Pit Stops

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32874, 24 March 1972, Page 14

Pit Stops

There are still three races in the Open Saloon Car Association’s championship series, not just one as reported on Monday. This is because the series has been increased from the original four races by the addition of events at Timaru (May 21) and Ruapuna (May 28), with the final at Teretonga on June 4. This means that A. Dickie, currently leading the series with 24 points to the 11 of R. McPhail, the nine of J. McComb, and the seven of L. Neilson and J. Wells, can, in fact, still be beaten. On his past performances, the possibility is unlikely to become reality just the same. The “big engine” A class of the series is led bv Dickie (14 points) with McComb (9) second; the B class is led by Wells (10) with R. Hore (8) second; and the smallcar class is led by '’Neil-

McPhail (13) with L. Neilson and G. Aitken (9) sharing second.

Ford has entered a team of four cars for the East African Safari Rally, which starts from Dar-es-Salaam on March 30. The event will cover 4000 miles. The cars entered by Ford are all Escort RS 1600 models, and the drivers are T. Makinen, H. Mikkola, J. Singh, and V. Preston. ® * ♦

The Bank of New South Wales saloon series took an unpredicted turn at Pukekohe on March 12 when the engine in P. Fahey’s P.D.L. Mustang siezed, for the failure let I. W. Dawson (Kensington Camaro) score two important wins and move within 5.5 points of Fahey’s championship lead. To head Fahey off, Dawson must win the next two events, at Bay Park on April 3, and at Pukekohe on April 10. Dawson has made some modifications to his car to get more power. Fahey has so far broken records at every meeting save Pukekohe, including the record lap set at Bay Park in January by A. Moffat (Mustang). In the up to 4200 c.c. class of the Wales series, J. Richards (Escort) now leads D. Halliday (Escort) by just three points. 4 * *

P. Gethin is to drive a works Formula II car for the Chevron factory this season.