Champion returns to the track

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33384, 16 November 1973, Page 20

Champion returns to the track

After an absence of nearly seven years from competitive motor racing. a former NewZealand saloon-car champion, Mr R. J. N. Archibald, will return to the track at the Canterbury Car Club’s Ruapuna Park race-meeting on Sunday. Mr Archibald, known both throughout New Zealand and overseas for his racing successes at the wheel of Jaguar cars, will field an American (production sports saloon —

L";a Z2B Camaro — in a major 1 1 saloon event on. Sunday. .; Mr Archibald is now 51, " and on Sunday he will com- ' pete against many much • younger drivers who are ■ rapidly making a name for > themselves on New Zealand ' circuits. During a private practice 1 session on a wet track at 1 Ruapuna yesterday, he gave notice that he has lost none of his old skill, and may well i show some of the younger 1 men a thing or two. Driving with consummate r smoothness and control, he i recorded lap times very close - to those recorded by the top

■ drivers of similar machines: at recent Ruapuna race-1 , meetings. In spite of the con- I ■ ditions, his car was not on: t special tyres. : “Racing is like flying: it is ■ something I have always’ I liked to do,” he said when, explaining the reasons for his : return to the track. He said he was concerned : that he should not race if he : could no better’ than put up I times which were far behind ■ those recorded by others. He has now assured himself that : he has no worries on that : score. : He also said he was suri prised at the handling of the

i big American car: “Compared I with other cars I have driven, lit handles very well.” Mr Archibald said he felt [that his good lap times were I largely attributable to his fitness: " “My reactions are (therefore good, and I can foot it with the younger drivers.” If his efforts on Sunday met the standards he had set, he might “have a serious stab at it” for the rest of the season, Mr Archibald said. “We’ll have to wait and see.” The last time he raced competitively was in the Six Hour production race in 1966, when he and his co-driver,

lA. Shelly, won the event in a ■Jaguar 3.8. But it was the last year iof Jaguar domination of the event: the rules were changed to allow only New Zealandassembled cars to compete. Since then, Mr Archibald has raced only in “friendly’’ vintage-car events, driving a “C” type racing Jaguar. , ,? oce .* r ’.77 lULIy heat England 14), at Wembley, and Scotland drew. 1-1. with West Gem, n " |at Hampden Park in friendly i soccer internationals. 1 Hole-in-ene.—W. B. n us . holed hie tee shot at Avond»i» . twelfth (150 yards), using an 8-iron. “ n