BEGG&ALLEN Calitornian Tom Gloy is the driver mast likely to cause an upset in the trophy race for his Tui BHZ, designed and built by the ace New Zealand racing mechanic Alan McCall, is reputedly the quickest car in the Stuyvesant series and so should show to advantage on the fast aerodrome circuit. Fine tuning mak Keener motor racing enthusiasts regard the pre-race practice and qualifying sessions as being just as important, il' not more so, than the races themselves. This is why Saturday, pracfice and qualifying day for the Sunday Lady Wigram Trophy meeting will inevitably attract a large number of motor racing fans. They will have an opporlumity of seeing the drivers at close quarters and, tot the technically-minded there will be opportunities to examine mechanical details of the racing cars. For the drivers and their mechanics' Saturday will be the big day because racing cars have to be individually tuned for each circuit. Perhaps the most important aspect of this tuning is seleclion of the correct gear ratios. The Terelonga Park circuit at Invercargil! where the Pacifie Formula cars raced in the fourth round of the peter stuyvesant series last Sunday is an entirely diffent track from Wigram which is longer, wider and laster. Under ideal: conditions a car needs to be geared to produce its maximum speed at Wigram for this can be tased the long back straight, But there is always a fly in the ointment because Christchurch's prevail- the differe ing north-easterly wind is a head wind on this straight and if it happens to be blowing a race car with a high top gear will not reach its optimum engine speed and so the driver may be forced to use a lower gear in which case the engine will be called on to rev faster inan is likely lo be good for it. Naturally the situation be: comes even more complicated if there is a southerly tail wind to help a car along the straight. HANDLING Also, because Wigram is a faster circuit than Teretonga with more open and faster bends, suspensions settings Irequently need adjustments and so, too, do rear, wings and nose spoilers to give the right amount of dowar-thrust for optimum handling. This is the fine tuning and if it is done properly it can make a tremendous difference to a car's lap times and this is, of course, the name of the game. In the 44lap Lady Wigram race an 0.25 sec improvement pcr lap and adds up to 11sec, in theory at least. While 1isec does not seem to be very much, on numer• ous motor racing occasions three or four cars have fin- ished. within that time span. When it is borne in mind that the trophy race winner will receive $3000, the seeond man $2000 and the third $1500, paring lap times down by fractions of a second by fine tuning does assume a great deal of significance. Race grid positions for the start are also extremely im- Portant because a driver cun •a lot of time simply waiting for a chance to pass a car ahead of him and so the ideal place to be is on the front row of the grid or as close to it as is humanly possible. This is why drivers atlach so much importance to the Limed quaillying sessions during which they drive as hard as they can to make their best • possible times. Qualifying times are almost always less than cach driver's best race lap lime because they are recorded gencrally when the ariver has a clear track and so 1s not delayed by slower cars. In this Peter Stuyvesant international series the fastest qualifier for each of the five races wins a wrist. watch, presented by Cilizen Watches When qualifying for the thild stuyvesant • round ended at the Mantield circuit, Finland's two drivers Winning still Rosberg's game Although Finland's Keke Rosberg clinched the 1977 Peter. Stuyvesant internattonal motor racing series when he won the fourth and penullimate round at Teretonga Park, Invercargill, with consummate ease, that does not mean to say that the final round on Sunday, the : Lady Wigram Trophy, will be a race without an oblective for the score or so of starters. Rosberg, who has won three of the four races held in far, will be out to win again, of course, because he has cicarly shown that in his book winning is the name of the game. But as far as the rest are concerned, there are some strong incentives. Not the least is the first prize money of $3000 in the $12,000 stake. Also there is a lot of prestige attached to being. the holder of the trophy, by vil-. tue of the fact that the Wigram honours board has inscribed upon it some of the most famous names in internatlonal motor racing. Finally, Rosberg, who has set his sights upon World Racing Drivers' Champlonship, has proved in this series with his three wins and three fastest qualifying limes that he is a racing driver already heading along the right path and anyone who can beat him ou Sunday must immediately estabiish himself as an extremely talented driver with an international reputation. By any standards, the Lady Wigram Trophy will be an extremely fast race and although it seems improb; able, on the law of averages, Ba: K. Rosberg (Finland) Chevron B34 T. Gloy (USA) Tul BH2 B. Allison (Aus) Ralt RTI D, McMillan (NZ) Ralt RT1 S. Millen (NZ) Chevron B34 J. Nicholson (UK) Modus M4 3 M1. Kozarowitzky (Finland) Chevron B34 R. Melville (Jamaica) March 76B 2 A. Miedecke (Aus) Lola T360B D. Oxton (NZ) Chevron B29 K. Smith (NZ) March 76B that any driver can win four races in a row, Rosberg mast inevitably be the fayourite But there are others in the Stuyvesant "cireus" with the ability and the cars to win. They are Calffornian Tom Gloy, Queenslander Bruce Allison, the pick of the New Zealanders, Dave McMillan and, last but certainly not least, Rosherg's compatrio! ани team-male Mikko Kozarowitzky, the fastest qualifier for the New Zealand Grand • Prix at Pukekohe, the only circuit raced on in this series that, at least to some degree, resentbies Wigram. The accompanying table is the best form guide for Wigram. In the series, points are awarded on the basis of 9, 8, 4, 3, 2 and 1 for first to sixth places. P uke Man Ter Total 9 27 essa 5920 ∞/11 1 mtor трон es all nce had collected three watches between them. Beke Rosberg had Won two and Mikko Kozarowitzky the other. In fact Kozarowitzky was a lucky man for he was fastest qualifier on pole position. for the New Zealand Grand Prix by the narrowest of margins. His qualifying time was 65.5 sec and Rosberg's 65.6.