20-1-83 Lady n Vigram Trophy насе, January 22-23 Formula Pacific series (By PETER GREENSLADE) Queenslander. Charlie With only 1.18 seconds O'Brien took out the second separaling the fastest from heat. the siowest qualifier for the Honours have been fairly penultimate round of the well spread and. under the Just Juice Formula Pacific circumstances. it would not international motor racing be altogether surprising to series, which was held on the see fresh names on Manfield circuit last Sunday. results sheets 00 Sunprospects 100k good for the final round. the Lady dageries contenders this year Wigram Trophy. the Christ- have come from the United church ciassic which will be States, Canada. West Gerdecided on Sunday. many and Australia to This series in unquestion- comprise about half the field, ably the most open there has the other half being local been since Formula Pacific drivers. became the category for Those likely to be most New Zealand's international contentious, at Wigram are. races. with one exception, driving a Each international round car designed by an Austracomprises two heats. the han who is residing in Engresult being determined by land and was a close associtotalling the points scored by ate of the former Australian each driver and then having world champion racing each individual score. driver, Sir Jack Brabham. The 21-year-old Canadian, He is Ron Tauranac and the Allen Berg, won both first- car he has designed and round heats at Bay Park, constructed is the Rait RT4. Mount Maunganui. At the which is generally acknow- New Zealand Grand Prix at leagea to be the most suc- Pukekohe a week later the cessiul Forwa Pacifie Aucklanders. Dave McMillan racer in the world today. and David Oxton, won a heat Allen Berg, from Calgary. each but Oxton was adjudged Canada. is racing for the the Grand Prix winner, for first time outside North he ran second to McMillan in America and his Just Juice the first beat. while McMil- series attempt is being mastlan had to abandon the erminded by one of New second heat because of elec- Zealand's most successful trical troubles in his Rait racing drivers. Graeme Law- RI4. rence. Berg. who is driving Then, at Manfield last Sun- Lawrence's Ralt, spent ... day. the American. Norm year at university doing lib- Hunter. won the first heat eral-studies but had already from start to finish and the set his heart on motor rac- ALLEN BERG ing. He was a provisional gokart champion at 16 and one of Canada's leading Formula Ford drivers at 18. He promoted himself to Formula Atlantic racing in 1981. He intends to move to Formula 3 racing in Europe this year and aspires to be a Formula 1 Grand Prix driver. Caristian Danner, a 24-year- West German from Munich. has been driving for the March-BMW Formula 2 works team in Europe since last year and will be again representing it in Europe this year. He began his career in Renault 5 saloon car races and moved on to race BMW M1 cars with success. Without any open wheel single-seater expertence. he began racing in the Formula 2 European Championship series in 1981 and CHRISTIAN DANNER today he is acknowledged as an outstanding test driver for the March designer, Ralph Bellamy, who used to work with the Lotus Formula 1 team. NORM HUNTER Norm Hunter is a lanky 27year-old from California. He began single-seater racing by contesting the American Formula Ford championship series in 1979 and won the title in 1980. In 1981 he turned to Formula Atlantic racing. which is a Northern Hemisphere equivalent of Formula Pacific and won the Rookie oi the Year Award. to be decided on S CHARLIE O'BRIEN car drivers. He raced successfully for the Holden Dealer Team before deciding to get into a Formula Pacific open-wheeler in 1981. He is one of the few saloon car drivers who have made a successful transition to openwieeled single-seaters. nad his first Formula Pacific race in the New Zealand Grand Prix of 1981, and. a week later, ran third at the Manifield circuit. Last year. he finished fourth in the New Zealand Grand Prix and then went on to win the Australian National Panasonic series. and managed to keep up with the front-runners, and has performed in this season's Just Juice series in a similar fashion. His father, Frank Radisich. contested New Zealand's international races in a variety of cars for many years and no doubt, he has passed on all he knows to his son. who appears to be one of New Zealand motor racing's brighter stars in the making. MIKE ROSEN Mike Rosen, a wealthy 24. year-old from the United States. is what most racing drivers were a quarter of a century ago. He really does not need the sponsorship that makes racing possible for most of the world's topline drivers these days. That is not to say that Rosen is an enthusiastic amateur. He raced last year's New Zealand international series and gained valuable experience which stood him in good stead on bis return to the United States and Britain in 1982. He bas returned for the Just Juice series a vastly improved driver and is again racing under the wing of Dave McMillan. all of whose extensive team resources are avalable to him. Ken Smith is the most experienced racing driver con- GRAHAM WATSON testing this year's Just Juicer series. He is running the Rait RT4 that the French For-i mula 1 driver. Jacques Laí-! itte, raced in thé recent Australian Grand Prix and although he must have reached the age when most New Zealanders would hae abandoned serious racing, be still mixes it with the best of the younger men and, as a front-runner, must always be reckoned with in any international line-up in this country. He also has reached the stage in life where he has no trouble in keeping all his activities in perspective. h..m. KEN SMITH unday Grabam Watson is billed as an Australian but he is. in fact, a New Zealander who now lives in Sydney and also happens to be the Australian agent for Ralt racing cars. An extremely competent driver who does not always perform as well as observers expect of him. he has. nevertheless. the ability to win races and. generally manages to keep ahead of the mid-field runners. Because he is so close to the British Rait organisation, he is well abreast of all the latest developments. He is also a first class repairer of damaged Rait racers DAVE MCMILLAN Dave MeMfillan, aged 38, was born in Christchurch but when he is in New Zealand. lives in Auckland. Since 1974. he has been involved in North American racing and last year won the North American Formula Atlantic Championship. a wellsupported and keenly contested tested racing series. The most professional of New Zealand's racing drivers. McMillan lists his other occupation as a special sales representative for Pan Am one of his major sponsors. Charlie O'Brien is a 27-yearold. with a seven-year-old son. from Brisbane. Australian motor sport fans know him as one of the top saloon HUBERT PHIPPS Hubert Phipps. of Palm Beach. Florida. has not exactly covered himself with glory in the Just Juice series, but this 25-year-old was the 1981 U.S. National Champion, winning the Road Atlanta Championship. He is driving a Formula Pacific Tiga, an English-built racer, in his series. PAUL RADISICH Paul Radisich, of Henderson is the most successful of New Zealand's younger racing drivers. Only 19 years old, he has some saloon car racing experience as well as a year of Formula Pacific behind him and has settled into the sport as a steady, smooth and fast driver. He raced in Australia last year