12 - 12-61 16 - 12-61 WIGRAM CAR RACE DRAWS 17 ENTRIES KOT nimey drivers nave entered for tne ave car races the Moto AN Racing Club will conduct at its Lady Wigram Trophy meeting hers on January 20. The club's executive met last night to consider entries and announced a seventeen-car field for the feature event, the 150-mile Lady Wigram Trophy. The trophy race field will Moss will be driving a car be made up of six overseas entered by his patron, Mr R. drivers and eleven New Walker. Brabham, who has Zealanders. now severed his connection Two notable New Zea- with the Cooper Car Comland absentees in the pany, will be driving one of trophy race field are the his two Coopers. Hastings farmer, Angus New Zealander Bruce Me- Hyslop, who recently re caren will drive a 2.7 litre: turned to New Zealand after Cooper which has overseas racing tour ¡entered by Mr C. T. Atkins.! under the "Driver Europe" scheme, and the ron. to another British racing patt Aucklander, Johnnie Man- The special Coopers of sel. Surtees and Salvadori are! Late Entries known British Bowmaker cars belonging to the well- Yeoman racing team, and Both these drivers, and Piockhart is racing his own any others who may be con. cat. sidering entering for the Previous Winners trophy race, have until January 8 to lodge a late entry by paying a penalty There are three previous late fee. tropny race winners in the field. Flockhart won the Club officials have event with a B.R.M. in stated point blank that 1959. and in 1960 and again entries will be this rear Brabham won driv. accepted for any of the ing a Cooper. erents on the pro- The Christchurch retgramme after vanuary eran racing driver, Hec- It tor Green, won the race seems probable that in 1950 driving a Wolse- Hyslop will lodge a late ley Special and he will entry, but Mansel's plans be driving his new R.A. are most indefinite. He has which is fitted with a disposed of his 2-litre Coo- fuel injection engine of per Climax to W. Thoma- his own design in the ser, of Papakura, and race in January. Thomasen has entered for The only other Christthe trophy race. church entrant in the trophy race will be Pat Hoare, Overseas Men winner of the Renwick 50 last month with his 3-litre Overseas drivers whose Ferrari, the car he will entries have been accepted drive at Wigram. for the trophy race will ail Other trophy гасе be driving Intercontinen- entrants are:- F. Cardon, tal Formula Coventry. • Cli-!Auckland, Lycoming Spec max-engined cars. : ial;C. Amon, Bulls, Iney are Stirling Maserati 250F; J. C. N. His- Moss (Lotas or Coo- ted, Auckland, •Lola Formper) Jack Brabham ula Junior; L. Stonnell, New Bruce Mc- Plymouth, Lynx Formula Laren (Cooper), Ron • Junior; R. J. Coppens, Man- Flockhart (Lotus), Roy uerewa, Tec Mec; R. Salvadori (Cooper), and Flower, Lower Hutt, Gem- John Surtees (Cooper). ini Formula Junior; A. Shel. 'ly, Wellington, 1960 C.C. Cooper: J. Palmer, Hamil ton, 1475c.c. Lotus. Thé club has reserved the right to withdraw slow cars • from ine tropny race if tre si practice sessions ciearly 1 demonstrate that the : speed differential between f the fastest and slowest cars ¡is such as to introduce a At present the. Wigram ¡lap record of 94.28 miles an • hour stands to the credit of 1 Brabham. He set it in the * 1959 race. Some observers beliere that one of the top international drivers such as Moss might well be capable of lapping the circuit at 100 miles an hour or better this time. The other events on the ¡programme have attracted nighly competitive entries which should provide some excellent racing. The strong overseas competition has evidently to some extent reduced the size of the New Zealand entry in the Trophy race with the result that there is a 25-car field for the other racing car event оп the programme, the Motor Racing Club Championship. Wigra Size Field for Fast Ideal Race By Peter Greenslade ALTHOUGH some people in motor-racing circles are disappointed because there are only seventeen entries for the eighth international Lady Wigram Trophy race, which will be conducted by the Motor Racing Club on January 20, the field is, in fact an almost ideal size and the quality of the entry points to an exceptionally close, exciting and fast race. In the past, international race promoters have tended to leave their entry lists open to everybody keen enough to "have a irrespective of the capabilities of their cars. Naturally the majority Promo ting clubs are anxious to give as many local drivers as possible an opportunity of competing in the classic eTents. But the stage was reached number of years ago when it became obvious Zealand-owned cars Trere Internationa Competitive in not really racing could, in certain circumstances, because of the great speed differential. create something of hazard. Overseas drivers, as well as the top local men, have: not often had grounds for complaining about the track manners of drivers of i slower cars in the big time events. There have, howerer, been a number of occasions when faster men hare been uninten. tionally bautied by slower cars and there have been times when dangerons situations could hare dereloped. This year the New Zealand International Grand Prix Organisation has put on a "New Zealand drivers only", 50-mile race to sort out drivers who may capable of offering at least some competition for the strong overseas contingent starting in the 150-mile New Zealand Grand Prix later in the day. Thus the 1.Z.I.G.P. has virtually closed the door. The Motor Racing Club. on the other hand, has left , it open and a number of drivers, who might have had aspirations towards trophy race drive, have I sensibly elected to forego the pleasure of competing in international company. They know full well that as Wigram is a power driving circuit much faster than Ardmore, their cars simply are not up to making any sort of a race of it. This means that the Wig • ram circuit will not be carrying too much traffic in the trophy race, and the drivers of the • fastest carsi will be able to get right down to racing without having to worry too much! about the hazards created by a big speed differential.. 100 m.p.h.? That. in turn, means that the Wigram crowds will, in all probability, see the cir cult lapped at better than 100 miles an hour for the first time. As far back as 1959, Scotsman Ron Flockhart, after winning the trophy race, expressed the opinion that the "aces" would be quite capable of putting in 100-miles-an-hour laps. With a 2.2-Litre Cooper Jack Brab ham pushed the record to 94.28 miles an hour in 1960. This year, appalling weather conditions cut Brabham's best lap back to 81.9 miles an hour. But the 1960 figure with a car powered by a con siderably . smaller engine than the top overseas men will use this time indicates that the "magic century" is no idle pipe dream. At Wigram there should not be much between the overseas drivers because this is a reasonably easy circuit on which the skill of Stirling Moss might not pay the same dividends that it should on the other tighter New Zealand circuits. Of the eleven New Zealand starters, the Christcharch Ferarri driver Pat Boare, who has already won two major local races this sear, should be the man to watch. Most of the other drivers will be using cars that are! down on power, but they are fairly evenly matched. The trophy race could mell develop into two! exciting struggles the six overseas men battling for top honours with Hoare and Angus Hyslop, if he starts, and the balance of the New Zealanders, PIO bably led by Jim Palmer, conducting a close race of their own not so very far behind. In fact, because there is a smaller felt fastest and everything points to the best trophy race ever.