18-1-74 19-1-74 McRae needs 120 mph lap for pole posit tion By PETER GREENSLADE Drivers looking for the pole or even a front row position for Sunday's New Zealand Grand Prix will almost certainly need to put in at least one flying lap in the qualifying trials at Wigram tomorrow at an average speed of about 120 miles an hour. The last three Wigram class- Ics have been won by Graham McRae, who, with two rounds in this year's eight-race Peter Stuyvesant $100,000 series already decided at Levin and Pukekohe, has yet to score a point. Australian Johnnie Walker (Lola T330 Repcol was the Levin winner and Englishman Peter Gethin ‹Chevron B24); won at Pukekohe. McRae was fastest qualifer for both races and the odds! must inevitably favour him and his Chevrolet-powered McRae GM2 for the Grand Prix pole position. Last year McRae was fastlest qualifier at Wigram with a time of 65sec, which represents an average speed of 117.969 miles an hour. Simply on the basis of a ¡ year's technical development in motor racing,! believe potential Grand Prix frontrunners will, on average, be between 1.5 and 2sec faster in tomorrow's trials. TRIALS Assuming McRae can knock 2sec off his 1973 qualifying time - and given reasonably good conditions, I don't see why he shouldn't - this means : average speed of 121.714 miles an hour. Qualifying times never into the record books and there are very good reasons for this. Ine trials are frequently undertaken with relatively few cars on the them naryingical mine of minimum amount of petrol to keep weight to the minimum, and some drivers use special qualifying tyres. which have an extremely short life but are much faster than ordinary racing tyres because the tread rubber compound is very sticky to give maximum adhesion. Thus qualifying times can frequently be artificial figures. Only rarely are the best times equalled in a race. The Wigram circut was revised for last year's race, with the hairpin bend at the end of the fast back straight eliminated. The fastest lap in last year's race was made by the young Australian Warwick Brown (Lola T330) who stopped the watches at 65.7sec—an average speed of 116.89 miles an hour. Brown, who has returned to racing in this Stuyvesant serjes. following a bad crash while attempting to qualify for the Surfers Paradise international race last February, will be driving his new Lola T332 in the Grand Prix and should put up a time tomorrow that will give him a place in one of the first three rows on Sunday. Others who should be in the vanguard for the Grand Prix rolling start are Gethin, a newcomer to Wigram, his Belgian team-mate Teddy Pilette Chevron B24), the Australians Max Stewart (Lola T330), John McCormack 'Ansett Elfin MR5 Repcol and Walker. and the New Zealanders David Oxton and Alan McCully, both whom are driving locally designed and built Begg FM5 cars, and the 1970 Tasman champion Graeme Lawrence (Lola T332). McRae, Who has won thenow-superseded Tasman series for the last three years, desperately needs points if he is going to have any chance in the Australian four-race section in Februarv. At Lerin and Pukekohe he had the field well and truly outstripped when mechanical troubles intervened But at Wigram he may not find it so easy to clear away from the rest. Last year be only assumed the lead in the thirty-sixth of the 47 laps when Stewart (Lola T330) was sidelined with engine failure after having led from the start. Brown, who finished second. aiso gave MicRae some hurrylup for a time, although he was 14.6sec behind him at the finish. Unlike the Levin and Pukekohe circuits. which are shorter and tighter. Wigram is a power-driving course withi only one slow section in the Loop and it should appeal to Gethin's taste for he seems to shine on the faster circuits overseas. SALOON QUALIFIES AT 99mph • By Lyn Riley Itang set & qualifying time of Former Australian saloon car Imin. I 2sec,. equivalent to champion Alan Moffat showed $3.04mpna sizzing lap time the New Zealand opposition a for a saloon car. Beside Moffat on the grid in clean pair of heels by qualify- tomorrow's open saloon car ing at nearly 100mph for tomor-race, incorporating the Acerow's feature saloon event at Oscar championship, will be Wigram Christchurch's Graham Baker The Australian's Brut Mus-linathe PDL Ford Mustang. Baker, at present third inj the South Isiand Ace Oscal series, qualified in imin 18sec Next fastest were Paul Fahey, making his first southern appearance in his newly! acquired Cologue Capri, and \fellow Aucklander Jim Richjards (Mustang), both |1min 19sec. Timaru's Wayne Murdoch was fastest qualifier among the group one GIX saloons with 1min 32.8sec. Murdoch's Ford Falcon GT will ine up tomorrow beside Christchurch's Ron Rutherford in a similar car who qualified lin 1min 33.2 sec. FALTER McRae will be all out to make it four in a row at Wigram. but I am picking that Gethin, Stewart, Brown and pernaps. Pilette will keep him honest in tomorrow's trials and the race on Sunday while the likes of vicCormack, Walkler, Oxton, MeCully and Lawrence may well keep a little. lin reserve and be ready to move in if the front-runners falter. But one thing is for sure, given Bromy Food racing conditions, s 1973 fastest lap will become history and so will McRae's 1973 race winning average speed of 114.277 miles an hour. -- 800 NZ INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIX 19th and 20th JANUARY, 1974 TIMING Motor Racing is Dangerous Persons attending the Meeting do so entirely at their own risk. FAILURE TO WEAR THIS PASS WILL RESULT IN YOU NOT BEING ADMITTED TO THE CIRCUIT OR BEING REMOVED FROM THE INFIELD. MOUNT COOK LANDLINES LEADING DRIVERS Allan Moffat, one of the top saloon-car drivers in Australia, is returning to New Zealand for two meetings in the New Year and will appear at the Wigram round of the Peter Stuyvesant series on January 18. Moffat will drive a Chevrolet Monza which is being flown out from the United States especially for the meeting. Monzas are having a run of success in America at the moment and this will be the first time one of the machines has been seen racing in this country. Red Dawson, the Auckland driver who is always among the front-runners in the national saloon titles, has recently bought a similar car and will also race at the meeting. Last year at Wigram the saloons races — featuring Moffat, Jim Richards, Dawson, Leo Leonara, Paul Fahey, and other very rapid drivers - were some of the most exciting seen in this country. Although Fahey has Ietired, Don Halliday will drive his Cologne Capri in January and Leonard will be back with the P.D.In Muswhose Sadchrome Mustang has bose many races in Australia recentiy, has not entered yet.