SPORT AT MURIWAI.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 106, 7 May 1935, Page 18

SPORT AT MURIWAI.

WEATHER UNFAVOURABLE. AUSTIN ON FIRE. FAST MERCEDES-BENZ. The elements were unkind to the NewZealand Motor Racing Drivers' Association on Saturday, when the fourth and last meeting of the season was held. A bitterly cokl wind blew strongly from the south-west; the surf ran high 011 the beach, and its spray drifted like a mint across the course. The first race was started 40 minutes late; the darkness came early. The riders who finished in the seventh race, the Kai-para MotorCycle Handicap, were hardly distinguishable in the gathering gloom, and the last race, the Jubilee Handicap, was abandoned. Long before this, however, the exodus from the beach had begun, and no more than a third of the people who saw tho first race waited as late as the seventh.

The hantlicappor was over-generous to the slower cars. C. Segetin, in a Ford, with 1.20 start in the three-la]) introductory handicap, and 2.lii start in the five-lap Motutara Handicap, won both races easily, with the remainder of the field strung out at wide intervals behind him.

With a straight run of a mile and tlivee-tenths each way, the cars were able to work up to high speeds,, despite the soft going. In the race for the New Zealand Light Car Cup, C. CI. Smith, who had an easy win in a super-charged Austin, covered the 25 miles in 25.31, while in the New Zealand Beach Championship, the winner, Lieut. 11. R. A. Kidston, in his Mercedes-Benz, did 10 laps in 19.52, both races being from a flying start.

It was in the seconiT lap of the latter race that Smith's Austin caught alight, owing, it was believed, to the carburettor choking up with sand. Fortunately the petrol in the tank did not catch, and although the bonnet was'damaged, the engine itself did not appear .to have suffered serious harm, though the car could not be raced again 'that day. The driver was not injured.

Lacking a thin* gear, milch had been stripped during brake adjustments the previous day, Lieut. 11. R. A. Kidston's big Mercedes-Benz, which has had a new single-seater racing body built on to it, was not able to accelerate as rapidly as usual after the turns, the driver being obliged to change from second gear direct to top, .but it was tremendously fast on the straight, beating Dexter's Riley by a full lap in the New Zealand Beach Championship. The latter car, also sporting a new single-seater racing body, was ably handled by its- driver, who, though he did not have the horse-power at his command to keep up with the bigger car in the straight, gained a lot on the turns by taking full advantage of its greater manoeuvreability. Another win went to Lieut. Kidston in the Stock Car Race, in which he drove his Terraplane from scratch to an easy victory. Engine trouble dogged the Austin driven by R. M. Grierson, which has some good performances in previous meetings to its credit. • After withdrawing from the race for the New Zealand Light Car Cup, in' the second lap, he started in the New Zealand Beach Championship. but was two laps away when Lieut. Kidston's Mercedes-Bens: crossed the finishing line. Although lie brought his Miller to the beach, G. Mathieson did ,not race it. the engine being somewhat "tight" after its recent overhaul.

Another defection was the Thomas Special, which, driven by R. Andrews, won the New Zealand Light Car Championship, with the cup presented by the Automobile Association, at Mangere, in 1031. The trophy had not been raced for s* K then, but the Thomas Special, which was acquired by Mr. A. J. McGruer this season, was expected to defend it on Saturday.