18-1-72 LADY WIGRAM TROPHY RACE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE president of the Motor This message is from the found that our patrons have "Over the years we have Race Racing Club (Mr J. A. been well benaved and Brewer). orderly and the club sin- "Once again it is my cerely hopes that this good pleasure, on behall of the record will be maintained club, to melcome Wigram on Saturday. race patrons to shat we "Please remember that meeting ever. believe will be the best operational a e rodrome the meeting is held on an in 19 "Every event on the pro- where, for reasons of safety gramme has attracted ex- and security, there must be ceptionally strong entries, a out-of-bounds areas. matter which is of great "If patrons will follow the The Lady Wigra satisfaction to the club. directions of the officials races, four of which a "It would not be possible whose job it is to ensure The series was introduced to stage the international the smooth running of the in 1964, the objective being Lady Wigram Trophy race meeting, and those of the to develop a form of racing programme without the aid police and Ministry of which would enable New • of many folunteer helpers Transport officers who so Zealand and Australian i and, of course, the Com- willingiy assist, I am sure drivers to compete on more manding Officer and staff of we will all have a happy favourable terms with * the Royal New Zealand Air and trouble-free day and drivers from the Northern Force Station, Wigram. enjoy motor racing the like Hemisphere. "To all helpers the club of which we have not seen : is deeply grateful. before at Wigram." To this end, the Tasman Formula was devised to regulate the specifications of the cars. Initially, this formula laid down that the cars be singleseater open-wheeled racers powered by racing engines with a capacity of not more than 2500cc and running on aviation gasoline. NZ win Appropriately enough, the first Tasman series was won br a New Zealander, the late Bruce McLaren, who was already well established in the international motor racing scene. Thereafter, however, the series was dominated by some of the world's finest Grand Prix drivers, among them the late Jim Clark and the current world champion Jackie Stewart. constitutes third round 72 Tas am Trophy race constitu are being held in New Z Towards the end of the sixties it became evident that the Tasman Formula still favoured overseas entrants who, in the main, brought 3-litre Formula 1 Grand Prix cars with engine capacities reduced to 2500cc and. although the New Zealand international Chris Amon won the championship in 1969 with a 2.4litre Ferrari V6, it was decided to change the formula for the 1970 series. Although the 2.5-litre cars were stil eligible, a new category, known in Europe as Formula 5000 and in the United States as Formula A. was introduced. These Formula A-5000 cars are powered by 5-litre V8 engines which are based on the standard pushrod production engines used in most American cars, the most popular for racing purposes being the Chevrolet V8. Modified The engines are extensively modified, some being fitted with petrol injection systems, while others have multiple carburettors. specifically designed for racing. man Cl lamp ionship tes the third round in the 1972 Tasman championship, a series of eight Lealand. The balance will be held in Australia next month. The cars, generally speaking, are rather larger and heavier than Grand Prix cars. In 1970 Graeme Lawrence, using the Ferrari with which Amon won the 1969 championship, became the first resident driver to win the Tasman Cup. He scored only one win, at Levin, but the reliability of the little Italian car's V6 engine took him to enough high-scoring places to take the title, for the Formula A-5000 cars proved to be temperamental. The situation had changed by the time the 1971 series came round, for builders of the big American V8s had found wars and means of improving reliability and increasing power to outputs closely approaching 500 brake horsepower. Stern struggle A stern struggle developed last year between the Wellington driver Graham McRae and the Australians Frank Matich • and Niel Alien, all of whom drove McLaren cars. Those of NIcRae and Allen were fitted with Chevrolet engines. while Matich used the new Holden-based Repco V8, an Australian-designed and built engine. McRae maintained thr ¡ew Zealand monopoly by carrying off the series from Matich and Allen. for this year the Tasman Formula has again been changed to the extent that the capacity of pure racing engines has been lowered from 2.5 to 2 litres. Significantly, all the overseas drivers, with the exception of Canadian Dave McConnell, have elected to use Formula A-5000 cars, McConnell's car being a 2-litre British GRD. Great stimulus The 5-utre Tasman Formula has giver motor racing in New Zealand and Australia a great stimulus, for it has led to the design and construction of racing cars in both countries. Matich, for example, has brought to this series a car from his own workshops in Sydney. the Matich A50, while the Australian Alfin factory has come up with three cars, two of which are the works entries of Garrie Cooper and John McCormack. while the third is being driven by Max Stewart. McRae, now well established in European Formula 5000 racing, constructed his own 1.5 litre racing cars in New Zealand before he made the hig step into European racing. He has joined forces with a noted English racing car designer. Len Terry, to produce the Leda GAll, a very workmanlike car that, in appearance at least, is similar to the current BRM Grand Prix cars. In Southland On the local front, George Begg, of Drummond in Southland, has been building successful racing cars for New Zealand drivers for a number of years. He is one of the most resourceful rien in the business in this country and certainly the leading constructor. His latest car is the Begg Fil4 which is being driven this season by the Aucklander David Oxton, with considerable success in the Gold Star road racing series. So. apart from enabling New Zealand and Australian drivers to compete upon more favourable terms with established drivers from Europe and the United States the new Tasman Formula has resulted in the design and construction of Australian and New Zealand cars and thus given motor racing in this part of the world a depth it never had before. No longer are the local drivers in a situation where they must, of necessity, buy second-hand cars from Europe. Inw ther can. if they wish. buy better locally built