16-1-68 Drivers In next Saturday's Lady Wigram Trophy Race with the Mayor (Mr A. R. Guthrey) to-day. From left: Graham Hill, Caris Amon, Piers Courage. Jochen Rindt and Mr Guthrey. ...él Like his New Zealand team-mate Bruce McLaren, the Mexican champion Pedro Rodriguez is driving a V12 B.R.M. specially designed by Englishman Len Terry for the Tasman series. The chassis is of monocoque design and utilised a new form of rear suspension which incorporates two parallel bottom arms and a single top link with radius rods. Power output is probably around 340 brake horsepower. This V12 engine can be run up to 10,500 revolutions a minute, whereas the bigger Grand Prix 3-litre engine is never taken above 10,000. At the higher figure the engines misfired in the Grand Prix at Pukekohe, but B.R.M.'s chief engine mechanic, Roger Barsby, will almost certainly have cured this fault before trophy race day. Amon To Complete Hard Treble TF New Zealand F wins the Lady day he will make I tory because, since series in 1964. no Pukekohe-Levin-W rari driver Chris Amon Wigram Trophy on Saturfasman championship histhe inauguration of the driver has completed the gram treble While there is quiet confidence in the Ferrari: camp. Amon and his English team-mate Derek Bell, realise that this 100-mile race on the power-driving aerodrome circuit is going to be a tough one, for the world champion Graham Hill and his teammate Austrian Jochen Rindt, of Gold Leaf Team Lotus, will have a slight power advantage over the 2.4 litre V6 cars with their • 340: Italian brake • horse-power Lotus-Cos-: worth-Ford V8s. Englishman Piers_Courage, with his Cosworth-Ford 78powered Brabham, will also be a front runner. Practice sessions to-morrow should give a pointer as to Wigram race fortunes. If Amon can hold the Fordpowered cars in the training sessions. when the drivers generally go taster than in the race itself, he must have right royal chance of a win which would take his Tasman points total to twenty-seven and put him in a very strong position to carry oft the sevenrace series. Spectacular speed increases should be the order of the day at practice to-morrow, for the leading contenders will be using wings on their cars which produce down thrust to give better traction and stability in the corners. The wings should show up to greater advantage at Wigram than on any of the other circuits. because the stability they afford will be of tremendous value through the fast corner into the long back straight. High Speeds At the Motoring Racing Club's drivers' reception last night, some people were talking about speeds of 165-170 miles an hour on this straight. The Wigram lap record stands at 104.02 miles an hour in the names of Amon and Clark. That represents a time of 1min 19.6sec for a lap of the 2.3-mile course. This was actually a faster time than anyone achieved in practice last year. However. conditions on practice day were far from ideal in 1968 and it is probable that the best time achieved tomorrow will be better than anyone will return in the race itself. The wings alone should be worth a second a lap to the Tasman Formula cars taming into account power and handling improvements over the last year, the overall improvement could be in the region of 2sec. In other words, a 1min 17.6sec practice lap is a definite possibility. This would be a speed of 106.7 miles an hour and would PLAN OF THE CIRCUIT LENGTH OF CIRCUIT, 2'3 MILES MT MISPECTATOR BARRIER→ RE WT Bomb-Bay ESCAPE ROUTE! Bend The Main Straight M KEY Hairpir M - FLAG MARSHAL. MT - TOILET-MEN. WT - TOILET-WOMEN. R -FULL REFRESHMENTS. AS41 - AMBULANCE IMSIDE Back CIRCUIT. NO SPECTATORS Straight AM2 - AMBULANCE OUTSIDE CIRCUTT-TRAVELLING. Vickerys PERMITTED ON + - HOSPITAL- INSIDE OF CIRCUIT FT —FIRE TENDER. 74- M Club EOMPETITORS Сигіє TCOHTACLTONTE Control / • ENTRANCÈ MT LAPSGORTHG TIMING STARD AMI/ ADORESS AND PORK BCI PIT Bend M lower •M SPECTATOR BARRIER Viskary BARRIER. FT 1 ONLY CREWS MT START -FINISH Puddork, Ro GRANDSTAND /Hanger Bend 17-2-68 Lady Wigram Prices Sir,-In Thursday's "Star" a letter appeared criticising charges for the Lady Wigram trophy race. The letter was signed "Miss Ruapuna." As it might be thought I was the writer of this letter, having been voted "Miss Ruapuna" last week, I wish to emphasise I was not the writer, and know nothing about the letter or its author.- JULIE WALFORD.