McKee’s Monza will star on Sunday

Press, 15 October 1976, Page 6

McKee’s Monza will star on Sunday

By JOHN FRIDD Christchurch motorracing enthusiasts will probably get their first look at Art McKee’s new Chev Monza on Sunday, when the Canterbury Car Club’s season gets under way with a full race meeting. McKee received the car from the United States last week and has been busy preparing it for the Shellsport saloon series, which opens at Bay Park, Tauranga, next week-end. He hopes to have it ready in time to race with the O.S.C.A.cars on Sunday

to get some badly-needed race practice. However, he will not be eligible for prize money and will not gain any O.S.C.A. points if he is placed at Ruapuna. McKee said this week the Monza was developing about 475 b.h.p. and had the potential for more, so it should be a major force in this season’s Shellsport championship. Last year he competed in the GTX series with distinction in a Z2B Camaro. In the O.S.C.A. racing on Sunday, there are 18 entries in the two classes. The fast Ashburton driver. Rod McElrea, will be there in his Mustang, as will David Grant, of Timaru, in

an Escort 2000. Ross Cameron will race the ex-Jen-ner Camaro and Kevin Munro the ex-David Grant Escort 1800. Christchurch driver lan Munt will also be back in his potent Capri. Two interesting entries are the VB-powered Cortina and Escort of John Mclntyre (Gore) and John Osborne (Christchurch) respectively. The Ruapuna meeting will also see the first round of the New Zealand Intelex sports car championship, and the series should be interesting this season, judging by the en-

tries. John McLellan, ;0f Wellington, will be racihg his near-new factory-built Lola T 212 for the first time in New Zealand. The Lola will be the first late-model factorybuilt car to be raced in the 2-litre sports car class. The car that won last season’s championship for Colin Smith, the Rhubarb 111, has been bought by Charlie Benseman, of Nelson, and Smith will be on hand at Ruapuna on Sunday to help Benseman in his first competition in the car. Benseman has performed well in rallying in recent years but has found the sport too expensive and decided to switch back to circuit racing. In his first drive in the car at Manfeild, he circulated within half a second of the lap record and a fortnight ago won a Nelson Car Club drag meeting with a quarter-mile time of 12sec. Motor-racing enthusiasts may remember Benseman as the quick driver of a tidy Lotus 18 six years ago. Two experienced drivers from last seaosn, Tom Donovan (Sprite TC) and Jamie Aislabie (Bray), will be hard to beat on Sunday in their well-sorted machines. Brian Clay’s Scorpion, raced last season by lan Bisman, will be driven this season by the ex-For-mula Ford driver, Stuart Smith, of Winton. Entries in the Castrol GTX production saloon car races are disappointing, with many North Island drivers preferring not to travel down for the South Island rounds. However, some good racing should be seen from the competitive South Island drivers entered. lan Tulloch, of Invercargill, who won both his heats at Teretonga two weeks ago in the first GTX race, is expected to start at Ruapuna, and two more Camaro Z2Bs will be there to challenge him, driven by Rob Farrar (Christchurch) and Doug Allan (Parnassus). Other entries are Rod McElrea (Mazda Capella), Alan Owers (Ashburton, Torana XUI), Roy Hiscock (Capri 3000) and a former stock car driver. Des Ward, in a Mazda RX3 coupe. Another Christchurch

driver, Bryan Hessey, who drove the Jim Beam Mazda last season, is back this year with the exWoolf BDA Escort. The car is one of the few genuine English-built BDAs in the country and was raced by Reg Cook in the 1973 GTX series. Hessey has done a great deal of work on the car to bring it back to its former standard and did not have it ready in time to contest the first GTX round at Teretonga. However, he finished it early last week and was extremely pleased with the way it went in practice at Ruapuna. The motor in the potent Escort was stripped and balanced by John Crerar of the P.D.L. racing team. “We have tried to ensure it will be a very reliable car,” said Hessey. “It’s certainly very fast — a lot more powerful than the Mazda.”

Hessey’s main rival will be Norris Miles, of Auckland, in a German-built Capri R 52600. The left-hand-drive Capri is very quick, and certainly has a power edge over the BDA with its bigger engine, but the Escort has had the better of previous encounters at the hands of John Woolf. Another Capri, this time the 3-litre machine of Roy Hiscock (Lower Hutt), also qualifies for the 0-3000 cu. cm class and will give Hessey and Miles a run for their money> The Ruapuna programme will be completed by some motor-cycle races, but it is doubtful whether any big names will be present, as many of the top Christchurch riders are not satisfied with the deal given them by the car club at meetings in previous seasons.