Exciting form of sport

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 7

Exciting form of sport

Midget car competition has been described by enthusiasts as the “most exciting type of motor racing in the world”, and after seeing some top drivers in action even the most hardened disciple of another form of racing would be forced to concede a little ground.

So many motor sports rely on the stop-watch as the cars flash by, a blur of colour, and the driver is often lost to the spectators in the rush. At Templeton, the • midgets “trundle” around the small, quarter-mile track in full view of the fans, and this is one aspect of the midget class that the drivers think appeals to the paying public. Midget racing in this country dates'back to the early 1930’5. but the specifications of the class were laid down in America in the early 1920’5. Races were conducted towards the end of the decade, and when it came to New Zealand a national competition, and a firm following was soon established.

Apart from a break for the war, a national championship has been run every year, but the cars that first contested a midget race in the early 1930’s are quite a bit .different from the ones that will be displaying their wares tomorrow night.

The same basic shape has been retained, but nowadays, ' Volkswagens and Sesco's, together with the Chevy 2, dominate the midget races. Back in the beginning, Model A’s, the Rugby, the Buick Straight Eights and the Studebakers were the top cars. The early-model Holdens also made appearances at the tracks throughout the country.

. The appearance of midget cars has remained fairly static from their inception until the present day, but many minor improvements have been performed over the years. Roll-cages to protect the driver had been mandatory in New Zealand for the last five seasons, and this has altered slightly the basic shape. Modifications and

alterations have been heavily plagiarised from the modern United States racing scene, and a host of garishly-painted midgets now. dot the tracks of this country, while their predecessors were austere in comparison.

Several safety features which- have only recently been introduced must boggle the minds of those who have no knowledge of midget racing. Disc brakes are now a normal part of every car, but it was not too long ago that the only way of stopping a car was to either ram the fence or rely on a hand-operated brake that worked on only one wheel. A full safety harness, similar to those used in aircraft, is now a mandatory feature as well, and fire-extinguisher’s are an optional extra carried in quite a few cars.

Two factors crucial to the optimum performance of the midgets are having the correct tyres to best suit the prevailing track conditions, and ensuring the car is properly weighted to get the best pos-

sible handling under speed from the vehicle.

Tyres are chosen on the race-night by the driver and his pit crew. If the track has been recently watered, and the rubber on the wheels is better suited to dry conditions, then the prudent driver will have the four tyres changed. Midget drivers encounter all sorts of problems when trying to procure the brand of tyre they require, The best sort of tyres cannot be obtained in New Zealand and so they must be imported, and these can cost anything up to SI6O each. Weight “jacking” refers to the balancing of the car to facilitate handling during racing conditions. Torsion bar adjusters are standard on most cars, and allow different weights to be tried during the same meeting. Getting the exact weighting of thq car correct is a task that requires the patience of a Job — several meetings are needed to do the job properly and sort out the handling of the car.