XI LADY WIGRAM TROPHY
 Location - Wigram Aerodrome NZ  Laps - 44  Distance - 162.87 km  Date - 23/01/65  Weather - Fine
ENTRY LIST
No. DRIVER ENTRANT MAKE ENGINE
11 Frank Gardner Alec Mildren Racing Brabham BT11A Climax FPF
41 Jim Palmer George Palmer Brabham BT7A Climax FPF
9 Bill Thomasen Corsair Racing Brabham BT4 Climax FPF
24 Kerry Grant Lesco Racing Brabham BT4 Climax FPF
12 Roly Levis Roly Levis Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
8 Andy Buchanan Andy Buchanan Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
14 Graeme Lawrence Graeme Lawrence Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
7 Ken Sager J.H. Sager Brabham BT6 Ford 1.5
47 Bruce McLaren Bruce McLaren Racing Cooper T79 Climax FPF
48 Phil Hill Bruce McLaren Racing Cooper T70/79 Climax FPF
4 Bruce Abernethy Rothmans Driver Scheme Cooper T66 Climax FPF
35 Red Dawson Red Dawson Cooper T53 Climax FPF
49 Peter Gillum Peter Gillum Cooper T65 Ford 1.5
25 Rex Flowers Rex Flowers Lola T4 Climax FPF
1 Jim Clark Team Lotus Lotus 32B Climax FPF
17 John Riley John Riley Lotus 18/21 Climax FPF
18 Bryan Thomas Bryan Thomas Lotus 27 Ford 1.5

The brilliant combination of Jim Clark and Lotus again proved its worth on a windy Wigram circuit on January 23 for the third round of the 1965 Tasman Championship. Although easing up in the latter stages of the 100-mile event, the Scottish champion broke the race time by more than 40 seconds, and finished some 10 seconds ahead of Bruce McLaren.

While most of the circus were busy preparing machinery on the Thursday before the race, Clark and Company visited the Ruapuna Park circuit for some private lappery and general adjustments. He completed some 16 laps of the one mile track, and made the lap record of 49 seconds look rather sick by circulating in 45 secs at times, despite high winds. Official practice was on Friday morn and it rained and rained. Most took matters gingerly on the sodden circuit which had collected nasty puddles in places, but Clark managed to get down to 1m 34s in the wet.

Bruce Abernethy used one of the "spinning" visors, and many had fun and games spinning on the slippery circuit. Even Clark came to grief on Hangar Bend, while Phil Hill's green and white Cooper arrived at the pits looking as though it had been mowing the lawns. The circuit had dried out in time for the official timed session and Clark clocked 1m 26s, smashing the former record of 1m 26.9s. Next best was Jim Palmer's Brabham (1m 28.6s), followed by McLaren (1m 29.4s), Hill (1m 29.8s) and Gardner (1m 30.5s). Most of the boys had an unofficial run late in the day, and McLaren got down to 1m 27s. The McLaren team was playing around with the Firestone rain tyres, and Clark changed from 700 x 13 Dunlops to 650 x 15s for a few laps.

Then there was race day. McLaren took the lead at the start of the first heat pursued by Abernethy, Gardner and Levis. By the end of the first circulation, the cars were evenly spaced and Gardner had slipped the yellow Brabham into second position, while Levis called at the pits a little later with gearbox bothers. On lap 3 Bruce McLaren was circulating in lm 28s but was still being harried by the Australian. Abernethy was having a good run in the Rothmans Cooper and even got down to a lm 28s lap before he spun, thus losing his certain third position. McLaren's winning time for the first heat was actually quicker than the second because of the presence of Gardner.

Phil Hill had trouble with the gearbox on the grid for the second preliminary and did not start. Clark led from go to woe but there was more excitement for some of the other positions. On lap two Jim led Palmer, Grant and then a gap to Thomasen and Sager. By the fifth circulation Palmer was being overhauled by young Grant, due to a head sealing ring, which was deteriorating. Kerry passed the Hamilton driver on lap 8 but was repassed again at Control Tower by Palmer. The former Scuderia Veloce Brabham of Grant was clocking 148 mph down the back straight, quicker than anyone else. One lap before the end, Palmer stopped at the pits with the sealing ring blown, but he was still placed fourth on classification.

LADY WIGRAM TROPHY RACE
Starting Grid
Pole
McLAREN, GARDNER, CLARK, GRANT
BUCHANAN, DAWSON, THOMASEN
PALMER, RILEY, LAWRENCE, ABERNETHY
GILLUM, HILL, LEVIS
FLOWERS, SAGER

Needless to say, Clark made one of his famous starts for the main event, and was followed closely into the first corner by McLaren, Gardner, Grant, Palmer and Rex Flowers. On the initial lap, Palmer took Grant for fourth position, while Phil Hill slipped in behind Grant. With only three laps gone, Clark had a 3.5 second lead on McLaren and there was no stopping the flying Scotsman as he continued to increase this margin. Hill began to challenge Grant on lap 4, while Flowers retired the Lola with oil gushing everywhere on the mechanicals. One lap later the American passed Grant who was ahead of Roly Levis, leading the 1.5 litre cars in his Brabham. Then came Buchanan, Abernethy, Lawrence and Thomasen.

Red Dawson was the next retirement, his 2.5 Cooper suffering from a broken crown wheel. The tail-enders were being lapped by the seventh round as champion Jim went superbly on his way looking unruffled in the green Lotus Climax. On lap eleven the order was Clark, McLaren, then an 8 second gap to Gardner, Palmer, Hill, Grant, Levis and Buchanan. Graeme Lawrence was having a steady first long run with the white Molyslip 1.5 Brabham and managing to keep ahead of Thomasen, Sager and Riley. Abernethy passed Buchanan on lap 12, while Thomasen took Lawrence on the 14th round. On lap 21 McLaren, who was lapping at about Im 27s, was 17.5 seconds behind the leader, while Hill had more than half a minute on Kerry Grant.

McLaren Congratulates Race Winner ClarkIt now became apparent that Jim Palmer was closing in on Frank Gardner and gradually wearing away at the Australian with good driving. By lap 26 they were hard at it, and the first four cars were the only ones on the same lap. On this lap the half shaft fell off Phil Hill's Cooper and the poor American was out of the running with yet another stroke of bad luck. Abernethy made a few pit stops with overheating misdemeanours. On lap 34 Frank Gardner left his braking too late at the end of the main straight ("I found myself with a box full of neutrals and I was fresh out of ideas") and Jim slipped through to third place. There were few other changes in the race, but near the end the universal on John Riley's Lotus broke with a clatter and the car rolled to a stop on pit straight. There was bad luck for Graeme Lawrence who ran out of gas on the last lap, losing eighth place. McLaren had recorded the fastest lap of the race of 1m 25.9s, equalling the record set by Clark in the preliminary and smashing his own former record of 1m 26.9s set last year.
 
RACE RESULTS
POSITION LAPS TIME
1. Clark 44 1:04'19.3
2. McLaren 44 1:04'29.5 FL:1'25.9
3. Palmer 44 1:05'58.0
4. Gardner 44 1:06'11.0
5. Grant 43 .
6. Levis 42 .
7. Buchanan 41 .
8. Thomasen 40 .
9. Sager 39 .
    Lawrence 39 Fuel
    Riley 38 Universal Joint
10. Gillum 35 .
Abernethy 30 DNF:Overheating
Hill 26 DNF:Half Shaft
Dawson 6 DNF:Crown Wheel
Flowers 4 DNF:Oil Pressure
Written by Donn Anderson for Motorman Magazine. Article submitted by Milan Fistonic

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