Hulme Fastest In Practice For Lady Wigram Race

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30342, 18 January 1964, Page 10

Hulme Fastest In Practice For Lady Wigram Race

The Te Puke driver, Denis Hulme, gained the pole position on the grid for the Lady Wigram Trophy Race when he put up fastest time in practice yesterday with a lap of Imin 27.75ec, an average speed of about 95 miles an hour for the 2.3 mile circuit.

The circuit has been altered this year by the inclusion of a loop where the chicane used to be, and the change was not popular with most of the drivers although it will probably appeal to the spectators.

Other problems experienced yesterday were loose shingle on some corners and high rates of tyre wear. The tyre wear will probably be less today as rubber is deposited on the surface. Second place on the grid Went to Jack Brabham (Brabham 2.5 litre) with 1:29. After official time trials had ended John Youl (Cooper), who had fuel feed troubles when practice was on, was unofficially clocked at 1:29 also. Third fastest yesterday was the American Tim Mayer (Cooper) with 1:292, then came Bruce McLaren (Cooper) with 1:29.4 and Youl, whose official time, put ujp after the others had been timed, was 1:29.6. Next were A. Shelly (Lotus) 1:30.9; J. Palmer (Cooper), 1:31; A. Buchanan

(Brabham), 1:34.3; Chris Amon (Lola), 1:34.4; D. Young (Lotus), 1:35; K. Sager (Lotus), 1:41.6; R. Levis (Lotus), 1:42.4; and J. Boyd (Valour), 1:49. F. Turpie (Lotus Ford) did not practice. Drivers spent the morning learning the circuit, and none of the main race drivers liked the new loop, and felt it was no improvement from a driver’s point of view. The saloons and Motor Racing Club championship cars were less worried, generally because of their lower speeds. Brabham said he did not like the looip much; McLaren said he felt the circuit was better the way it was; Shelly found the circuit much worse than last year; Mayer found the circuit “not bad,’’ but fairly hard on the car; Palmer did not like the changed cir-

cuit at all and said there were now three bumps whereas last year there was only one. The first incident of the day occurred when the saloons went out to learn the circuit. Approaching the loop R. J. Stewart (Sunbeam Alpine) became involved with braking and the bump, and. spun several times before hitting a barrel and damaging the front of the Alpine. However, the damage was mainly confined to panel work. The- time trials started shortly after 1 p.m., the first heat cars for the main event going out first. Huhne obviously found the circuit to his liking and recorded 1:29.4 about his second time around. He was particularly impressive at the new loop: barely slackening off for the bump at the beginning of the loop, and taking the three slow bends very smoothly. Mayer put up 1:30.2 the second time round and soon followed this with 1:29.6. Palmer soon no tched 1:31.5 and Shelly kept close to him right throughout the session. Palmer’s car seemed to weather the bad bump worse than any of the other cans, and very nearly left the ground each time around. Sager started to spin out just, past the loop after a few laps but recovered quickly and carried on. The second heat cans were out next and Brabham got down to business with 1:32, closely followed by McLaren with 1:34.6. Two laps later Brabham v>as near to 1:31 and McLaren to 1:30.5. D. Young lapped at 1:36, which he soon reduced to his qualifying time of 1:35. Brabham further reaucea his time to 1:29.3 and then to bis qualifying time of 1:29 A. A. Buchanan recorded 1.37 but soon reduced this figure, and R. J.. Flowers was unofficially clocked at 1:36.5. Porter was the fastest of the M.R.C. championship cars with 1:41, Sager was second with 1:41 6 . P;’pv ''- : 1:45, and Rutherford fourth with 1:46. ■