RACES AT TIMARU

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32209, 30 January 1970, Page 11

RACES AT TIMARU

Many of New Zealand’s top drivers will race at the Timaru Trophy Race meeting which will be held at the Timaru Motor Raceway tomorrow by the South Canterbury Car Club. The meeting will carry national championship points, and the 50-lap gold star single-seater race will carry prize-money of $lO2O. The first event of the day will be at 10.30 a.m., and it will be a 10-lap event for New Zealand specials and single-seaters. There will be a motor-cycle event at 10.50 a.m., and at 11.10 the sportscar event will be run. Entries for this race- include G. Harvey in the 5.7-litre Elfin, J. Boyd in the 5.9litre Lola, and S. Wiseman in his 4-litre E-type Jaguar. Four U2 cars are also entered in this event, and they will be driven by L. Johnson, G. Williams, M. Hogan and P. Froggatt The preliminary heats for the main race will start at 11.35 a.m., and if there are more than 16 competitors, two 10-lap heats will be run.

Earlier this week mainrace entries included F. Radisicb in the McLaren M4A, W. Murdoch (Brabham), G. Mardon (Begg Chevrolet), R. Thomson (Begg 1600), G. Baker (Brabham), P. De Lore (Lotus 41B), L. Leonard (Begg Chevrolet) and another Begg-Chevrolet for which a driver had not been nominated. K Smith has entered his Lotus. Other entrants are C. Taylor (Brabham), G. Watson (Brabham), D. Heney (Lptus), K. Cameron (Brabham), R. McNair (Gemini), B. Pellow (Brabham) and G. Alexander (Brabham). Radisich would seem to stand a good chance of winning the main event, but Smith has done particularly well in his Lotus at recent meetings, and Baker and Murdoch are both very fast.

The big Beggs cannot be discounted, but Thomson and De Lore have both been going very rapidly this season. Heats for the Mercury 1000 saloon race will start at noon, the second heat being at 12.25 p.m. At present R. Coppins leads the series with 14 points to the 11 points of I. W. Dawson, the six points' of C. Collins, the five of P. Fahey and B. Crosbie, the three of J. Riley and the two of L. Neilson.

Entries for the Mercury race at Timaru so far include Collins in the big V 8 Falcon, G. Sprague (Ford Escort), J. Freemantle (8.M.W.), Dawson (Mustang), R. McPhail (Lotus

Farina), J. Nazer (Escort), P. Fahey (Escort), B. Crosbie (Escort), A. K. Prattley (Mini S), L. Neilson (Mini S), P. Kocis (Anglia G.T.), J. Kennedy (Escort), A. Dickie (Anglia Corvette) and P. Kirk (Austin Farina). After the 1.15 p.tn. motorcycle race, there will be events for specials and single-seaters, - sports-cars, and then the main event at 2.30 p.m. The Mercury saloon race will be at 3.50 p.m. and the final saloon race at 4.10 p.m. In the main event and the Mercury race the six fastest cars from each of the two heats plus four competitors selected by the organisers will take part

of scratches there are several important rules to follow. Never use the wipers on a dry screen, make sure the wiper-blades and the windscreen are always clean and free of grit, and never use abrasive cleaners in an attempt to remove stubborn marks. Absolute Best There has been some talk lately of the absolute righthand rule, and after experience of this rule in Aus-

tralia and talking to many persons who have driven under it, I cannot understand why we do not seriously consider introducing it here. A rule must be simple and quickly understood to be effective; the absolute rule—give way to everything on your right at all times—fulfills this criterion, but the New Zealand rule most certainly does not.. As has been proved in Christchurch with the Square, even magistrates and judges cannot agree on it at times, so what chance has the motorist got? I have heard arguments in favour of the New Zealand system, and I have found all of them unconvincing. lam also sure that they will become even more unconvincing as traffic density on New Zealand roads rises, and the built-in faults in our right-hand rule become even more obvious than they are now. In my experience the Australian absolute rule works infinitely better than our rule and, leaving all the theoretical arguments aside, that is what counts. Quote of the Week “There is no doubt about it, the maxi coat has taken a lot of the fun out of being stuck in a London traffic jam.”—R. Thoresby in the “Motor.”