16-9-75 0003 NOVOR SCAR 100 Allan Moffat with his Mustang Top saloon The saloon-car races at Wigram on Sunday promise to be the most exciting seen for some time. Two of the top Australian cars will be here - John McCormack's Charger and Allan Moffat's Mus- to top the "ton»? bit faster will have to go Some of the faster cars will be reaching nearly 150 m.ph. on the back straight and then braking for the hairpin. Moffat reckons he can lap at 100 m.p.h. and Leonard and Richards, not to mention Red Dawson, Paul Fahey and John McCormack, will be trying hard. drivers to be a most memorable race. The other supporting races on the programme will be a Formula Ford race of seven laps which will count towards the here Motorcraft championship and a race for vintage and historic racing cars run of the entage far diction There will also be two motor-cycle races. G. Lawrence If any of the resident Zealand drivers can bring the Stuyresant crown back home it is Graeme Lawrence of Hamilton. He is the most experienced single-seater driver in the country and has already won the series once — in a Ferrari in 1970 but he has never been faster than he is now. He had no difficulty winning P.O.S.B. F5000 championship last year and then won the first round of this series at Levin. Fuel problems might have robbed him of second place at Pukekohe last Sunday. Lawrence, now 33 and marned with two sons, started racing in 1965 in a 1938 Citreon. Just three vears later he wan the National Formula Championship and went to Europe where he raced a works Formula Iwo McLaren with mixed success. Back in New Zealand with new McLaren he was runner-up in the 1969 Gold Star series — a championship he later won in the Ferran. Meanwhile the young Hamilton driver had taken the South East Asian circuit by storm, winning virtually every grand prix on the calendar. including Singapore Grand Prix and the Malaysian Grand Prix three times each. In the 1972 New Zealand Grand Prix at Pukekohe, Lawrence, driving a new Lola 1300, was severely injured in a 160 m.p.h. crash on the back straight. His car was wrecked beyond repair and he spent six months in hospital and another SiX months at home before he could race again. Last season he had to sort out the Lola 1332 during the Stuyvesant series but nevertheless managed couple of thirds. Now the car is going so well that Lawrence must be considered a big threat to Brown, MeRae and Amon. Tang - to challenge the might of the local brigade. Jim Richards, of Auckland, has his Sidchrome Mustang mobile again and he and Leo Leonard (Timaru), in the P.D.L. Mustang. are likely to have a tremendous duel. Radio Avon is sponsoring the feature saloon race (for the fastest saloons regardless of category and has also put up $50 for the first driver to lap at more than 100 m.p.h. in a sa- Joon. Allan Moffat cracked the 100 m.p.h. mark last year but that was on a circuit without a hairpin. Now that the hairpin, at the end of the main straight, has been reinstated, the cars There will be four saloon races. The first is for "supercars," which includes Camaros, Camares, Tornas, cons Mustangs BDA Escorts, and wil be run over seven laps. The second, for cars over 4200 c.c. complying with either the B.N.S.W. or O.S.C.A. regulations, will be run over seven laps and will include all the stars in their bing bangers. Then there is a race for the smaller saloons - up to 4200 c.c. - which will feature Fahey in his superquick Superford and Reg Cook in his icmarkably fast Datsun. The Radio Avon feature, of 11 , Laps, these cing the fastest oil these cars gether for what promises Warwick Brown at Levin. --- :... SECER LAWRENCE Amon I Chris Amon, one of the favourites in the Peter Stuyvesant series, aithough he has yet to score a point. has given up Formula One motorracing to concentraté on Formula 5000. The former Tasman champion is contesting this series in a Taion entered by Jack McCormack of America. After the series Amon will be competing in the lucrative 75000 championships in both North America and Europe. The American season does not begin until June and by that time the European F5000 series is half over. Amon plans to do as many races as possible on both sides of the Atlantic, and he regards the Stuyvesant senes ideal lead-in for the rest of the year, writes Eoin Young. After recent tests in a GRAHAM MeRAE Graham McRae has returned home to try to capture the Stuyvesant series for the fourth time - he won it in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Last year he was the fastest man on all the circuits but his car — or tyres — would just MOt hold together. Similar small problems have robbed him of points in the first two rounds of this series — a split nut at Levin and inappropriate tyres at Pukekobe. Of course McRae must be rated as the hot favourite to win the series — if he сап finish races. Wigram might be the deciding meeting. now out Formula I B.R.M. VI2 at Sneterton, Amon decided not to drive for B.R.M. and, in fact, there is little prospect of him driving in Formula I again. "Frankiy, the whole scene disgusts me so much I'm not sorry to be out of it" says Amon. "The politics appal me, and I guess that's me out of Grand Prix racing for good." "There are too many behind the scene hassles, too many bought drives," he says. "It's not Formula I as it used to be. I think that Formula 5000 racing in 1975 is going to be really competitive. Amon might not be the only talented Grand Prix Formula I driver go F5000 as Britain's Alike Hailwood is considering driving in this growing class next year. The Taion-Chev Amon will be driving in the Stuyvesant series is basically the same as the highly competitive car Graham McRae campaigned in the 1974 series. McCormack bought the plans and rights to build the McRae early in 1974 and although the Talon wes not successful in the initial North American races it became highly competitive as the series progressed. Brian Redman, the Englishman who won the 1974 North American F5000 championship, drove a of F.I Talon at Riverside and found the car only fractio. nally siower than his racewinning Lola. The Ta.on has obvious potential which Amon hopes to exploit in New Zealand and Australia. Although Amon has no: driven in the Stuvyesant series since 1971, he ras a regular competitor since the inception of the series in 1964, winning the cup in 1969 with a works 24 it.e Ferrari. He sees the 1975 Peter Stuyvesant senes with its eight races in as many weeks as the idea! opportunity of keeping in trim before the European and American events. At only 30 years of age Amon has in his career driven some of the worlas best Formula One, Can-Am. and 22 litre cars. He has had "drives" for liarch, Iviatra, Mclaren, B.R... and Ferrari. The Manawatu drive= has suffered a lot of :: luck in his career overseas. Mechanical troubles have persisted in keeping him from the very top in ite sport. In spite of this, be has held lap records at ever! malor circuit in zuroD: great sortecon cars. He was also a winner c! the Le Mars 24 hour race, sharing the honours with the late Bruce vicLareD. This was in the 1966 race when they drove a Fore G.T.