19-1-66 International racing drivers, from left, Jimmy Clarke. Jackie Stewart, and Dick Attwood arriving at Christchurch international Airport this afternoon for next Saturday's Lady i Wigram race. They will conduct their first trial runs in Christchurch on Friday. Crack Drivers in Line for £300 Bonus at W18 ram ROR the first time since 1963, Trophy race are seriously c the £300 side prize that goes fo m.p.h. in the race itself. drivers in this year's Lady Wigram considering the prospects of winning o the first driver to do a lap at 100 Frank Gardner The prize was donated the Wigram meeting, the 1 some years ago by Manches But. to date. the money has the club's banking account. to the sponsors of lotor Racing Club. ter Car Sales, Lid remained safelr in In 1963. when the 2.7-litre Coventry Climax engines were in vogue and when the course did not include the tricky loop. Jack Brabham and John Surtees, driving a Cooper and Lola respectively, returned times in practice of Imin 16.6 sec-fractionally less than 100, miles an hour. Neither driver was able to emulate his performance in the race itself. The prize would probably have been awarded in 1964 the circuit had not been: - altered. However, the inclusios ot the loop, which slightly ex tended the length of the circuit and introduced a new, comparatively slow section, made the task even more difficult. Creeping Up However, speeds have gradually erept up in the last two races and last year Jim Clark and Bruce MeLaren shared a new lap record of imin :25. 9sec. To win the prize a driver will have to do a lap in 1min 22.8sec. That figure represents exactly 100 miles an hour and requires an improvement of 3.isec on the existing lap record Generally speaking, an improvement of 2sec is about all that can be expected under ideal conditions from year to year, but the manner in which the. Australian Frank Gardner set a new Levin lap record with his Repco- Brabham-Climax last Saturday has set some people thinking. On the short Levin circuit -it is slightly more than a mile round-Gardner cut 2.1 sec off the lap record established the previous vear by Jim Clark. Six Beat Record Moreover, the six major place-getters in the Levin race all finished well within the 1965 race record established by Clark. The startling improvements at Levin indicate that development of Tasman Formula cars over the last twelve months has gone on at a much greater rate than in previous years. and so an improvement of 3.1 sec on the wigram circuit. which is more than • twice as long as Levin, is not beyond the bounds of probability. Qualifying times returned by the leading drivers such as Clark, • Gardner, and the B.R.M. • men Jackie Stewart and Richard Attwood during the Friday training sessions will probably determine whether the "deal is on." Generally speaking, drivers go faster in training than they do in the race itself. so it will probably be necessary for a driver to put in a qualifying lap in something like 1min 22sec on Friday to have any chance of picking up the £300 in the race itself on Saturday.