21-1-65 21-1-65 22-1-65 Some might think motor-racing: and sound reproduction make an unusual combination, but with Phil Hill, the visiting Californian rams interests driver, these conflicting seem to fall naturally into place. In a city hotel this morning he talked of his hobby-playerpiano roll collecting. His interest began, he said, as a child, when there was "always a pianola piano in the house. Primarily he was fascinated with sound reproduction and its techniques. He got hold of the components! of two player pianos and put them together in his spare Then he began collecting rolls of music. To-day he owns more than five! thousand rolls, all of them different. "Most pianolas just go tinkle,, tinkle. They just bang away at notes," he explained. Mir Hill is not interested in this type. "But there is another sort which is completely automa tic. It reproduces the pianist's performance just as he played it." It is electrically operated. Radio and phonograph spelt disaster for the pianola manufacturers but now the rolls have historical signif cance. This is because much of the serious music omposed at the time was never recorded on. records but bas been pre served on rolls. Nowadays the rolls are difficult to obtain and Mr Hill gets a thrill when he is able to get hold of one. When he came to Christchurch he did not expect to add to his collection, but he has. He has been in touch with a local man who has about one hundred rolls and when Mr Hill browsed through them last night he found several that he has not got. Picture showe Mr Hill with one if his pianola rolls. LADY WIGRAM RACE SHOULD BE OPEN F' the results of the New Zealand Grand international race can be taken as a in the Tasman Championship series, the will be held here on Saturday, should be the very fast aerodrome circuit. Prix and the Levin Gold Leaf reliable guide, the third race Lady Wigram Trophy, which one of the most open held on In previous . years, Grand Prix and Levin results have tended to point towards the outcome at Wigram, but this year the spoils have been fairly widely shared, and when drivers discussed pros pects last night at the Motor Racing Club's reception it was obvious that most of them have very open minds. On the grounds of consist- Repco-Brabham- Cumax drivers, Australian Frank Gardner and national champion Jim Palmer, of Hamilton, who finished second and third respectively in the Grand Prix and at Levin, must be rated highly as potential Wigram place-getters. Poor Run However, the manner in which the Scottish former world champion Jim Clark cleared away from the Levin tield to win easily in his Lotus-Climax must weigh beavily on the minds of the other overseas stars, Bruce McLaren and Phil Hill, who bave not had much of a run so far.. There is no doubt that their two Cooper-Climaxes will prove to be much more formidable propositions at Wigram than they have at the previous meetings. Last night head mechanic Wally Willmott, of Timaru, forecast that both cars would be raceworthy by lunch-time today. vided there are no last-minute So it is obvious that, probiems, the Bruce McLaren Motor Racing Team will not be burning the midnight oil be fore the training sessions tomorrow-a happy augury, for last-minute preparations can sometimes cause problems. Clark's Lotus-Climax is also ready for practice to-morrow. Of course, one of the big interests in this year's race is the £300 side prize, donated by Mr B. D. Blogg, for the driver who first records a 100-miles-an-hour lap in the trophy race itself. Denis Hulme made fastest lap in last year's preliminary in Imin 26.7sec and McLaren was fastest in the race itself with 1min 26.9sec—an average speed of 95.28 miles an hour. That was 4.1sec outside the time required for the 100-miles an-bour lap. Neither Clark nor McLaren was very hopeful of achieving the required 1min 22 8sec in che race, Clark pointing out that a 2sec improvement over last year's best figure would be very good indeed on Saturday. However, tomorrow's training sessions should provide the real pointer, although this judging by the fortnight ago, season's rats held aimost .a Grand Prix are not very much faster than last year's models. But, even if the €300 remains in the Motor Racing Club's bank account another year all the indi cations are that to-morrow's practice will show only slight iap time variations between Clark, NicLaren, Hill, Gardner and the leading New Zea landers Palmer, Kerry Grant (Brabham-Climax), John Riley 'Lola-Climax) and • Red Dawson Cooper Climax). Going on his Levin performances, Grant, the 1964 saloon champion, is being tipped in some quarters as the driver most likely to unsettle at least some of the overseas men. However, Paimer, with vast store of experience in single seater cars behind him, the car which earned Jack Brabnam second place in last year's race under him. must be considered an excel. Lent prospect. Patched Up Palmer will be a late arri-! val. He raced with a patched up gearbox at Levin and in the meantime new parts have been airfreighted from England. The gearbox was fitted up late last night and Palmer was due to set out from Hamiton early this morning. If space is available on tonight's inter - island steamer express, the car will come down by sea in time for practice to-morrow. Utherwise, it will be flown to Christchurch in an aircraft some time to day. Things Mechanica Always Her Interest WHETHER it was a radio or a car engine, Auckland motor racing WHETHER it was a radio or a car engine, Auckland motor racing driver Ivy Stephenson was interested in anything mechanical as a young girl. To-morrow she will be the only woman car driver competing at Wigram. Watching and learning from her father and friends as they repaired their own cars, she became familiar with mechanie's trade and can now do practically any repair Job on her blue and white Le Mans Buckler sports car. "I find my biggest problems are fits and clearances. It takes Fears of experience to judge how many thousands of miles of wear a certain part bas left in it," she explained yesterday. When she strikes a really sticky problem, she hands the job over to a trained mechanic. Racing 6 Years Miss Stephenson has been racing for six years. Being an only woman driver: or a mechanic is not an unusual situation for her. She has ' had few opportunities to compete with other members of ber sex. few years agO she used to race in a special event for woman drivers at Levin, but lack of entrants has stopped this. At he start of her racing career a frequent rival was Mrs Percy Lupp. 'An Equal' Of course she gets the usual good natured bantering from the menfolk on women drivers,! but on the circuit she is treated as an equal. "I expect no privileges just because I'm a woman, said. "On a corner, for esauple, whoever has the best position keeps it. I don't expect anyone move over for me." To-morrow Ivy Stephenson will be hitting 100 miles an hour mark down the back straight at Wigram. *The revs indicator is the only thing that makes you rea use your speed because it Is so open out there, " she said. All Her Time "For all you know you could be doing 60 m.p.h. on the open road-until a corner suddenly 'looms up!" Her car occupies nearly all her time. Sometimes she has worked on it until 3 o'clock in the morning before a race. "There is always something to be done on a racing car," she commented. A woman's touch comes it handy for engine reapirs, she ¡has found. Often a man will ask her to get her smaller ¡hand round an awkward part of an engine he is working on. No Let-up No sooner is the racing season over than the trials season begins in fact the two overlap in New Zealand, so - there is no let-up from Miss Stephenson, who is a trials enthusiast as well. She has come to know both North and South Island roads thoroughly over the years. Often she has with ber a crew of two or three other Auckland giris-one who stud- Miss Ivy Stephenson ies the maps and acts as geteral navigator, another to do the mileage calculations, and the third to do route spotting. She finds it hard to decide whether racing or trial driving claims her first preference -the first is more tense and exciting. but she enjoys the teamwork in trials too.