20 - 1-89 The trophy In spite of what you might have heard or read, I must say that next weekend's Lady Wigram Trophy will not mark the fortieth anniversary of the race which, once at least, figured quite highly on the international motorracing calendar. Although the first Christchurch car race was conducted on February 26, 1949, that does not mean to say that this year's race will mark the fortieth anniversary of the Lady Wigram Trophy, for the very good reason i that the first two of the former events were conducted as the New Zealand road championship. The first race was won by a Wellington Fire Brigade driver, Morrie Proctor, who drove an antique (even in those days) 1089cu cm Brooklands Riley, covering 105 miles at an average speed of 65.67 m.p.h. to head off Frank Bennett, who was to establish an enviable reputation as a financial journalist if not as a racing driver. Bennett ran a 4.5 litre Invicta on that occasion. BEHIND THE WHEEL Peter Greenslade Actually, an elated Proctor returned to his home town as the New Zealand road-racing champion and Hec Green, an exceptionally Clever Christchurch engineer, who also had the considerable talents needed to win motor races in those days, did exactly the same thing in 1950 with his selfdesigned and built Wolseley Special, a 1604 cu cm monoposto (single-seat) racing car. So Proctor and Green were two good reasons anniversary why the Lady Wigram Trophy must go on a few more years before it can be hailed as 40 years old. In point of fact, the long-established and timehonoured Canterbury Car Club shouldered the responsibility for staging New Zealand's first bona fide road race in this country. It was only in the 1950-51 year, when the club decided to shuck the responsibility of conducting a motor race meeting at Wigram around the New Zealand road-race championship, that a small group of enthusiasts took on the annual commitment, but with the patronage of Lady Wigram. Lady • Wigram was the wife of the foresighted man who established a flying i training school in time to prepare New Zealand's would-be airmen to do battle with the Royal Flying Corps above the bloodiness of the Western Front, in the war to end wars. It is also part of the reason why former R.F.C. airman, Hume D. Christie, was one of the enthusiasts who was a foundation member of the Motor Racing Club, Inc., which was formed for the specific purpose of conducting an international motor race each year in Christchurch. Mr Christie's dedication to the pioneering days of Christchurch aviation evinced itself further when he took a leading role in what was to be one of the last of the world's great air races, that which marked the centenary of Christchurch and played a significant part in putting Harewood Airport, as it was then known, on international aviation's map. It goes almost without saying, of course, that Hume Christie was a Christchurch motor business man at the time when the Motor Racing ,Club was formed and the Lady Wigram Trophy came into existence. And so the very first Lady. Wigram Trophy meeting was conducted by the Motor Racing Club, Inc., on March 24, 1951, which happened to be Easter Saturday that year. For the record, the Canterbury Car Club lodged an appeal with the newly formed Association of New Zealand Car Clubs that is not against the Motor Racing Club's application to conduct the first Lady Wigram Trophy race meeting. The A.N.Z.C.C. in its wisdom rejected the appeal, which was just as well, because it gave many Christchurch people the opportunity to meet the world's greatest racing drivers and see them in action. Actually, the first Lady Wigram Trophy race meeting was particularly significant, not only because Lady Wigram had given the club permission for an outright trophy to be presented to the winner of the race, but also because three Australian racing drivers considered the event significant enough to contest it. They were John Nind (Cooper- J.A.P. 1100), Tom Sulman (1.5-litre 4C Maserati) and Ken Tubman (1100 cu cm MG Magnette). The winner of the event was the late Les Moore, father of the former world speedway champion, Ronnie, who raced his P3 Alfa Romeo home to Lady Wigram's laurels. In those days the Motor Racing Club had to work very nard to keep its head above water to set international standards for New Zealand motor racing and when, in 1954, the Royal New Zealand Air Force advised that it was about to reseal the taxistrips, some of which comprised the motor racing circuit, the club wisely decided to forgo its planned 1955 Lady Wigram meeting. It had not amassed sufficient reserves to make good the damage that could occur to an uncured bitumen circuit. So, what with the Canterbury Car Club's two New Zealand road-race championship meetings and the decision not to conduct the 1955 meeting, the Lady Wigram Trophy has three years to go before it can honestly celebrate its fortieth anniversary. I'm sure that, no matter what the pundits say or write, that would be what Lady Wigram would have wanted for her husband who, along with other things, had a sense of history which, unfortunately, seems to have eluded so many of our contemporaries.