19-1-70 Matich Win Trophy s Wigram Event His engine spluttering as it pic dry tanks, the Australian driver, F. over the line 10.3sec ahead of R. Gra on Saturday to win the Lady Wigra lead in the Tasman Championship. ked up the last of the fuel from nearly Matich, brought his McLaren M10A ble (United States) in a similar car m Trophy race and take a nine-point Matich, who also won the New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe a week before, averaged 101.35 m.p.n. for the race-61 sec slower than the record race time of 58min 53.6sec set last year by the Austrian driver, J. Rindt. Matich's biggest threat was the New Zealand driver, G. McRae (McLaren M104), who won the five lap preliminary race in the morning and in doing so set a fastest lap of 1:18.6 (105.34 m.p.h.) compared with the fastest mainrace lap of 1:19.8, which he shared with the Australian, M. Stewart (2-ttre Mildren Waggott). But on the warm-up lap be fore the rolling start of the main race, petrol from overfilled tanks caught fire after it trickled out of an over- How pipe on the rear of Me- Rae's car. Oil and water pipes were burnt through, and Me- Rae's mechanics made quick repairs in time for McRae to join in at the rear of the field. GREAT DRIVING For the next 16 laps the Wellington man drove mag-! nificently, charging up through the field to fifth position. Then, partly as a result! of the fire damage, his engine! over-heated, and his challenge! came to an end. Up to that time he had been: gaining slowly but steadily! the leaders, steadily. enough to be within striking distance by the closing laps. The retirement rate was high, and many of the favoured drivers dropped out. i Reliability was one of the major factors in deciding the results. Stewart drove an excellent race in his smaller-engined car to finish only 2.5sec be hind Grable, and only the first three cars completed the 44 laps, or 101.2 miles. The American W. Simpson (Eagle Chevrolet) was fourth, with 43 laps com pleted, M. Goth, of the United States: (Surtees TS5) was fith, and on the same lap, m., Campbell, of the United States (Forsgrini Ford), was sisth with 42 laps completed, and the first resident driver was B. Falloon (Borison Climax) with 42 laps completed. EASY WIN The pretiminary race in the morning was McRae's all tire way, and the English driver D. Bell (Brabham Ford 2.5 litre) was secand all the way, evertually fishing 10.8sec back. Matich spun on the first cor: ner, and the order the first time round was McRae: Bell, Grable, U. Norinder, of Sweden, (Lola T1900), G. Lawrence, New Zealand (Ferrari Dino V6) and D. Marwood, of New Zealand, (Chevrolet Eisert). On the second lap if. Gott, of the United States, (Surtees 1S5) shot into the bales or thei loop and dropped from seventh place to the rear of the field, rhile Norinder, Grable and Law: Tence had a three-way battle: tot third place. Norinder took over the position, but Grable Kept the pressure on and recapi tured it on the last lap. matich moved up after his spin to come sixth benind Lawrence and ahead of 3l. Stewart in the Mildren-Waggott. Simpson spun off in the loop on the fourth lap. K. Bartlett, of Australia (Mildren Waggott), Stewart's teammate, did not start because his mechanics still curing fuel injection trouble goth rud- Goth and Campbell were ning on engines which had been changed overnight, Simpson's mecharucs had found that Friday's misfiring had been caused by fuel-pump troubles, and Bei! was still complaining of -bad handling suspected to be problem caused by tyres which did not suit the circuit. In spite of this, Bell's best flap in the preliminary was only 0.4sec slower • than McRae's; Matich's best was I:20. Simpson. however. had also put in a good I:19, while all the others were over 1:21. MAIN RACE The rolling start of the matn race was delayed briefy to give McRae's mechanics a chance to make good some of the fire dameven then he only made the rear of the dela Just The front row of the grid for ¡the trophy race was Matich and McRae, with Bell and Grable on ¡the second rottird, and Lat Allen and Not: inder on the rence and Stewart on the fourta. Bartlett had got recor ded a qualifying time, and statted off the back. Allen-who as a result of danage early in • Friday's practice nad Teally had his first good look at the circuit only in the preliminary-spun on the first lap and dropped well back, and Norinder tangled with Bartlett which resulted the Austra- : lian retiring within two laps with aerofoil. and engine troubles. and Norinder going out at the end of the second 'with a ruptured oil line. At the end of the frst lap the order was Grabe, Matich. Bell, Lawrence, then Stewart, Simpson. i darwood, D. Willians, of Wales, (Lola 142), P. Phillips of the United States, (Begg Chey- G. Mardon, of New Zea- (rolet (Begg Chevrolet). E. Radi land, sich (cLaren 144), Campbelu, Allen, G. Baker (Brabham 1600). ¡Falloon, Goth, *. Smith (Lotus 12600). P. De Lore (Lotus 2100),: ti order, er. See is barten *cRae and Bartlett. On the second Alen started, moving up, Stewari started putting the pressure on Lawrence, and McRae started cutting Inrough the tall-enders. By the third the first three cars were almost nose to tail Stewart was fourth, Goth had moved right up to tenth behind * Allen and raumps, waile Falloon was also moving up. On the fith Matich started really pressing Grable and Goth had passed AlleD, while the first four cars bad opened a notice. able gap back to Lawrence and the Iest of the feld. MATICH IN LEAD Matich was handling the slippery track magnificently and on the sixth shot past Grable to going even had scorched through backmarkers to tenth place. Radisich had lost a lap, and was bringing up the rear on the charts, although holding station Lawrence in the field. Grable did not surrender his and for the next 10 lead easil mung laps dogggeddy Matich, while Bell kept both well in sight. By the tenth lap lickae was sixth, about 30 seconds behind the seemed by making up lap he might be amongst them before the end. By the thirteenth lap McRael was plainly catching Lawrence's! red Ferrari, and 14sec covered ine first four CaIS: Matich, Grable, Bell, and Stewart. Then the leaders started getting in among more of the tall-enders, and Matich made the most of it to open up • a gap of 2sec, with Bell I2see behind Grable; and Stewart a further sec back. Allen retired with wiring fault. On the sixteenth McRae moved and Matich bad lapped all bat lapped all the first seven cars, Simpson being seventh behind Lawrence. Goth was now a lap back in eighto. inen came Campbell, Pallhips and falloon, ahead of Williams Mardon, De Lore. Then on Smita, the sixteenth Michae Baker, Radisich, and ¡retired, and the crowd groaned at the failure of his gallant effort. By the eighteenth Matica had opened gsec to Grable and had lapped Simpson, while Bell was 7sec back on the American. By the twenty-second. Matich was 17.8sec up on Grable, and Lawrence had started to Blow with fuel-injection trouble and' some overheating caused by a piece of paper caught in the radiator intake. His "Wigramz jins" had struck again-he has! failed to finish the last six wig- LaTI races, although well favoured among the resident drivers on each occasion. Lap Ahead By the twenty-third, the frst. four were a lap up on the rest; Stewart was fourth ahead .of Simpson, and Bell was starting to move in one Grable. The two were soon locked in battle, and Bell got past on the twentyseventh and set off after Matich. the twenty-eighth, Mardon retired with suspension trouble.! Matich now had an 18sec lead, and was slowly increasing it it spite of Bell's best efforts. On nad been Smoking to seera had been smoking Several laps, went out with a blown engine. and another excellent drive had ended. By the thirty-fifth Matich was 20sec ahead of Grable, with Stewart's little Mildren-Waggott a scant 3sec further back, and a lap up on Simpson and Goth: About the thirty-eighth Matich started to ease oil-his fuel was running low-and Grable steadily started to narrow the gap. With three laps to go he was l4sec benind, with one to go! 11.5sec, but the Australian kept going and made the line with virtually dry tanks. Championship with 22 points tó Matich now leads the Tastran Lawrence's 13. Stewart has 10% points, Grable 9, Bell "Norinder Goth 5, Simpson 3, Marwood, bell Bas one 2 each, and Came bell has one point. Prize-money the trophyi race there was no starting money this year-totalled $16,000. Matich won S3000, Grable $2000, Stewart $1500, Simpson $1200 Goth $1000, Campbell $900, williams Falloon $750, Phillips $600, and all other finish: Baker 5500. ers 3400 each. ALL THREE SALOON-CAR RACES AT WIGRAM on Saturday were won by P. Mahey, of Manurewa, in his Ford Escort. This photograph, taken during one of the races, shows fahey's car (No. 104) * in pursuit of the Ford Mustang driven by 1. W. Dawson, of Auckland. EXCITING SALOON CAR The saloon racing at Wigram was probably the closest and most exciting ever seen at the circuit, and although all three races were won by P. Fahey (Manurewa) In his Twin Cam Ford Escort, Fahey certainly did not have things all his own way. In two of the races the crowd of 21,000 saw his challenged time and again by the big Ford Mustang of I. W. Dawson, the. two sometimes exchanging the lead several times lap, and frequently raced side by side. In the tirst race, the first heat of the Mercury $1000 saloon series, the Mustang and the Escort were frequentiy wheel to wheel, and it was anyone's race right to the flag. The Escort made up ground under braking and in the corners, frequently passing the Mustang on these occasions, and the bigger car had the better of it on the long back straight. In the first race, Dawson led the first lap with R. Coppins (Chevrolet Camaro) right behind him, and Fahey hard on the Chevrolet's exhausts. There was a considerable gap back to J. Riley in another mustang. which led the rest of the field by a margin of feet. By the second lap • Fahey had passed the Camaro and was challenging Dawson, with Riley only 2sec further back. For the next three laps the three cars screamed around in very close company, Fahey and Dawson being side by side more often than not. Further back there was a tremendous battle between the Minis of M. Cockburn and A. Prattley for eleventh place, but this ended or the last lap when Prattley got pushed oi his line and into the bales on the 100p. Meanwhile, behind the leaders Riley was having to work hard to hold off a determined challenge from G. Sprague (Twin Cam Escort) and B. CIOS. bie in a similar car. both of them driving an outstanding race. The spectators hardly Knew where to look next. Fahey finally edged into the lead on the sixth lap, and then opened out a tenuous gap Itake the flag only 0.9sec ahead fof the Mustang. He also set fastest lap of Imin 35.4sec-an average of about 87 m.p.h. and one second faster than Dawson's best effort. Coppins made the finish a real cliff-hanger by trailing in the Mustang oniy 0.2sec further back. It was more than 20sec back to Riley. wno was only 1.ssec anead of Sprague, with Crosbie a further D.4sec behind. Finishes do not come much closet coppins Fahey, Dawson were naturally on the front rOW for the second Mercury heat; and this time Dawson led for toe first four laps. with Fahey and Coppins only Isec and 3sec behind nim. On the fourth Fahey moved in, and spent a good deal of the . lap in echelon. Further back, behind Crosbie, Riley and Sprague had a furious dice, with the Mustang only just man- ,aging to keep Then on the fourth lap; Daw- ¡son's engine wilted. and he pulled of to leave Fahey 13sec up on Coppins. On the sixth Cockburn, who had been going particularly well: came to grief in a big RACING (way. He spun in the loop, and: the car clipped the bales. overturned while about 6ft in the air, and crashed on to its roof, sliding another 50 or 60 yards along the track while spinning like a top. The front of the roof mas crushed on to the scuttle; and i: the panel above the roll-bar was rubbed completely through durjing the car's gyrations. Cockfull-harness seat-belt, emerged shaken but unhurt. L. Neilson (Mini S); who bad been foilowing Cockburn closes ily, had to spin off the track i to avoid the hurtling car. In the final saloon • race,: Fahey's battle was with Coppins, and these two swapped places, while Crosbie stayed third ahead. of Riley and Sprague. G. Thomson in thei Holden Monaro bad a horrifyingly spectacular spin in the :100p. but recovered without nitting anything. Fahey managed to keep the lead when. if : counted, and crossed the line ahead of the Mustang; while Sprague was only 0.3sec behind Biley, who was fourth: