26-11-60 26-11-60 10-12-60 WORKS REAL T IN N.Z. By Peter ThE overhelmies suc ing the past season must in about the fortheoming class Zealand Grand Prix at Ard Trophy at Christchureh. The Coopers started in eight of the nine world title races and No. 1 driver Jack Brabham won five, finished fourth in the last of the series and retired in two. No. 2 driver Bruce VcLaren won one, finished second in two. third in two and fourth in one. He retired in one. Notable The notable thing about the works Coopers has been their reliability. Brabham's only retirement on account of mechanical failure was in the Argentine Grand Prix. He was leading the Monaco Grand Prix when he had a spinup and was unable to re-start the car without outside help which is. of course, barred in world titie races. McLaren's retirement in the Dutch Grand Prix was the resalt of the failure of drive shaft. Mechanical bothers frequently put paid to the chances of the rear-engined Lotus-Climaxes that made their appearance at COOPERS 'HREAT RACES Greenslade cess of the works Formula I orld championship races durlevitably stimulate conjecture sies in this country the New Imore and the Lady Wigram the beginning of the European racing Season. There is no doubt that they are exceptionally fast cars, but their only • victories were notched up by Stirling Moss iriving Rob Walker's privately-owned car. Out of Three Moss won the Grand Prix of Monaco and the Grand Prix of the United States, finished fourth in the Dutch Grand Prix after stopping to change a punctured tyre and set a new lap record of 100 miles an hour on that circuit. It is true that the injuries sustained by lioss in his crash before the Belgian Grand Prix kept him out of three title races. There are really no grounds for arguing that he would have won those races if he had been fit. In fact, it would appear that the odds would have been stacked against him simply be cause the werks Lotuses were not reliable during the season and even Moss's car failed the Portugese Grand Prix, which was his first start in a title race after he recovered. Unreliable The B.R.M. still lacks reliability. It is interesting to note that these cars actually had twentythree starts during the title series, there being three cars entered in some events. But in all those starts the cars had only four finishes. Joe Bonnier was seventh in the Argentine race and fifth at fionaco. Team leader Grabam Hill notched up a third in the Dutch race and Dan Gurney finished tenth, and well out of the running, in the British race. May Last Judging on their performances during the European season, it would appear that the works Cooper drivers are going to be the hardest men to beat in the New Zealand Classic races. At the same time these New Zealand races, each 150 miles long, are considerably shorter than the worid title races and the B.R.M. and Lotos team cars may just last the distance. It is significant that botn marques were often running potential race-winning positions up to 150 miles in the title races. Surprise? The brilliant Moss, as always, will constitute the biggest threat to Brabham and Mclaren, but drivers of the calibre of Graham Hill and Jim Clark cannot be discounted. There is no doubt that McLaren's role in the morla title races was a secondary one to that of Brabham. It will be interesting to see whether the Cooper Car Company will give him his head in the New Zeaiand races. McLaren 1S given the chance he could easily turn out to be the surprise of the season. STAR LINE-UP SHOULD MEAN FAST WIGRAM TROPHY RACE By Peter Greenslade A THOU the promoters of New Zealand's ma races do not openly diseuss money it is pretty o the Motor Racing Club, sponsor of the 150-mile Lady playing with some big money to provide the star line on the 2.1-mile Wigram circuit. The whose only aim and object is to encourage tom flight motor racing by staging stone unturned festival of speed, ceeded in outbidding the Australian promoters at Warwick Farm, near Sydney, to obtain seven of the world's best rac ing motorists for Wigram. This year the reigning World Champion Jack Brabham dictated his own termis to win his first tro phy race at a record average speed 89.46 miles an hour. He was never really pushed In his works-entered 2} - litre Cooper-Climax. Brabham. supported by teammate Bruce McLaren, will CITY DRIVER KEEPS TO SPORTS CARS Those who have made a ciose study of the technique of motor racing in this country have often expressed disappointment that the popular Christchurch driver, R. J. N. Archibald. has never been tempted into a single-seat racine nare car. Experts who watched Far Archibald in action in a sporis Jaguar and a succession of Jaguar saloons have often expressed the view that he coula, if he had wished, have reached well towards the : top of the tree in big-time racing. But Archibald has been content to stick to minor events for the most part. although he has Put up fine performances against much more powerful cars with the sports Jaguar. After a successful 1959 season with a Jaguar saloon Archibald did not race last season. His admirers will be pleased to hear that he has entered a Citroen ID 19 for the saloon car event at the Lady Wigram trophy meeting next January. back again to try for a trophy race "double," but the Motor Racing Club has set him a tough task. The point is that, with one exception, all the drivers from overseas contracted to race at Wigram are on this year's world ranking list. Winner Brabham, of course, won the championship again this year. McLaren was runner-up. There : is Stirling Moss, acknowledged by most people who know something about motor racing: the best man in the game if not the luckiest one. He finished third in the 1960 list, and will be driting the car that earned him that position with wins in the Monaco and United States Grands Prix -the Rob Walker Lotus-Climax. Then there is the up-andcoming young Scotsman Jim Clark who will be leading the works Lotus team. is eighth on the ranking list. His team-mate is John Surtees. holder of seven motorcycle world championships. He is eleventh on the list. The influential Yeoman Credit equipe has entered two cars. a Cooper-Climax and a Lotus. The Cooper will probably be handled by Joakim Bonnier, the Swedish champion. the only man to win world title race for B.R.M. He is thirteenth on the Ist. Salvadori The other Yeoman Credit driver is Roy Salvadori, one of the most experienced drivers in big-time racing to-day. He has had a poor season mainly because he contracted to race for the ill-fated Aston Martin Grand Prix team that withdrew early in the past European season. There were just not enough other cars tó go round to provide him with good drives for the rest of the season. However, Salvadori's name has been on the list in previous jor international car obvious this year that y Wigram Trophy, is e-up for January 21 years. He will be driving the Lotus most likely. It is true that the works Coopers have dominated the world title races for the last two seasons proving most reli able. But it is also true that the Lotuses have proved every bit as fast as the Coopers. As the trophy race is considerably shorter than world championship events they will probably stay the distance. New Zealand entries for Wig ram do not close until December 18, but already there are indica tions that the local line up will be much • stronger than it has been in the past. City Drivers Christchurch drivers Pat Hoare and Frank Shuter will be racing their Ferraris. Hoare's car is a tailor-made new one. and Shuter's Hoare's old car. Hamilton's Len Gilbert has entered his recently - acquired 250F Maserati and there are prospecis of at least two other 250Fs starting. Auckland's Johnnie Mansel will drive his new rearengined Tec Mec if it arrives in time. Failing that he will be at the wheel of a 250F Maserati New Zealand champion Sva Jensen has indicated that he will be handling a Cooper. In the face of the overseas opposition the New Zealanders cannot be conceded much chance of major places, but the overall field should provide the best trophy race ever. That race average of Brabham's will certainly take Hogging. It will be interesting to see if the prediction made by Ron Flockhart after he won the race with a B.R.M. in 1959 comes true Flockhart said the aces would lap Wigram at 100 miles an hour. The aces will be there to try on January 21. Whether they do or not. It is certain that Wigram wit retain its title of New Zealand's fastest car race. Driving force behind the world's most successful racing car is John Cooper, seen here Jack Brabham. 4 dyl three children, Cooper January to direct his cars, which will be d • with his No. 1 driver, the world champion namic, mitty 37-year-old sith a family of • Frill be at the Lady Migram Tropby next team and to supervise preparation of the iriven by Brabham and Bruce VeLaren,