Briton leading foreign driver By Lindsay Kerr British driver Julian Westwood leads an impressive overseas contingent in the Lady Wigram Trophy Race on Sunday. The chance to get away from winter and the chance to enhance his reputation as a driver led Westwood to New Zealand for the Peter Jackson International series. After two years in the tough British Formula 3 championship, the Welshbased driver turned his hand to Formula 3000 in 1991, a formula accepted as the stepping stone to Formula One. Places The move was a good one and after a series of top-three places he went out on a high by winning the final round at the Donington track and finishing third in the championship. In New Zeland he is with the Graeme Lawrence Mobil Swift-Toyota team where he is the No. 1 driver for the six-meeting series. "With 12 races in six weeks plus some testing. I'll be super sharp for my '92 season at home. "It is a tremendous experience for the Brits but the first mistake would be to think that the racing will be easy." he 15- 1-92 NZ driv By JOHN HAWKINS JULIAN WESTWOOD New Zealand's top racing drivers, Craig Baird, Ken Smith, and Paul Radisich, have regularly dismissed challenges from a variety of American drivers with contemptuous ease. This season, during the Peter Jackson International Series, they face a stronger threat from a British driver, Julian Westwood. In the first two rounds of the series, at Teretonga and Levels, Westwood has appealed as the fastest and most professional visiting driver to appear in the series since Davy Jones. Westwood, aged 24, lives in Wales Support ra Supporting races will play a major part in the Lady Wigram Trophy programme. Unlike years ago when supporting races received minor billing only, the Formula Ford, Tranzam saloons, Production cars, Pre 65 saloons, Mini 7, Mazda RX7s and HQ Holdens each have their own championships. The biggest entry is that from the Formula Fords, where 30 cars are expected to line up. In addition to the six overseas drivers the top entrants include several Christchurch drivers. ces popular Once the toast of New Zealand crowds, the big banger saloons have fallen on hard times in recent years but the sight of Kayne Scott, Rodger Freeth and Don Grindley in their state-of-theart American cars will be a thrilling sight on the wide open spaces of Wigram. Another struggle that should be a close affair will involve local drivers John Harcourt in an Oldsmobile V8powered Starlet, Don Elvy in his Chev Capri, and Greg Lancaster in an ex-Dick Johnson Group A Ford Sierra. ers face and earns his living as a racing driver in Britain where he contested the national Formula 3000 series last season. He gained third place over all and won the final round at Donnington Park. When he is not racing he works as an instructor at a racing drivers' school and chases sponsorship money. Westwood took part in I1 FOImula 3000 races in Britain last season and says that, because of the expense, testing time is limited. He hopes to contest Formula 3000 again next season and has raised some finance towards the cost of about £250,000. tough challenge Westwood has found the Formula Atlantic cars - used in the New Zealand series - to be less powerful and have less grip than he had imagined and to be closer in performance to the Formula 3 class than Formula 3000. During the New Zealand series Westwood has enjoyed the camaraderie between drivers and crews and the social atmosphere during and after the meetings, something he says does not occur at British meetings. Although he says the New Zealand circuits he has raced on to date lack some of the more upto-date safety features of their British counterparts, this does not concern him unduly. "Once you slip into racing mode you don't really think about it, but you obviously try to keep within the limits and not go off the track." At Levels last weekend Westwood became the first driver to get in front of the series Craig Baird, but was leader, barged aside by the New Zealander in what many regarded as a harsh move. After the race Westwood remained inwardly cool and preferred a quiet discussion with his rival rather than histrionics, a fact that many appreciated.