Champion beach racer eyes N.Z. supermodified title

Press, 15 September 1976, Page 25

Champion beach racer eyes N.Z. supermodified title

By

ROD DEW

Peter Leversedge has been seriously involved with motor racing in its many forms for longer than he probably cares to recall but it was only last year that he first turned his attention to the quar-ter-mile speedway track. Now, with just one season of racing in the supermodified car class at Templeton behind him, the 34-year-old Christchurch driver admits that he is •‘hooked.”

"I always wanted to race on speedway but until last season 1 never got round to it. Now I am sorry I waited so long.” Leversedge agrees that grand prix and circuit car racing can at times nave limited interest for spectators and drivers. But he claims that this rarely happens on the speedway. ‘‘You don’t have time to get bored. The competition is closer and you have to drive harder. There is so Tittle passing room that if you hesitate you are lost.”

His debut was made last season in a supermodified racer which he built himself. It was powered by a .283 Chevrolet V 8 engine •with an automatic trans•mission. Tn many respects, 'it was a compromise — -intended for use on the •speedway as well as in I car club events. The •automatic transmission a . handicap in racing and •Leversedge was not among 2the top drivers.

• However, this is likely “to change this season. He has bought the sprint car -in which Ross Mclntyre won the New Zealand supermodified car championship 'tt Hamilton last and is com--pletely re-building it. The engine did not go with the car and Leversedge is fitting a new 327 Chevrolet V 8 which he hopes will develop about 400 brake •horsepower.

The car was built in America to an Edmonds design eight years ago and spent much of its racing life on tarmac in Canada before coming to. New Zealand two years ago. If it goes as well as

Leversedge hopes, he should be a leading contender for the New Zealand championship, to be held this season at Templeton, probably on February 26. An engineer specialising in automatic transmissions, Leversedge is probably New Zealand’s finest beach racing driver. In the last six years, he has won the New Zealand beach racing championship a record five times. At Tahuna Beach, Nelson, where the title is usually decided, he is always the man to beat. And his recent enthusiasm for speedway does not mean that the beach championship will be ignored in future. Leversedge believes that, with a few minor alterations, the speedway supermodified car will be ideally suited for beach racing. “I will have to fit

mirrors to the car and that is about all.” He is certain that the new car will be better than anything he has driven on the beach or on the speedway before. Even with his old car, last year he finished ninth in the Gold Star hill climb championship after doing particularly well at venues where the surface was unsealed. He broke the course record at Craigmore, near Timaru, which had been held by Maurice Stanton for the previous 14 years. Unfortunately, 40 minutes later his new record had been beaten by Leo Leonard in a Datsun rally car. Leversedge first became interested in motor racing when he started work as a mechanic for two men who have bad a marked influence on motor sport. Ron Rutherford and Neill Stuart. He raced for the

first time in 1962 in a Ford Custom saloon on the beach at New Brighton. That same year he bought his first singleseater, a Ford V 8 special, built by Brian Briggs. Three years later he graduated to another Ford V 8 special, one with a rather special history. It was originally owned by John Jacobson and built from a sprint car base. Bill Harris, one of Lie more prominent drivers of the 19605, had a lot of success with the same car.

Leversedge has a special affection for this car and has resisted all attempts to persuade hi i to sell it. He now uses it in histtorical car races and intends to “keep it forever.” It has a top speed of 115 miles an hour. It did not handle very well on tarseal but it came into its own on grass or on the sand. Leversedge won his

first three New Zealand beach titles with f.. s car. Probably the most sophisticated car he has driven was a 1967 Lotus, owned by Vic Blackburn. Powered by a Ford 1500 engine, this was capable of 130 miles an hour. Leversedge drove it at several Lady Wigram meetings and a number of times at Ruapuna Park. But sealed circuit racing is now, at least temporarily, a thing of the past. He has his sights on winning a sixth beach racing title at Nelson at Ne _ Year and a first national supermodified car title at Templeton a month later. The competition in both events will be tough but it would be an unwise rival who considered that such a double was beyond Peter Leversedge. The picture shows Leversedge working on his new sprint car.