17-1-70 WELLINGTON MAN SPEEDING TO VICTORY OTAHUHU DRIVER SCORES WIN Graham Harvey, of Otahuhu, won the sports, G.T. and! single-seater race at Wigram! to-day. He won the six-lap event: after taking the lead on the third lap from R. Thomson, of Drummond, who took the! lead from the grid. The grid positions for the sports event saw Lower Hutt! driver D. Taylor holding the pole position in 1600 c.c. Lotus, with Christchurch's Stewart! Wiseman alongside in a Jaguar E type. But while Taylor managed to maintain third and then fourth position the Jaguar dropped back to take no real part in the front tussle. Thomson's Begg romped through from several rows back to lead Harvey's Elfin for the first two laps. Harvey! though moved out from his tail-pipe position to hit the! front on the third lap, a position he was to maintain. These two drivers dominated: Taylor. the fourth lap. Taylor held off the challenge of the Lower Hutt driver D. Taylor and that of Charlie Benseman ' Nelson! in a Lotus In mid-field Greymouth driver B. Heney fought constantly in his Lotus 31 to ward off Wiseman's Jaguar. When they crossed the line! the E type was way back in! eighth place. Harvey won in 9min 11.2sec,! 1.5sec ahead of Thomson. There was considerable interest in the Christchurch interest entry of I. J. Turtil in his massive 7700 c.c. Continental Special. But from the second row of the grid he dropped back and took no part. Wellington's Graham McRae winning the preliminary race to the Lady Wigram Trophy race, in a time of brin 36.4sec at Wigram to-day. Dragster Thunders To 170 in 4 Mile DRAG racing eame to the Lady Wigram circuit with earsplitting force this morning as Australian Grahan Withers powered his $10,000 Ampol GI through what was certainly New Zealand's fastest-ever standing quarter-mile. No timing gear had been set up for this morning's runoriginally intended as practice for to morrow-but observers estimated that Withers had thundered down the 440 yards of bitumen in around 8.5sec. The lean, white-painted Ampol GT would thus have been surging past the 170 miles an hour mark at the end of the run-probably the highest speed ever reached in the Wigram circuit's back straight. This morning's run was not an all-out record-breaking effort, and it was hoped to make a timed run later to-day. If this can be arranged, Withers would be assured of establishing a new drag record. The New Zealand Hot Rod Association's record at present stands at Il.4sec, set at Labour week-end by Aucklander Brias Trigg in his dragster Andromeda. Even if Withers can be officially timed for an attack on this record, Trigg will remain resident title-holder. Trigg and fellew Aucklander Dave McDougall (Vg powered Austin 7), who both made wtimed runs at Wigram this morning, are both expected to appear at tomorrow's trophy race meeting. But it is highly unlikely that Wigram patrons will see the Ampoi GT. Withers, three times Australian national drag champion and runner-up this year, was to fly back to Melbourne to ! night to attend his father's funeral to morrow, and no substitute driver is expected to be avallable. Laying broad twin tracks of rubber on the track from its wildly spinning rear slicks each of which cost $150 and last only twenty runs the Ampol GI was to-day engulfed in tyre smoke for virtually the whole run. It seemed to have barely got under way when the pluming braking parachute at its tail signified that the run was over and Withers was bringing the dragster to a halt. Thousands Flock To Wigram Racing ATTRACTED by the likelihood of close racing, a capacity crowd poured in to Wigram aerodrome to-day for the sixteenth International Lady Wigram Trophy motor-racing meeting. By 9.30 am., the cireuit was completely lined with spectators' ears, and opposite the pit area stands vere quickly filled. The weather at Wigram was cloudy, with a light breeze. Conditions were ideal for drivers. About twenty-five traffe officers had Hitle difficuity in directing a steady flow of traffic on to the airfield, but there were long queues of cars. St John Ambulance Brigade officers reported only two or three "casualties" among spectators-apparently from stepping on broken glass. In the only mishap of the morning, a local motoreyelist, Ray Mulqueen, spun his 750 e.c. Norton out of Club Corner and was taken to hospital for an X-ray examination after his 60-yard skid across the grass. Spectators in the pit area and in front of the contro stand quickly scattered, and no one was hurt.