23-1-60 All At Vantage Points Wigram Crowded THERE nas a bumper eron the opening of the annu festival this morning. Altho 150-mile Lad! Wigram Troph until this afternoon, all vantage hill at an early hour and by parks were almost full d at Wigram for ial motor racing bugh the classic iT was not held e points began to 10 a.m. the car Conditions could have been more pleasant and there was an easterly • wind that stirred up the dust. However, the first race on the programme, a fortytwo-mile scratch event for cars not entered or not qualified for ine trophy soon had the crowd on its toes. The gate-keepers and programme sellers reported better sales than last year. There was a little surprise about this because the sponsors of the meeting, the Motor Racing Club, felt that the absence Bruce Mc- Laren's Cooper from the trophy race night keep many people away. r The motor of his car blew up at a training : session last night after he had put in some exceptionally fast laps. The damage was beyond repair and it: looked as though the young man from Auckland would be! having no racing to-day. However, the 21year-old Auckland University student. Mal- (colm Gill, sportingly offered McLaren his Lycoming Special to drive in the feature event. In a training session lasti night. Gill took the Lycoming around in 1min • 32.2sec. Mc- Laren's best with his car before it blew up was lmin 21.4sec. Colourful Scene As McLaren and other drivers made last-minute preparations for the trophy race treated to the evergrowing crowd was some thrilling racing this mom- The first event was followed by a motor-cycle race, a forty. two mile sports car event, and then another motorcycle race: : before lunen. The scene at Wigram was very colourful and a novel feature was a helicopter fly. ing overhead with a replica of a well-known brand cigarette suspended below it. It was an unusual advertising gimmick. Last-minute preparations for the meeting were made by Motor Racing Club officials and helpers this morning. It was at noon yesterday that they moved on to the airfield to set up all the paraphernalia associated with the event, and this year things appeared to function much more smoothly. Last year long delays ana con-i tusion irritated the crowd, but to-day the first event . started; only lifteen minutes behind sche-r dule, and the first motor-cycle! event brought the programme up! to programme time. THRILLING DUEL IN SPORTS CAR FEATURE EVENI HE cash customers at Wigram got their money's worth and more with the most thrilling sports car race vet seen on the 2.116-mile aerodrome circuit this morning. There was 12 miles of irreen 18-year-old Jimmy P a 1960c.c. Lotus, and the 21sity student, Malcolm Gill, Special. Gill took the lead at the end of the first lap and held it to the end of the sixteenth, when ! Palmer scraped by him and came home the winner by the narrowest of margins. It was a brilliant effort on the part of the Hamilton young ster and he certainly showed himselt to be one of best drivers in the country. to-day. From a Le Mans style start, it was another Hamil tonian, Len Gilbert, who showed out first. in his Cooper Bristol. He was fol• lowed by Gill, Johnny Windleburn (Lotus), and Angus Hyslop (B-type Jaguar). But when they came round the first time Gill was in front of Gilbert, who was followed by Hyslop and Windleburn. Palmer was still in the bunched! field. Gill had opened up a 7sec lead on Gilbert after four laps. Then came Palmer who had already headed Windleburn and Hyslop. Big Gap Gilbert started to lose ground fairiy quickly, dropping back as Palmer speeded up, and by the time they reached the hal-way mark Gill held the lead by 6sec from • Palmer, who had opened up a big gap on Gilbert. Hyslop was close up. Then came Windleburn and Doug Lawrence (Cooper Climax), who was followed by the big Ferrari driven by W. Thomasen. But already these back-markers were well out of the race. Gill and Palmer simply romped away from Gilbert and Hysiop and they in turn opened up a big gap on the next bunch, which was headed by Windleburn. wheel-to-wheel racing be- -Imar-old Auckland inves with a 4733c.e. Lycoming Windleburn made a pit stop with a punctured tyre and was! left with no chance of even a minor place. It was in the twelfth lap that Hyslop took Gilbert. From then on there were no changes in the minor placings, but up in front there was nothing between Gill and Palmer. The Hamilton boy cut down the margin until, at the end of seventeen laps, he took the lead to head Gill, Hyslop, Gilbert and Thomasen. End-to-end Win rhe opening event on the proramme — for cars which had not qualified for the trophy race or had not entered - resulted in! an end-to-end win for Angus Hyslop, the Hastings driver (Dtype Jaguar). He was hotly pursued by the! young Timaru driver, David Young (C-type Jaguar), for the first nine laps, but then Young went out through lack of oil pressure and Johnny Windle. burn (1198 c.c. Lotus), who had been gathering in Young, took over second place. Young's struggle to head off Hyslop had been exciting enough, but _when Windleburn's little Lotus began to fight it out with the big Jaguar the crowd was really on its toes. Windleburn got down to within two seconds of the Jaguar but he just could not head off the larger car. Driving an_1100 c.c. Cooper Climax. Doug Lawrence (Wangai nui) came home in third place : after a very steady drive and i he perhaps made up more ground than any of the others. Next in line was A. Holroya, i with his home-built A50 Special. Confusing The first motor-cycle race must have been a bit confusing for the crowd as the motor-cycle club responsible for putting it on did not supply a programme to enable the spectators to identifyi RESULTS OF CAR RACES AT WIGRAM Results of races at the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting to-day were as follows: Results: Trophy Motor Racing Club Scratch Race (about t2 miles).—A. (Hastings), Jaguar, Is.Sser. Windleburn (Maungaturoto), Lotus. 20.4 sec, Lawrence (Wanganui), Cooper Climax. 35min 11.2sec, A. Holroyd (Invercargill). A50 Special. $; B. Blackburn (Christchurch). Citroen Special. Rutherford (Christchurch), R. A. Zephyr, 6. Class Winners-lp 1500 C.Car Windleburn; 1501 c.c.-3000 c.c., Blackburn: orer 3001 с.c., Hyslop. Motor-ycle Race (about 500 16.8 miles)-R. Newbrook (Norton), 13min 3Ssec, 1: B. Benke (Norton), (Nor 13min 39 sec, 2: J. Thompson 13min S. Burt (Nortom), (05), 4, D Bura (AIs) a Pool Petrol Section-V. Rush (B.S.A.). 14min 0.1sec. 1. Sports Car Race (about 42 miles)- 30min J. Palmer • (Hamilton): Lotus, 25. 6ec, 1: JI. Gill (Auckland), Lycoming Special, 30min 29.5sec, (Hastings). D type Jaguar, Hysop L. Gilbert (Hamil- 3imin 25.3sec. 40.4sec, ton), Cooper Bristol. 31min 4; W. Thomasen (Huntly), Ferrari, Class Winners-Lp , to 1500 c.c.. findleburn (Maungaturoto); Lotus;, 301-3000 c.c., Palmer; over 3001 c.c., - Gill. Brak ham (L.K.), Cooper Climax, Lady Wigram Trophy → 100min D. Piper (U.K.), . Lotus, 42sec. 100min 53.+sec, 2; I. Burgess (U.K.), Cooper Climax. 102min e3sec, 3; B. Special, McLaren (U.K.), Lycoming 104min 30.tsec. 4: P. Hoare (Christchurch). Ferrari. 70 laps completed, . Palmer (Hara- 104min 58.9sec. 5; J. ilton), Lotus, 68 laps. 105min 59sec.: Gilbert (Hamilton), Cooper Bristol, 105min 27sec, 7; S. Jensen (Palmeston North), Cooper Climax, 66 laps, 104min 53.9sec, 8. Saloon Car Race, about 21 miles. H. Heasley (Rangiora): Humber 80 20min 30sec, 1; C. Knight (Kaitaia), Standard 10, 20min 35sec, 2; F. Cantwell (che . Triumph Herald, 20min Sprague (Timaru), Ford Zephyr Ford Motor-cycle Races 350 C.C.-R. Newbrook (Norton) 1. J. Thomson (Vorton) 2, B. Benke (Norton) 3. M. Danielis (Norton) 4: Time-13min 35sec. 250 c.C.-K. McCleary (Velocette) (Velocette) 2, W. 1, T. McCleary Brown (Triumph) 3. Time-15min 2sec.