25-1-60 25-1-60 MECHANICS and Formula I Cooper tice on Friday-at Trophy race on I.vcomin : spectators stop to look at Bruce Mclaren's Climax-which broke a piston during practhe pits before the start of the Lads Wigram Saturday. Mclaren, driting a borromed g Special, came fourth in the erent. 30,000 SEE BRABHAM'S WIGRAM WIN A crowd of almost 30,000 saW the world champion driver Jack Brabham win the sixth Lady Wigram Trophy race on the 2.116 mile faerodrome circuit in the easiest of fashions with works-entered Cooper-Cilmax on Saturday. The Englishmen. David Piper (Lotus) and Ian Burgess (Cooper- Climax) filled the second and third places, and Bruce cLaren. New Zealand's top racing driver, and team-mate of Brabham came home good fourth in Malcolm GIll's ; Lycoming Special. Brabham set a new race record of 100min 42sec-about 95 miles an hour, and new lap record of imin 20.8sec—almost 95 miles an hour. Brabham set the new record for the circuit on his fiftieth lap when he trimmed the old record set last year Ron Flockhart by 1.4sec. Christchurch's Pat Hoare (Ferrari took over fifth place when Denis Hulme's Cooper-Climax dropped out. Sixth place went to 18-year-old He took the Archie ¡Jim Palmer• Siemoria! Scott-Brown Trophy for being the first sports car driver to finish. Of sixteen starters, twelve inished. Brilliant driving of his Humber 80 gave the Rangiora driver, Harold Heasley, a well-deserved win in the saloon car race. In second place was C. J. Knight with an exceptionally fast Standard 10 and third was the Christchurch driver, Frank Cantwell, in a Triumph Herald coupe. Lady Wigram Trophy-J. Brab ham (UK), Cooper Climax, 100min 42sec, 1; D. Piper (U.K.), Lotus, 100min 53.4sec, 2; I. Burgess (U.E.), ¡ Cooper Climax. 102min 43sec. 3; B. McLaren (T.K.), Lycoming Special, 104min S0.4sec, 4; P. Hoare (Christchurch), Ferrari, 70 laps completed, 104min 58.9sec, 5: J. Palmer (Ham ilton), Lotus, 68 laps, 105min 59sec, Gilbert (Hamilton), Cooper Bristol, 105min 27sec, T; S. Jensen (Palmeston North, Cooper Climax, 66 laps, 104min 53.9sec. 8. Saloon Car Race, about 21 miles- R. Heasley (Rangiora), Humber 80, 20min 30sec, 1; C. Knight (Kaitaia), Standard 10, 20min 35sec. 2: F. Cant- *ell (Chch), Triumph Herald, 20min 50.3sec. E. Sprague (Timaru), ¡Ford Zephyr 4. 26-1-60 Sporting Notebook Wigram Trophy Organi sation Improve ment HE Motor Racing Club made up for last year's debacle when it ran the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting on Saturday right up to time. Organisation could not have been better. It is only a pity that there was not more interest in the trophy race for the near-record crowd. Brabham's 2-litre Cooper-Climax was just too good for the rest of the field and that's all there was to it. If the Australian-born world champion had been pressed of a new lap-record approaching miles an hour would probably have been set. As it was, he put in his fastlap in the training session in 1min 19.4sec—1.4sec better than his record lap in the race. If his team-mate Bruce McLaren had been in the race with the sister car to Brabham's, the crowd could well have had some real thrills. The Cooper works men would undoubtedly have pushed the speed up considerably on that of Saturday. David Piper was justifiably pleased that his Lotus lasted out the distance. These attractive Grand Prix cars have had a poor record as far as reliability is concerned. But it looks as though Piper's car will stand up to some solid racin jotus did All ine same, not look a match for the works Cooper, and it may have been Burgess's 2.2-litre Cooper would have been just as fast if it had not been affected with gearbox trouble. Unlucky Piper and Burgess should go well in the remaining races the international series at Dunedin next Saturday, and Teretonga Park, Invercargill, the following Saturday. If their cars hold together in both these events the" two Englishmen will race at Waimate on February 13. Sid Jensen could be counted among the unlucky ones at Wigram. His 1500 c.c. Cooper suffered from overheating_and he made two pit stops. The first time he took on water, and the second time the sparking plugs! were changed and that overcame the trouble. But the stops put him out of the race really. With Denis Hulme's 1960 c.c. motor in the car for the re. mainder of the series Jensen is going to be a man to watch So Tired Young Jim Palmer had to fight his 1960 c.c. sports Lotus; all the way in the trophy race as a bump right at the start knocked a front wheel out of alignment. Palmer was so tired after the race that he went: straight off to bed and left it to his father, the former racing driver, George Palmer, to collect for him the Archie Scott- Brown Memorial Trophy which goes to the first sports car! driver to finish in the trophy: race. Palmer looks as though he will go a long tray in motor sport and next season he mill probably have a single-seater which mould be a much better proposi. tion than a sports car for him, Bruce McLaren was extremely ¡gratetul to Malcolm Gill tor the drive in tae Lycoming special and much impressed with the 'capabilities of the car.