12-9-71 NIERNAT Satur "day's contest third round in annual series The international Lady Wigram Troph round in the annual New Zealand-Australia 1964 for the express purpose of giving residen compete on favourable terms with overseas d The original Tasman For- being the late Bruce mula imposed an engine cap- McLaren, who raced a acity limit of 2.5 litres and Cooper-Climax. cars had to be single-seater Other champions were the open-wheelers, running on late Jim Clark, who, driving petrol with a maximum rat- Lotuses, won the title on ing of 30 octane, known in three occasions, and the 1969 the sport as "Avgas," or world champion, Jackie aviation gasoline. Stewart, who drove a 2-itre Right from the outset, the BRM V8. series was dominated by in- Resident drivers of New ternationally ranking Zealand and Australia seldrivers, the first champion dom had a look in and so, for • The 1970 La winner. Frank Ma tory hug from h was all over and, Mel.aren excellent ch dy Wigram Trophy race atich, received a congratulais young daughter when it , in his new Repco-powered he must be conceded an ance of winning again. зу race on Saturday will Tasman championship, a it drivers of both countrie Irivers. constitute the third series established in an opportunity to 1970, it was decided to liberalise the formula by admitting cars powered by 5-litre pushrod engines, all of which so far have been American V8s. Attractive The change in the formula at once made the series attractive to drivers who, although prominent in their own countries at national level, had not achieved international status. The change immediately brought about the expected result - more "colourful and more truly interational felds, closer racing and, for the first time, a resident driver won the championship. He was Hamilton's Graeme Lawrence. who scored with the 2.4 Litre Ferrari V6 Chris Amon had used to win in 1969. Won only one As it turned out, Lawrence won only one race in the series - the first round at Levin - but apart from Wigram, where he was forced to retire for the seventh con- secutive year, he collected minor places and so built up his score. Australian Frank Matich won the New Zealand Grand Prix and Lady Wigram Trophy, while Wellington's Graeme McRae won at Teretonga Park. Invercargill, and Surfers' Paradise. They both drove McLaren NIlAs, as did Sydney real estate developer Niel Allen, who won the final round at Sandown Park, Melbourne. The otber race, at Warwick Farm, Sydney, was won by a former Australian champion, Kevin Bartlett, in a 2-litre Mildren-Waggott. All these drivers are contesting the tropay race again this year. Points Tasman points are awarded on the basis of 9, 6, 4. 3. 2 and 1 for first to sixth places and. unlike some other championships in motor-racing, drivers count all their performances. The New Zealand section of the series will end with the race at the Soutniand Sports Car Club's permanent circuit. Teretonga Park, near Invercargill, on Sunday, January 24. Then the contestants will have a fortnight to travel to Surfers' Paradise for the first Australian round. ..... INAL LADY W Something for all Whatever their particular fancy in motoring sport, there should be sometning for everyone in the international Lady Wigram Irophy programme on Saturday. Although the trophy race, run over 44 laps, — 101.2 miles — is the feature event, patrons will have an opportunity of seeing all New Zealand's leading motor-cyclists in action as trell as the country's top saloon car drivers. There are two two-wheeler events on the programme and in them will be such stars as "Ginger" Molloy, who is a regular European rider these days, much in demand by works teams, Geoff Perry, who has done well at home as well as in Malaysia. and was also well placed at Daytona, Florida, a year ago, and Trevor Discombe and other top locals. Saloon car races will include the opening round of the South Island Mercury $1000 series, which will be run in two beats, and a round of the Bank of New South Wales national saloon car championship. Additionally there will be the Motor Racing Club's ever-popular event for cars which do not qualify for the trophy race. The outside broadcast unit of CHTV3 will be carrying out one of its most ambitious undertakings to date, the live telecast from start to finish of the trophy race to gire full coverage of the event in the viewing area. The Motor Racing Club, which promotes the Wigram meeting, greeted the overture from the NZBC entausiastically because members realise that there are many people who, for reasons of distance from Christchurch, illness or some commitment, will be unable to attend the meeting. It also considers taat, although motor-racing has an ever-growing following throughout the country, a live telecast will introduce the sport to an ever wider audience. The outside broadcast unit's tentative plan is to use three cameras to provide the widest possible coverage. GRAM TROP Great RACE advances The great advances made by New Zealanders in motor racing are well illustrated in the Lady Wigram Trophy race fiela. Four cars have been designed and built by New Zealanders, one of ther by a man who is, to all intents and purposes, a professional racing car designer and constructor. He is George Begg, whose business is in the Southland town of Drummond. Over the years he has built a variety of cars, but alter working for a year with McLaren Racing in Britain he returned home to concentrate on Formula A-5000 models. His two works entries, a brand-new Begg FM4, which will make its debut at Wigram in the hands of former sports car and speedway man Geoff Mardon, and an oider F112, which will be handled by Russell Thomson, will be watched with interest in a field of cars designed and constructed by Britisa firms which are household names among motoring enthusiasts. The third Begg, also an FM2, has been entered by Neil Doyle, who is best known to local motor racing followers for his spectacular driving of a Chevrolet-engined Anglia in saloon racing. The other purely New Zealand entry is the Matipo MJ 70A which has been designed and built by two Aucklanders, Mark Petch and John Olsen. Like the Beggs, it is powered by a Chevrolet engine and it will be driven by former national saloon car champion Robbie Francevic.