Escorts big surprise in B and H

Press, 11 October 1979, Page 17

Escorts big surprise in B and H

It was definitely "golfing” weather at the Pukekohe race-track near Auckland last Sundaj. as two Volkswagen Golf GTls dominated the Benson and Hedges saloon-car colassic. Rod Coppins and Gerry Clayton screamed home first in the five and a half hour race just 50 metres ahead of two famous men from motor-racing history. Stirling Moss and Dennis Hulme. Both Golfs had completed 172 laps of the testing circuit, representing about 600 km of highspeed driving.

Third, two laps behind, was the ageing Alfa Romeo GTV of Robbie Booth and

Dauntsey Teagle. and an amazing fourth and fifth were the Ford Escort Sports of Gerald and Philip Fava and Jim Donald and Blair Robson. The two Escorts were competing, in the middle class for. New Zealand-assembled ears, but beat home all the cars from the top class. The winners of this class was once again the experienced pair of Wayne Jones and George Wilson in a Datsun 2008. In the small-car class the

nippy little Honda Civics were too fast for the Mazda 3235. Toyota Corollas and Mitsubishi Mirages, with Glenn Mclntyre and Graham Anderson driving tlte class-winning Civic, which was fourteenth overall. Eeven though this year's Benson and Hedges’ race was restricted to cars with engines of 2000 cu cm or less, it provided a lot of action for the 10,000 spectators and will give prospective car buyers some idea of the performance and reliability of the various small and mediumsized models available on the New Zealand market. Sir Jack Brabham, of Australia, the third former ‘■great” in the race, had to concede most of the limelight to Moss and Hulme, as the BMW 3201 he shared with Ross Jenson had clutch trouble and finished ninth, ofter holding fourth place for a time. Two other cars to have trouble were the Fiat 131 Racing of Garry Pederson and David Oxton and the Escort RS2OOO of Paul Adams and John Woolf. For the first 42 laps these two cars contested the lead before the Fiat’s differential failed and the Escort ran out of petrol. Adams pushed the Escort back to the pits but was then disqualified, as this is not allowed. Results (with over-all place in parentheses):—

Class X (overseas-assembled ears up to 2000 cu cmi: R. Coppins/G. Clayton <VW Golf GTD 1 (1); S. Moss/D- Hulme • Golf GTI) 2 (2); R. Booth/D. Teagle (Alfa Romeo GTV) 3 (3); R. Jensen/J. Brabham • BMW 320 I) 4 (9); J. Moses/D. Simpson (Daihatsu Charade 993 cu cm) 5 (18). Class A (N'.Z.-assembled 1601-2000 cu cm): W. Jones/G. Wilson 'Datsun 200 B) 1 i 6); R. McCfillum/N. Goodwin (Datsun 200 B) 2 (7): S. Gardiner/R. Gardiner (Cortina 2.0) 3 (8); G. Campbell/R. McMillan (Cortina 2.0) 4 (11); R. Hood/B. Homewood (Mazda 626) 5 (12). Class B (N.Z.-assembled 1301-1600 cu cm); G. Fava/P. Fava (Escort. Spdrt) 1 (4); J. Donald/B. Robson (Escort Sport) 2 (5); J. Morton/M. Loverich. (Escort Sport) 3 (10); N. Begovlc/E. Morgan (Peugeot 5iM 4 (13). Class C (N.Z.-assembled up to 1300 cu cm): G. Mclntyre/G. Anderson 'Honda Civic HL) 1 (14); Chery] Pamell/S. Murland (Honda Civic HL) 2 (15); L. Evans/O. Evans (Mazda 323) 3 (16); R. Greenland/L. Reeves (Honda Civic) 4 (17); D. McDonald/R. McDonald (Mitsubishi Mirage GL) 5 (19); J. Tee/H. de Thiery (Toyota Corolla) 6 (20).