24-1-70 28-1-70 Race Series Opened Up Although Frank Matich by no means had the Tasman Championship won when he picked up the Lady Wigram Trophy race last Saturday, following his New Zealand Grand Prix win and Levin third placing, he looked very well placed with 22 points. • But Matich Bas opened up this seven-race series once , again, as he air-freighted his car back to Australia on Monday and gave the final round at Tereconga tark, invercargili, a miss this afternoon. Matich's original intention was to miss Teretonga Park but that was because he wanted to get his Mclaren M10A back to Australia in plenty of time to fit the new Repco Holden V8 . engine in place of the Chevrolet 5-litre V& he has been using in the Tasman series so far. Repoo's racing engine team, headed by Phil Irvving, has been working on this 5 litre Holden V8 since about last May and, according to information from some of my Australian friends, it is going to be a good one. Not Ready However, it is not going to De ready for Matich to use in the Australian Tasman races, for Irving is the sort of man who leaves nothing to chance and' naturally Repco will want to race test it before actually racing it. In short, Repco wants a win first time out and is not prepared to take chances. Under the circumstancas, Matich might have been expected to change his plans and race at Teretonga Park in the hope of another win or. some valuable • place points. He must be pretty confident if he believes he can take the Tasman crown running only six of the seven races. • At Wigram Ron Grable, the tall Californian, was the only man to give Matich any sort of a run for the tralian moan hit the frost After six or • seven laps there was nothing Grable could do about it with his weagenosed McLaren MI0A. Englishman Derek Bell, was never in the hunt with Wheatcroft Racing's 2.5 Brabham. Cosworth Ford, mainly because the car was handling SO badly, ever though Bell had telephoned the designer Ron Tauranac in England to see if he could make any worthwhile suggestions the night before Wigram practice sessions. Bell told me that, in accordance with advice from sion setting Tauranac, the rear suspen was altered, Dut the Brabnam. if any thing was worse than ever. There was talk of having Chris Amon, at present holidaying on the family farm at Bulls, come down to Teretonga Park to try and sort out the car. Amon is regarded as one of the best test drivers in the business and his advice could bring Bell back into the Tasman picture, for a good Brabham with the 25 litre Cosworth. Ford 78 engine still cannot be dis- counted. The Australian Max Ste. wart drove a tremendous race at Wigram in the 2 litre Mildren Waggott, a car with a power output that, on paper at least, should never have made third place on this fastpower-driving circuit. His team-mate, the Australian champion Kevin Bartlett, lost all chance ir a first lap brush with an other car wnich necessitated stops to remove the damaged front aerofoils and then the rear wing. These two Mildren racing tear drivers might even pick up a race on one of the tighter circuits. Motoring writers have made much of the misfortunes of Wellington's Gra ham McRae in this series, the general impression conveyed being that be has had bad luck. -2- Mismanagement That may be so although it is more likely that Mo Rae has not been as vel organised as he should have been. In any event, his failure at Wigram was due to mis management. The fire that damaged ou and water lines on the Mic • Laren MIDA during the warm-up lap was caused by petrol which ingnited oa the bot engine petrol from overfiow pipe of overfilled tank. McRae lost more than a while repairs were. made, then joined the race and made up a tremendous amount of ground before finally retring after about 18 laps with an over-heating engine. 'Might Have Wor some who took part in the Wigram post mortem. expressed the opinion that if Michae had not been forced to withdraw he might have won the race or at least come second. "If' is a word that is of no consequence once the result of any form of cor pention has been deter. mined. And, any schoolboy with a smattering of arithmetic would know that McRae did not have a ghost of a chance. The point is that Matich's average time for each of the 44 laps was 81.7sec. As McRae lost consider ably more than that amount by his late start, he would have had to pull in something like 2sec a lap on Matich for the entire race. That would have given McRae a race average of about 103.89 miles an hour and, good though he is, I very much doubt if he is better than Jochen Rindi who set a race record af 102.68 miles an hour in the 25 Gold Leaf team Lotus Cosworth Ford V8 last year. All the same, the Welling ton driver did set a new Wigram lap record of 105.35 miles an hour-0.26 miles an hour better than that of Rindt and Chris Amon (2.4 Ferrari V6) last year. It is this that forces me to the conclusion that Matich might yet regret his decision not to гасе • Teretonga Park this after- SALOON CAR CIRCUIT PROVES SOUND SCHEME By Murray Taylor SOUTH ISLAND race promoters decision to run ther own prestige saloon car championship has proved a sound move. Dissatisned with the alloca- At Wigram the points were tion of national saloon car! allocated 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. But a plecision; decision: eretace wey whether events to the South Island at now the total increases | were to cater for club memthe start of the season the each subsequent meeting by bers and enthusiasts with large promoters met and agreed on the original figure. fields of smaller and slower their own series of seven races This means that points fot club cars or go all out for proto be known as the Mercury Saturday's meeting at Timaru moted meetings. 1000 series. Will be l5, 12, 9, 6, 3 and they This entails a lot of expense The promoters involved are continue increasing un- but the return is better racing Wigram (Motor Racing Club); hi the final race at Teretonga and larger crowds. Ruapuna ‹Canterbury Car on June 1 when the points will Last season's club meetings Club); Timaru Motor Raceway ¿ be 35, 28, 21, 14, 7. sometimes attracted fields as (South Canterbury Car Club): system ensures that small as only half a dozen and Teretonga i Southland every driver wanting to be in cars. Sports Car Club). the prize money in the Eight of the qualifying series, reputed to be the rich- In contrast the field for the rounds for the national saloon Mereury race at Timaru on car championship were to have in almost every race. est in the country, must start Saturday numbers thirty, in ¡cluding the fastest vehicles in been in the North Island and only three in the South Island, New Zealand. making it virtually impossible Free-formula And for the Ruapuna meet-. financially for southern drivers ing the following week-end to compete. The ambitious series is an there are a similar number. The Mercury series on the adaption of the all-comers! Total prize money for the other hand has been thought- formula that was pursued on seven-race series is more than a national basis up until 1967. |$6500. Drivers also stand to fully instigated in twe ways. In essence it is a series for make money from otber saloon car races at each in with the Tasman The ate Taman in a Bit in an elems t But in an attempt to retain! This Ces money in tir held at Wigram and the second a similarity with production tional series. The first race was isport can only be for its betsaloon car forms, regulations terment. last week-end at Teretonga. state the body work must keep Theretore, the big-league the original profile and engines Faster Cars North Island drivers who are must remain in the originall present dominating compartment. Competitors can spend more points system can remain for on bigger, faster cars which. the two other meetings on con- These stipulations come secutive week-ends at Timaru into force nest season, but attract more of the paying and Ruapuna. ffor the current season the public and in the long run present all - comers will be everyone benefits. Two Weeks permitted. Another development since the series is increased sponsor- In spite of the powerful ship by business interests in The final three meetings in machinery being brought in the South Island. May • to be held at Timaru, from the North Island. local After two meetings, points Ruapuna and Teretonga will drivers are not being shut in the Mercury series are: again be staged on consecu-nut. Three of them-Clyde Col Rod Coppins (Chevrolet Camtive weekends which will lins, Brian Crosbie and Lyn|aro). 14; Red Dawson (Ford mean competitors from other Neilson-are in the first seven Mustang), 11; Clyde Collins centres will only be required placings and stand as much!(Ford Falcon), 6: Paul Fahey to take two weeks away to chance as anybody. (Ford Escort FVA), 5; Brian compete. With the variety of circuits Crosbie (Ford Escort twin- The other well conceived idea suiting the various types and cam). 5; John Riley. (Ford •behind the series is the rather capacity saloons the competi Mustang), 3: Lyn Neilson complicated point scoring sys- tion should stay wide open (Austin Cooper S), 2. tem. It is not possible for thej until the final meeting. series : to be decided before The series comes at a time the last race as at each meet, when saloon car racing in this ing tae points increase. country is at the crossroads.