Gardner’s 90.96 m.p.h. Fastest At Levin
"The Press" Special Service LEVIN. The Australian racing-driver, F. Gardner, comfortably broke the lap record at Levin yesterday afternoon to be fastest qualifier for today’s 75-mile Rothmans international Tasman championship race.
Driving his 2.5-litre Brabham-Alfa Romeo, Gardner lapped the 1.175-mile circuit at 90.96 miles an hour.
The previous record of 89.05 miles an hour was set by last year’s winner, J. Clark, in a 2-litre Lotus-Climax VB. Gardner was robbed of certain victory at Levin two
years ago when his engine failed two laps from the finish. Last week’s New Zealand Grand Prix winner, C. Amon, and the Mexican, P. Rodrigues, shared the second fastest lap at 90.19 miles an hour. DAMAGED CAR Rodrigues made his run late in the afternoon in the Vl2 B.R.M. Earlier, after establishing his mark, Amon spun his Ferrari V 6 off the track and damaged the front suspension. The car was taken to Hunterville for overnight repairs. Next in line was Clark (2.5litre Lotus-Ford V 8), who returned a neat 90 miles an hour. He was closely followed by the New Zealand B.R.M. driver, B. McLaren, with 89.61 miles an hour. The English private entry, P. Courage, managed 87.21 miles an hour in his 1.6-litre McLaren-Ford. Fastest of the resident drivers was J. Palmer, of Hamilton (1.6-litre McLaren-Ford) with 83.92 miles an hour, then came last year’s national champion, R. Levis (1.5 Brab-ham-Ford), with 82.94 miles an hour.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19680113.2.160
Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31576, 13 January 1968, Page 17
Word Count
240Gardner’s 90.96 m.p.h. Fastest At Levin Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31576, 13 January 1968, Page 17
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.