7-9-69 19-9-69 15th INTERNATIONAL LADY WIGRAM TROPHY RACE GRANDSTAND SEATS STAND AT START/FINISH. $2.30 each STAND AT THE LOOP. $2.30 each AVAILABLE NOW AT D.I.C. INCLUDES ADMISSION AT GATE SAT., 18th JAN., 69 BOOKINGS OPEN NOW AT D.l.C MAIL ORDERS TO D..C. PLEASE ENCLOSE STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE. 11-1-69 15th. INTERNATIONAL LADY WIGRAM TROPHY RACE R.N.Z.A.F. STATION, WIGRAM - SATURDAY 18th. JAN. ADULTS $1.30, CHILDREN 30c, CARS 30c ENTRANTS INCLUDE GRANDSTAND SEATS $2.30 ea. GRAHAM HILL JOCHEN RINDT = = = - GOLD LEAF LOTUS INCLUDING ADMISSION - GOLD LEAF LOTUS CHRIS AMON - — _ FERRARI Now on sale at D.l.C. Booking. DEREK BELL - FERRARI Office. PIERS COURAGE - - BRABHARE FORD LEO GEOHEGAN _ BRABHAM REPCO Race Day Sales at Booths behind Stands FRANK GARDNER _ - - ALFA KOMED TWO STANDS, one opposite start- Full day's racing including finish and one at the "loop" Saloon Cars, Sports Cars BE THERE! and Motorcycles CHRISI Christchurch's M how lucky it is in not Tasman Championship The New Zealand International Grand Prix organisation insists upon retaining this privilege and has, apparently, yet to learn that it is a doubtful one. Wheels Unturned Last Saturday's Grand Prix, so competently won for the second suceessive year by the 25-year-old New Zealand Ferrari driver, was by no means a great race. One of the reasons why • it was not was the unpreparedness of some of the overseas contestants - the Gold Leaf Team Lotus Lotus - Cosworth - Ford V&s of Graham Hill and Jochen Rindt in particular. These specially built 2.5 litre Tasman cars arrived ing lucklard srithout hay- previously turned a wheel. This meant that suspen- SIOD, chasis and engine urning, to say nothing of the dozens of other things required to make a car race-ready, had to be done during all-too-brief practice sessions at Pukekohe during the two days prior to the race. As has SO frequently been the case in the past, TCHURCH LUCKY; IST RACE lotor Racing Club prob I having to run the first o series. time ran out before the cars were right and Hill, who fiew into Auckland when the first practice session on the Thursday was full swing, was greater sufferer. CAR RACING PETER GREENSLADE Rindt, having his first acquaintance with Lotus, had minor troubles but was able to get in the groove fairly quickly and in the first qualifying session on the final day returned a cracking 58.4sec lap in seven laps of the circuit. After that he put the car away and watched the others try to better his time, and that was probably because he was reluctant to tax further his car which had already given him reason to believe it was suspect. Hill, on the other hand, was still beset by minor troubles and it was only sheer determination that rewarded him with third fastest qualifying time of 58.8sec. Just before the final session ended Amon went out to return 58.2sec and, although both were anxious to attempt to beat that time, Hill and Rindt were ably does not realise race each year in the too late to make their attempts because the sesended with Hill waiting for his car to be re fuelled and Rindt sidelined with a broken gear lever for the second time that morning. It is hard to see how drivers can give of their best when they not only have to overcome the weariness from travelling half-way round the world, but, at the same time, often have the worry of hasty car preparation on their minds. The race is now history. Amon won at a recordbreaking 105 miles an hour-an improvement of two miles an hour on his 1968 performance. Rindt, who took Amon in lap two and held the most marginal of leads until he struck an oil slick and skated off the track in lap 18, to resume some 6 or 7sec behind Amon, finished second having had to contend with gear selection problems problems that possibly would not have emerged if there had been more time to prepare his car. Unlucky The Englishman Piers Courage was third in the Brabham - Cosworth - Ford V8 of Frank Williams, which had been track-tested before it left Britain. DOUBTFUL Courage was probably a bit unlucky in that when, after the first five or six laps, ne started to lap the slow runners he was baulked on several occasions and lost precious seconds which he had no chance of regaining in a race.of only 101.5 miles. The slow runners are another problem at Pukekohe for the track, unlike Wigram, is barely three car-widths wide and in some of the twisting sections it is virtually impos- Sible to pass. As the front runners last Saturday were lapping the tail-enders every five or six laps, luck in the running played a larger role than it should in an international race. Hill, twice previously a winner at Pukekohe, was running fourth when a front suspension ball joint came adrift in his thirteenth lap. He was able to limp to the pits to retire, but the consequences could have been much more serious. The world champion's only after-race comment was: "Disgraceful!" There was no elaboration, but he gave the impression that he was re ferring to the preparation of his car. Procession There were some good performances in the Grand Prix, but this race, like so many others since the inception of the Tasman Championship opening round at Pukekohe became processional before it was half over. The overseas entrants have had this week to get things sorted out and with the second round in the series decided in Levin this afternoon, no doubt more lessons will have been learned which will be applied during the coming week in preparation for the Lady_ Wigram Trophy race next Saturday. Make no error. year's batch of overseas visitors is probably better matched than Wigram patrons have seen in many a year. At this stage it would be reckless to try and pick the winner, for Amon, Hill Rindt and Courage should all be well in the running, while the chances of Bel and the Australian Frank Gardner, with the new Mildren-Alfa Romeo V8, cannot be entirely discounted. The training sessions next Friday should be an eye-opener and, on the day itself, it would not be at all surprising to see • this trophy race become the fastest-run' round in this Tasman series. Certainly the now fashionable aerofoils used on so many of the cars should be of more value than they were at Pukekohe and, as the Wig- circuit ram is So much wider. the front runners are not so likely to be slowed down by the tailenders in the field