18-9-66 CITY AND COUNTRY WILL FLOCK TO T LADY WIGRAM TROPHY CLASSIC On Saturday, Christchurch people, as well as others from all parts of New Zealand, will flock to the Royal New Zealand Air Force Station, Wigram, for the twelfth international Lady Wigram Trophy-the South Island's classic motor race. To thousands of other New Zealanders this annual convergence on Wigram to see cars of various shapes and sizes-—and many bear unt the slightest resemblance to those seen on the roads-is something of a phenomenon. Frequently the keenest enthusiast is asked: The drivers themselves-be they the "greats" of motor racing like world champion Jim Clark, or the young clubmen who belt their Minis and 'Anglias around circuits such! as Ruapuna Park-are gener- 'ally at a loss when it comes. to answering this question It has been claimed that racing drivers and racing enthusiasts аге • гасе apart-and an extremely odd race at that. "What do you see in it?" And almost just as frequently, the keenest enthusiast is lost for an answer- or, if he can give one it probably won't be too logical. While it is true that there 'are some cranks in the sport -and what sport or other activity is without them?-the drivers and their followers are generally perfectly normal human beings. Another erroneous impres- Ten Events A COMPRESSIVE programme of ten events for single-seater, sports and saloon cars, and motor-cycles has been carded for the Motor Racing Club's twelfth international Lady Wigram Trophy meeting on Saturday. Racing will start 10 a.m. and the final event will begin at 4.30 p.m. The programme will be: 10.00 a.m.—First Lady Wigram Trophy preliminary (25 miles). 10.30 a.m.—Second Lady Wigram Trophy preliminary (25 miles). 11.00 a.m. Production Saloon Car Race (30min duration). 11.15 a.m.—Motor Racing Club Championship (25 miles). 12.30 p.m.—First Gold Leaf All-comers' Saloon preliminars (20 miles). 1.00 p.m.—Second Gold Leaf All-comers" Saloon preliminars (20 miles). 1.30 p.m.-Motor-cvele Race (25 miles). 2.30 p.m.—Lady Wigram Trophy (100 miles). 1.00 p.m.-Gold Leaf Open Motor-eyele Race (25 miles). 4.30 p.m.—Gold Leaf All-comers' Saloon final (16 miles). sion is that those who ac- ¡tively participate in motor racing, or follow it closely, have a distinct mechanical i bent. 1! While it is true that many - people connected with motor racing have affiliations of one sort or another with the motor ¡trade, it is equally true that there are many very successful drivers who have littie more than a rudimentary knowledge of the workings of a motorcar, and there are literally thousands of followers lof the sport who would be hard pressed to find the dipstick if they had to check the jengine oil level in their own cars Of course, for many peopie, the technical side of motor racing is the thing that holds the appeal. If it were not for tese people the many weekly and monthly motor sporting magazines that are published throughout the world could not survive. These are the magazines that publish learned trea tises on such things as suspension geomelery, the origins of new racing enzines. how they are made, what they will do, and now they de it. They aiso publish coldblooded and strictly factual reports of the great races,. frequently giving more attention to the technicalities • than they do to the men who pit themselves against reach other. Crazy All in all, the whole business undoubtedly seems at ¡least slightly crazy to the utsider. But, for ail that. motor racing has an attraction all of • its own. Basically. this attraction *that ila tens in the face ('so-called civilised races enjoy la very high degree of secur- ity and are largeiy dependent upon technological skills, over which they have abso dutely no control, for their very existence, motor racing does at least offer the individual one of the few opportumities still left to man to tassert his own independence •and be master of his own The point is thai in most high-risk activities these days the participants are very reliant upon the skills of others. The astronaut, for example, must basically be a very courageous man. But he is also a superman in that he is culled out from thousands by experts who measure him up for his ¡role in terms of psychology, physiology, adaptability, aptitudes, and many other factors. He is as thoroughly trained as any man can possily be for his job. But, apart from ali his *raining, during which he is under the strictest surveillance, from the moment he enters his space capsule until the moment he leaves it. his destiny is in the hands of hundreds, if not thousands. of dedicated scientists and technician To put it in the simplest i terms, the astronaut-from •blast-off to splash-own-is World champion, Tasman champion, 1965 Indianapolis winner, and 1965 Lady Wigram Trophy winner, Jin Clark will be back to defend his title at Wigram on Saturday in a 2.5 litre Lotus-Climax similar lo this, his 1965 car. Now at the peak of his career in the most hazardous of all sports, is it the theory of "total omnipotence " that drives this likeabie voung Scotsman on when, seemingly, there are no fresh fields to conquer? very like the stone a young- „ster uses for catapult ammu- •nition, although he can of course, consciously and un- 'consciously. feed back a mass of information to those who are watching over him and mar aiso, within very strict limits, control the attitude of •his space craft. Captive • The astronaut analogy is an extreme one. Closer TO [home is the captain of an : airliner. He is dependent upon his crew, airport control, and the men who made his instru- (ments. In landings and takeoffs he is committed by the information others feed him. He is, in fact, a captive of the airliner itself. Therein lies the difference between the astronaut, the airline captain. and the racing driver. All three may risk their lives. but the racing driver risks his freely. He 'makes all the decisions and. what is more, they are splitsecond or even instinctive de cisions The noted American motoring writer, ken Purdy. has a term for this. He calls it "'total omnipotence." It is probably in this "total omnipotence" that lies the real fascination in motor rac- 'ing. not only for the contestants but also the spectators. Drivers What of the drivers themseives? To all outward appearances they appear to be ordinary human beings and most of them will strongly argue that they are. However, the men at the 'WELFTH LADY NIGRAM top undoubtedly have that extra something that sets them apart, like people who reach the pinnacie in most other forms of activity. A psychologist conducted a study some time ago on a sample of racing drivers. The findings, published in the "British Journal of Psyi chology." were that racing drivers are highiy competitive: above average in inteiligence: appear to be extrnverts but are generally intro verts: have remarkably quick motor-reaction. particulariy as far as the feet are concerned and-this is most importantconsistently improve in performance under stress. Performs It is probably this last attri- Ibute that sets the racing driver apart from the majority of his fellows. The average individual, far from improving in performance under stress, deteriorates at an ever-increasing rate is stress is progresi sively applied. Purdy has just written another book about racing drivers which he calls The New Matadors." In it he describes the racing driver as an enter- tainer, in the sense thai he performs for people who bare paid to see him do so; he is an athlete, in the sense 1:at he is capable of feats of endurance. quickness and dexterity. that are forbidden in men of lesser ability and training; he is an artist, in the sense that he creats figures and arabesques as the ballet dancer does: he is at one with the mountain climber 'and he is a cousin to the matador. So. when you boil it all down, these qualities which Purd attributes the racing driver are the ones that draw men info active participation and draw the crowds to see then. It may well be that the thousands who fock to Wigram to see some of the world's best drivers compeiing with the best New Zealand can produce have never heard of Purdy's theory «E "total omnipotence. " Buf it is not beyond belief that herein lies the fascination nt a sport in which thousands nf people are competing throughout the world week-end after week-end before millions of people.