10 12 93 oung Hastings driver returned to New enthusiasm for the concept after a test drive in will drive in this season's Pe Greg Murphy has Zealand full of Formula Brabham the Reynard 90D he ter Jackson Series. Asked to compare the relative performance of a Formula Brabham with a Formula Atlantic, Murphy said: "It's hard to tell. I think it will be close. The Formula Brabham handled nicely and had plenty of torque. It is a beautiful car. It feels big and looks great, and has plenty of downforce, but because it is a flat-bottomed car you have to run plenty of wing" Murphy tested the car at the Mallala circuit in South Australia. @ Graham Watson (Spa), Steve Cramp (Ralt) and Paul Stokell, Kevin Weeks, and Chris Hocking (Reynards) will all be coming from Australia to contest the Peter Jackson Series meetings at Wigram, Manfeild, and Pukekohe. As well, Ross Zampatti is a possible starter in a yet-to-beannounced chassis. There is still a possibility that a couple of Formula Atlantic drivers may come from the United States, but there is a fear that the organisers may start applying weight penalties should the Atlantics prove to be faster than the Formula Brabhams. Regular Peter Jackson Series visitor James Taylor is likely to attend again with his Ralt RT40, but the talk is that he will bring his own team personnel rather than use the resources of a local team, as he has done in the past. 22 - 12-93 International entries for Peter Jackson By Linday Kerr A huge loss from last season's Peter Jackson international motor racing series has not prevented organisers from coming up with another series with an international flavour. Big changes have been made, though that mainly aftect the pre mier single seater class. Since 1976 Formula Atlantic has been run unchanged but now it will combine with the V6 powered Formula Brabhams from Australia. The new series will be over only three rounds, Wigram, Manfeild and Pukekohe, as opposed to four last season and six before that. The move to the Australian Brabhams has come about because of the cost factor now associated with the new Formula Atlantics and also declining fields in the US, where many competitors to this series have come from. Five Australian cars together with drivers will compete at the three meetings and New Zealand driver Greg, Murphy will also drive one of the new cars. Formula Brabhams, with their 3 litre V6 units sitting in European Formula 3000 chassis, are believed to be only half of what a competitive Formula Atlantic car would cost. Running costs are also a lot less. The formula has been around Australia for a number of years but never captured the imagination of the V8 touring car mad bublic. However, in recent times ndonesia has expressed interesi and now New Zealand. The five Australian drivers to contest the series are Paul Stokell, Kevin Weeks, Steve Cramp, Graham Watson and Chris Hocking. Murphy's decision to change camps was driven mainly by money• "I was planning to run an Atlantic, but the budget to drive a Brabham was much less. I have seen them in action and I believe they will be competitive with the best Atlantic cars, " he said. Not everyone shares Murphy's views. in particular the ageless Kenny Smith, who will return for another season, has done back toback tests and believes that his Ford-powered Swift will be too quick for the Australian imports. Also driving an Atlantic will be German Michael Graf, brother of tennis star Steffi. Graf has had experience in the German Formula three championship and like many visitors in recent years 1s coming to New Zealand as part ot a learning curve. He will be driving the Toyotapowered Keynard that Craig Baird took to victory last season. Competing over six rounds will be the national Formula Fords, Transams and touring cars. As in previous years the Formula Ford championship will aiso have an international flavour, with a young English driver Sean McNally in the line-up. He will be part of the Graham Lorimer team that will also be looking after Graf. The championship held Will De big, with fikely front runners being detending champion Ashley Stitchbury, local driver Andrew Neale and Kenny Smith doing the double act. Tranzams are popular with the crowds, but despite rule changes with the aim of cutting costs this class again appears to heading down a one-way road to destruction, with those with the big budgets still able to run modern imported machinery. The touring car championship for mildly modified saloon cars 1s shaping up well with former single seater champions Craig Baird and Brett Kiley driving new BMW 325 coupes up against the best Falcon and Commodore drivers. At Timaru and Teretonga trucks will also be on the programme. bob Kussell is coming trom Aus tralia to drive the White Koac Boss that Avon Hyde won this year's New Zealand championship in. Racing dates in the South Island are Timaru, January 8/9, Tere tonga 15/16 and Wigram 22/23. 24-12-93 © British Mini 7 racer, Chris Lewis, will again be among the starters in the opening round of the national Mini 7 championship at Wigram on January 22 and 23. 31 - 12-93 • Former sprintcar and now Mini sprint driver, Kevin Clive, will switch to the black top for the Wigram meeting on January 23. He has decided to hire the Mini 7 Register's lease car for the meeting, which includes a national championship round. Clive says that the possibility of this being the last chance to race at Wigram provided the motivation to arrange the deal.