20-9-65 THE VERY FAST SPORTS SPECIAL of M. F. Stanton, the Stanton Corvette, at Kenwick this year. A hely winner of the race for sports and specials, the Corvette wil almost certainly put on a good display of really fast motoring. Sporis, Specials Sports car racing is undergoing a seems one of the most likely cars to revival both in New Zealand and in stay close to him. other countries, although it is probably But there is another car-driver comin New Zealand that this type of racing bination which could upset the calcularecentiy reached its lowest ebb. On tions, and this is Barry Porter in the Saturday, however, sports cars and Lotus 15. Last year Porter was cospecials will fight out the Motor Racing winner of the sports car championship, Club championship race at Wigram, and and he will certainly press Stanton and judging from the entry list it should Walker hard, at the very least. be a hard-fought race. There will be a woman driver in this The most interesting duel may well race too: Miss I. Stephenson of Auckbe between two vastly dissimilar cars: land in her Buckler. R. Rutherford in the 4940 c.c. Stanton Corvette of JI. the 2601I Zephyr is very fast and Stanton, and the 1658 c.c. Mirage of B. polished, and he is another driver who N. Walker. can be expected to be well up at the Both cars are sports cars, and both bead of the field. G. Lawrence's 1500 are locally-built. The Stanton Corvette c.c. Brabham will be watched with tends more to the brute force school, interest, and could bring some surprises, looking and sounding every bit of the while R. Sager of Auckland in a powerful monster it is, while the pretty similar car can be almost guaranteed a and almost delicate-looking Mirage is well-placed finisher. nearly a direct opposite. With so many top quality drivers and On the Canterbury Car Club's short machines the event seems sure to be Ruapuna circuit, the Mirage bas very hotly contested, and there is also managed to stay very close to the a wide range of the older but still Corvette: the question is whether the rapid specials, such as P. Leversedge's extra power of the big car will give a V8 special, J. Boyd's fast Lycoming, higher top speed on the open Wigram F. J. Shuter's Ford Special, and W. circuit, or will the Mirage have sufficient Darrell's ACE III. speed to equalise any disadvantage by One of the few production sports cars faster cornering? In the event, D. Sileock's Jaguar XK120 Both drivers are highly skilled and will almost certainly perform well. polished performers, but Stanton has the All in all, the Blotor Racing Club greater experience. At this stage he championship looks as if it will be as seems the favourite, but the Mirage exciting as it has ever been. TIMES Last year the Lady Wigram Trophy Race was won by Bruce McLaren driving a Cooper Climax, his average speed for the 100 miles final being 93.1 miles an hour. MicLaren also set the fastest lap, at 1 min 26.9 sec., or about 96 miles an Last year, for the was run in two 25-m of about 100 miles repeated this year. miles long. : first time, the race He heats and a final , and this will be The circuit is 2.3 In 1963, the race was also won by McLaren in a Cooper Climax, and on the then 2.073 mile circuit be set a record average speed for miles an hour, the miles. The fastest 1 miles an hour set his Repco-Brabham Stirling Moss in in 1962, his race the race of 93.82 race being of 150.236 lap was a record 97.5 by Jack Brabham in a Lotus Climas won average being 93.27 SPEEDS m1.p.n. and his fastest equalled by Jonn Sur mp.a. In the previous and 1961, the event ha Jack Brabham in a Co lap, which was rees, was 95.1 .... two years, 1960 d been won by poper Climax. Taking last year's figures as the record for the circuit which will be used on Saturday: The LAP RECOR m.p.h., set by Bruce The record RACE m.p.h., also set by A lap in 1:22.8 du D is 1:26.9, or 96 McLaren last year. • AVERAGE is 93.1 McLaren last year. uring the race will win the £300 prize for the 100 m.p.h. lap. Also, if McLaren wins this year, he will be the second driver to have won the race three times in succession. P. Whitehead, driving a Ferrari, won it in 1954, 1956, and 1957. No race was held in 1955, as the aerodrome was being sealed. BRUCE MCLAREN Rated consistently best half-dozen drive: seasons (he gained se Formula one champi diferent car this yea among the world's rs for the last five eventh place in the onship with an in- , and earned four star rating from Autosport in its unoficial grading), New Zealand's Bruce McLaren is now going into the sporis racing and designing field in a big way. Here at Wigram Bruce will be driving a specially-modified Cooper with 2.5 litre Coventry-Climax motor in partnership with Phil Hill in the similar car which McLaren drove to Victory at Pukekohe and in the Tasman Championship last year, the first of the South Pacific 2.5 litre formula. He started racing at the age of 15, when his father, Les McLaren bought him an aged but reliable Ulster Austin as a birthday present. Later, after learning much about modifying cars, be moved on to an Austin Healey 100, then to a Cooper 1500 c.c. "Bobtail," and finally, in 1958, in the Formula two Cooper which gave him his brilliant European debut in 1958. Last year he won three out of the four international races in New Zealand to establish an unassailable lead in the Tasman Cup series. Next year he is confidently expected to build his own championship car to the new three-litre Formula one, Bruce is married, his attractive blond wife Pat coming from Timaru; they have no children. JIM World Formula one champion in 1964, within half a • lap of being champion again for 1965, and little more short of the championship in 1963, Jim Clark can fairly claim to be the leading singleseat racing driver today. Still only 27, he and the brilliant Lotus 25 designed by Colin Chapman have dominated the glamour event of world motor sport for the last three years, even though Clark has held the championship in only one of them. Unlike many other first-class drivers Clark (who visited New Zealand for the 1961 New Zealand Grand Prix and ran sixth in a Lotus) did not start competition driving until he was 20. He is still a bachelor, and still races with only partial approval from his parents. His frst and main love is the sheep farm on the Scottish border, to which he returns like a homing pigeon between races, rather than hitting the high spots like many top-flight drivers in the past. Clark is small and agile in movement, well suited to today's breed of light, quick cars. He has dabbled in hockey and sprinting (and is the only man quicker than Stirling Moss in a Le Mans start), likes shooting, jazz, and photography. In motor racing circles he rates as the most eligible bachelor. In many wars Clark epitomises the racing driver of to the heroes of the s years between the Iarely drinks, does publicity rather th looks on himself as a racing driver sec oday compared with steering-wheel in the two world wars. He s not smoke, shuns han seeking it, and s a farmer first and LARK He learnt to drive early, on an aged Austin 10 which was used on the farm, then saw his elder brother drive a Riley If litre in the Leinster Tropby Race (1951) won by Mike Hawthorn in a similar race. That was what fired his secret ambition to be a racing driver. While shepherding he usually daydreamed about motor racing, then secretly went on to the circuits in friends' cars and without his parents' permission. Reg Parneil, himseli a former winner. of the New Zealand Grand Prix and many times a visitor to this country, was one of the first to spot the Clark talent. He wanted Jim for the Aston Martin team which be brought into being, but too late to be a force in the 2.5 litre Formula one day, and marked the Scottish youngster as a future champion. The best authority to quote on Clark, however, is the great Stirling Moss. In his book "All But My Life" Moss said: "The greatest natural taient driving today is probably Jim Clars and 1 say "probably' just for form's sake, because I am convinced Jim is the best in the world. He's a born driver, and you know the difference between a born driver and a made driver is the difference between night and day, and more. "I was having trouble with hira in 1961. It was plain ten that he was no boy to take on if or year's car." In the Tasman ( will probably be driv 2.5 litre Coventry-Cl were driving last Championship Clark ving a Lotus 33 with limax motor. A feature of the 1964 Trophy race was the wheel-to-wheel battle between Jack Brabhara, Bruce McLaren, and Denis Halme. Here the Brabham cars of Brabh am and Hulme blanket McLaren's Cooper.