18-9-92 Baird favourite With rents eat on moor Peter Jackson International motor in the opening two rounds of the racing series, Craig Baird starts as a clear favourite at this weekend's wigram meeting, which includes the Lady Wigram Trophy Race. Normally, the pressure to maintain an unbeaten record might be expected to tell, but Baird, aged 21, is already a seasoned campaigner. "People keep talking about the pressure, but I find it gets easier. As long as we can win the Grand Prix (at Manfeild next weekend) I'll be happy, ," said Baird. Although the track surface is something of an unknown quantity because of runway resealing, Baird's new Reynard 92H Toyota should be in its element at Wigram, as Baird believes that the car handies bumps better than his previous Swift. Although the Reynard has supplied Baird with an advantage over his Swiftmounted rivals. it has taken some of the credit away from Baird's driving ability. "Peopie forget that we won seven races last season with a Swift," said Baird, who will be looking to win back the Lady Wigram Trophy he lost to Ken Smith last season. Baird's closest pursuers will be Smith, Julian Westwood from Britain and Paul Radisich, all driving i These drivers will fast turns at Wigram advantage that the Re the twisting sections Levels. Smith snatched the when the race was w Swifts. be hoping that the • will minimise the eynard exhibited on at Teretonga and Trophy from Baird on at Ruapuna las By JOHN HAWKINS season in a thrilling contest. Westwood was the only driver to get ahead of Baird at any time during the first two rounds. Radisich, meanwhile, is quietly confident of a good result after sorting his Swift's handling probiems with changes to shock absorbers and roll bars. His overheating problem at Levels last weekend was caused by a stone which holed a radiator. Radisich is pleased to be returning to the scene of his 1987 Trophy Race win. "Ruapuna is a good track, but it's awfully hard to pass and I'm looking forward to getting back to Wigram," said Radisich. The Swift contenders might have to be content with playing second fiddle to the Reynard through the remaining rounds of the series. News from the Swift factory in the United States this week is that the development package, which has shown promise in testing there, is by no means finalised. The meeting also features national championship rounds for the Primo Tranzam, ICI Autocolor Formula Ford and Auto News Group N categories. In the Tranzam class Kayne Scott will be looking to threaten the Formula Atlantic lap times with his Ford Sierra. In the Formula Ford class a Canadian driver, Graeme Peppler, Joins the international field, which includes driver from Japan, Britain and Australia. K dak The New Zealand driver, Paul Radisich, who is expected to be among the front-runners in the international motor racing series at Wigram tomorrow. On track again after 25 ears By Brian Cowan You know you're getting old when the people you're dealing with were often not born, when some of your life's key scenes were being enacted ... You know you're getting old, and silly with it, when you tell them of this, and fail to catch the glazing over of the eyes and the murmurings of polite interest which disguise the thought: "Who cares? Why doesn't the daft old beggar either shut up and get on with it, or retire gracefully?" So, to those who over the last couple of weeks have been accosted by a one-armed looney who told them the last time he raced at Wigram was over a quarter-centry ago (probably betore you were born, sonny"), my apologies, and thank you for your forbearance. To those who will inevitably be so afflicted this weekend, be kind to me, I can't help myself. On four wheels I'm looking forward to getting on the famous track again, albeit on four wheels rather than the two of my previous visits. The car is the Ford Laser TX3i, which once again the Scribbler Racing Team is campaigning in the Group N section of the Peter Jackson series. Last year's exercise - in which six motoring correspondents for various newspapers each raced the car for one round - proved very enjoyable. Just as importantly, it gave us all an insight into the running of a team, and what is involved in racing, albeit at the comparatively modest level of Group N. Because it can only be used as a race circuit for the two days of the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting, Wigram is not a track you are allowed much practice on. The Group Ns, for example, get two quarter-hour sessions today - perhaps 16 laps in total if I'm lucky. Still, it will be a sight more than my first meeting in 1965. An overnight rebuild of my BSA Gold Star racer was completed at 6am, in time for a couple of hours' sleep and a mad dash to the circuit. The bikes were allowed only one practice session KI Hot tips: Racing driver Shane Drake (standing) passes some lips to motoring writer Brian Cowan. The Ford Loser TX3i Cowan will drive of Wigram tomorrow is the same car Drake won the 1991 Formula Ford scholarship in. - Drato, burn Camoron. in those times, when the meeting was compressed into a single day, and mine came to a halt after a lap and a half when the insulator on a brand-new spark plug cracked. By the time I'd completed the kilometre-long push back to the pits practice was over. Determined not to be late for the race, I was first on to the track when the bikes were called. Expecting to be at the back of the grid, I was horrified to find that nobody worried about practice times, and grid positions were filled on a first-come, first-served basis. The marshals had no time to listen to terrified protests, and ordered me to pole position. Big single My only hope lay in the bike being reluctant to fire, a reasonable chance, since we were using the traditional run-and-bump method, and the big 500cc single-cylinder motors often took a lot of work to get them lit up. That was why I took only a couple of tentative little steps before jumping on side-saddle, and why when the brute fired perfectly - I found myself approaching the first corner of my first-ever race with a 20m lead on the field, and only the vaguest idea of which way the track went. I needn't have worried about having to find my own way, though. As I peeled into the left-hander in front of where the museum now stands at what felt like the maximum safe speed, I was bombed on the right by Tommy McCleary jun, and simultaneously on the left by his sales manager, Sonny Clarke. Mounted on wickedly-fast Norton Manxes, they were the gun local riders of the time, and disappeared from view so quickly I got only the merest hint on how to negotiate the right-hander under the control tower. By this time the rest of the field was crawling all over me, and after several fraught laps I was pleased to finish fifth. I'd like to report I saw every lap of Jimmy Clarke's great win in the main event that day, but the lack of sleep took over and I slumbered through most of it in the pits. Refreshed, and convinced by my earlier placing that I must be a natural, I approached the second race brimming with confidence, and learnt an important lesson on the limits of tyre grip when attempting to move from seventh to third in one swoop around the outside at the hairpin. ! Crash of meeting A year later, an expensive AJS 7R on which 1 still owed a small fortune was rendered very second-hand in a get-off at the Loop which spectators claimed was the crash of the meeting. Small consolation to a young man saving to get married. A year on from that, I was back on the spectators' side of the fence, a brief and not particularly glorious motorcycle racing career behind me. Still, I feel I had my priorities in order - the original date for my wedding had been put back a week when it was found to clash with the annual pilgrimage to Wigram. That she agreed to the change spoke volumes for the generosity of my fiancee Katie. That in a week's time we celebrate our siiver anniversary says even more of her remarkable staying power. And once again, her daft husband is playing at being a racer and she's all but abandoned hope of his ever growing up. If you're at the Lady Wigram, give me a wave as you see me go past. If I respond, tell me to keep my hand on the bloody wheel and get on with the job of finding out just where exactly the darn track goes. It's something I've been wondering about for 25 years. Possibly since before you were born, you know ...