McLaren is the subject of an article by Christopher Nexon in one of the recent issues of "Autosport." Nixon describes him as a "likeable young man who is undeniably yet another contender for the World Championship."