Qualifying times

Press, 20 January 1984, Page 16

Qualifying times

Although the lap times drivers set during the qualifying sessions for starting grid positions may give an indication of the outcome of a car race, they cannot be regarded as absolute indicators. The reason is that some drivers improve their lap times considerably when they are racing wheel-to-wheel rather than against the clock.

The 19-year-old American, Davy Jones, is a case in point. He has won the last three races in the Just Juice Formula Pacific international motor racing series but has never emerged as fastest qualifier, although his fastest race lap times in the first of the two races at each meeting have elevated his starting grid position for the second races because they have been an improvement on his qualifying times.

Now, the final rounds in the series will be contested here at the Lady Wigram Trophy meeting on Sunday. Two qualifying sessions, to which spectators will be admitted through only the Wigram Road gate, will be conducted by the promoter of the annual event, the Motor Racing Club, Inc., on Saturday.

Although Jones is already being billed as the wonder boy of this Just Juice series, it would not be at all

surprising if a driver other than the young American turned out to be fastest qualifier this time, once again.

Last year, the fastest qualifier was the hardcharging American, Norman Hunter, who made fastest lap in 70.40 s on the 3.429 km circuit. That translated to an average speed of 175.346km/h. Second fastest was the Aucklander, David Oxton, who managed 70.565. On race day, Hunter crashed in the first of the two races and took no further part in the series.

The young Canadian, Allen Berg, was the winner, but Oxton equalled the 172.968km/h lap record for Formula Pacific cars before he abandoned the race because of carburetion troubles. Berg’s average speed for the 24-lap, 82.296 km race was 171.269km/h. The second race was a turn up for the books. Oxton won it at an average of 172.968km/h, but Ken Smith, another Aucklander who finished second, set a lap record of 176.348km/h. That equated to a time of 70.015.

Smith is the current leader of the Just Juice series and his Wigram track record must hold him in good stead on Sunday, even if he does not start the first of the two races in pole position as fastest qualifier.