Englishmen Take Major Placings In Car Race

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27873, 23 January 1956, Page 13

Englishmen Take Major Placings In Car Race

With a grand display of steady and controlled driving, Peter Whitehead, of England, won the Lady Wigram trophy for the second time at Wigram on Saturday before about 21,000 spectators. Whitehead’s lead was not challenged throughout the race, apart from a few occasions in the first ten laps when Gaze cut inside on the corners. The four Englishmen competing made a complete sweep of the event, taking first four places. Tony Gaze, second at Wigram in 1954, filled the same position this year, and remained close behind Whitehead for most of the race. With the Connaught running perfectly, Leslie Marr was unfortunate to spoil his chances when he spun the car on the hangars’ corner early in the race. Until then, Marr had remained close behind Gaze, and it was noticeable that the leaders were doing everything to keep in front of the beautifully streamlined English car.

Reg Parnell drove a race of great concentration, and although his cornering was a joy to watch, the car had not the power to match the 3-litre Ferraris of Gaze and Whitehead. Whitehead Takes Lead Whitehead went into the lead from the inside position at the grid start, and was closely followed by Gaze, Marr, and Parnell in that order. P. Hoare, of Christchurch, wasted precious seconds when his Maserati stalled at the start. The Talbot-Lago of A. T. Freeman showed itself a particularly fast car, and was not far behind Parnell for the first part of the race. By the fourth lap, Gaze and Whitehead had lapped the tail-enders, with their Ferraris firing perfectly. McMillan’s Alfa Romeo sounded very sick, and he pulled into, the pits in the ninth lap and had 'his spark plugs replaced within three minutes.

Whitehead was averaging about 84 miles an hour, and he had soon lapped Parnell in the Aston Martin. David McKay and T. Sulman retired within five laps of each other. The gearbox on Sulman’s car broke down, and McKay wore out his* tyres and had no others in this country with him that could be fitted. *

Gaze Sets Lap Record on the eighteenth lap, Gaze established a new lap record of Imin 26.75ec, or 88 miles an hour. Even though Gaze was travelling faster than Whitehead, the gap was too great. Half-way through the race. Whitehead was 10 seconds ahead of Gaze, 48 seconds ahead of Marr and 2 minutes 10 seconds ahead of Parnell.

, R. Archibald (Jag-.-.ar) and S. Jensen (Cooper) had a keen tussle for first place among the New Zealand entrants. Roycroft’s Bugatti-Jaguar was close behind these two, but the car did not run as well as it did at Ardmore. Hoare’s Maserati was averaging very high speeds, but another black disc appeared as he pulled into the pits with a fractured oil-pipe. For the rest of the race, the leaders maintained their places. Whitehead ari d Gaze thrilled the crowd with their steady driving, and seldom did the highly tuned Ferrari engines the cars to the check point with more than a second’s difference on each lap. S. Jensen received a great cheer when he brought his tiny Cooper into the pits as the first New Zealander home. Special congratulations also went to F. Shuter, of Christchurch- and his home-built special. The beautifully prepared engine of the Edelbrock did not falter during the entire race, and was only a few seconds behind Jensen at the finish. nearly didn’t make it,” said Whitehead grimly as he pulled into the pits. He pointed to a large diameter screw which was protruding from his left-hand rear tyre. “It is just a matter of how much longer I could have kept going without the screw puncturing the tyre,” he said. Whitehead was presented with the winner’s laurels by the patron of the Motor Racing Club (Mr J. Mathison, M.P.), and was driven round the open course in an open car to the cheering of the crowds. Minor Races Driving steadily and confidently, A. L. Shelley, of Wellington, won the open car race of 25 miles. Although

Shelley did well to finish first with a handicap of 50 seconds, V. Blackburn made an even better display to finish second with his Citroen special from the back mark.

At the start of the Redex sports car race, R. Archibald and Tony Gaze were last to get away from the Le Mans start. It was soon evident, however, that the power of Gaze’s H.W.M.-Jaguar could not be matched, and within two laps the car was well m the lead. A great tussle developed between the two Australians, T. Sulman and David McKay, and the New Zealanders R. Jensen and R. Archibald.

The disc brakes on Jensen’s Austin Healey gave him a big advantage over the other cars in braking. Jensen, Sulman and McKay had a battle royal for second position, but it was Jensen’s turn for bad luck, for he spun at the hangars’ corner and lost much ground. In the second to last lap, Archibald, who had been close on the tail of McKay, opened the throttle wide on his Jaguar. In one burst on the back straight he passed both Aston Martins. Archibald did well to gain second place ahead of the two Australians, but the crowds gave a special cheer for Jensen, who had driven his small car so competently. The saloon car race was a triumph for German manufactured cars. The Porsche Super of P. P. Stringer drew gasps of admiration from the crowd as it rounded the corners with scarcely a trace of roll. The Ford Zephyr of W. K. McDonald drew gasps too, but they were more in expectation of the car turning over. V. L. Neate brought the Borgward Isabella into second place to complete the German victory. ■ Results were:— Lady Wigram Trophy Race (150.236 miles). —P. N. Whitehead, England (Ferrari), Ihr 48min .03sec, 1; F. O. A. Gaze England (Ferrari), Ihr 48min 18.6 sec, 2; L Marr, England (Connaught), Ihr 49min 35.65ec, 3; R. Parnell, England (Aston Martin), Ihr 53min 15.2 sec, 4; S. H. Jensen. Palmerston North (Cooper), Ihr 53min 51.6 sec, 5; F. Shuter, Christchurch (Edelbrock Special), Ihr 56min 9.lsec, 6; R. J. Roycroft, Auckland (Bugatti-Jaguar), Ihr 57mm s.ssec, 7; R. W. A. Frost, Levin (Cooper), Ihr 58min 28.2 sec, 8; R. Jensen, Auckland (Austin Healey), 2hr Imin 12.6 sec, 9; A. F. Moffatt, Ashburton (Jaguar XK.120), 68 laps completed, 10; J- N. Archibald, Christchurch (Jaguar XKI2O), 68 laps, 11; J. Boyd, Auckland (Buckler), 63 laps, 12. B. W. Wild Challenge Trophy (up to 1500 c.c.), S. H. Jensen; Brooklands Challenge Trophy (member Motor Racing Club), F. Shuter; Motor Assemblies Challenge Cup (New Zealand-built car), F. Shuter; Kennett challenge trophy (first New Zealand driver), S. H. Jensen.

Redex Sports Car Race (50.784 miles).— Gaze (H.W.M.-Jaguar) 1, R. J. N. Archibald (Jaguar XKI2O) 2; D. Mackay, Australia (Aston Martin DB3S) 3; T. Sulman, Australia (Aston Martin DB3S) 4. Time, 39mm 58sec.

Open. Car Race (25.392 miles).—A. L. Shelley, Wellington (Morgan), 50sec, 1; V. R. Blackburn,' Christchurch (Citroen Special), 2min 35sec, 2; R. S. Rutherford, Christchurch (R.A.-Vauxhall), 2min, 3. Time, 23min 3.lsec.

Saloon Car Race (25.392 miles).—A. P. Stringer. Auckland (Porsche Super), 3min 40sec, 1; V. L. Neate, Christchurch (Borgward), 2min 40sec, 2; I. A. Archibald. Christchurch (Citroen), 2min, 3. Time, 26min 11.2 sec.

Motor-Cycle Races All-powers Race (10.58 miles).—soo c.c. class: B. McGibbon (Tai Tapu), Triumph, 1; S. Burtt (Southbridge), Norton, 2; W. Round (Christchurch), Triumph, 3. 350 c.c. class: A. M. Daniel (Christchurch), B.S A. 1; E Timms (Timaru), Ajr.s. 7R, 2; S. L. Waudby (Christchurch). 8.5. A., 3. 250 £' c * P- Phillips (Christchurch), 8.5. A., 1; G. Stutheridge (Christchurch), Ariel, 2; R. Taggart (Christchurch), 8.5. A., 3. 200 c.c. class: C. Fisk (Christchurch), Excelsior, 1; R. Knowles (Christchurch), Francis Barnett, 2; R. Scott (Christchurch). 0.E.C., 3.

500 c.c. Expert Race (21 miles).—A. G. Holland (Christchurch), Norton, 1; T. McCleary (Christchurch), A.J.S. 7R, 2; N. C McCutcheon (Dunedin), A.J.S. 7R, 3. Time 16min 34.25ec. Junior Experts Race (17 miles)—T. McCleary (Christchurch), A.J.S. 7R, 1; N. C McCutcheon (Dunedin), A.J.S. 7R, 2- J Swarbrick (Oxford), A.J.S. 7R, 3. Time’ 13min 45.8 sec.