Winter Racing

display_0957d51541

The past winter months saw a great deal of racing in the Southern Hemisphere and not having a reporter covering these events we have not published any news on the activities, but for the record a summary of results is appended.

There was a large exodus of cars and drivers from Great Britain, including Graham Hill and Gurney with 1960 B.R.M. 2½-litre cars, Ireland, Clarke and Surtees with 1960 Lotus team cars, Brabham and McLaren with 1960 works Coopers, Bonnier and Salvadori with Yeoman Credit 1960 Coopers and a 1960 Lotus, Flockhart with Brabham’s private Cooper from last season, and Moss with Rob Walker’s 1960 Lotus-Climax 2½-litre.

New Zealand Grand Prix (Jan. 7th)—Auckland 240 kilometres

1st: J. Brabham (Cooper-Climax 2½-litre)-141.385 k.p.h.

2nd: B. McLaren (Cooper-Climax 2½-litre)

3rd: G. Hill (B.R.M. 2½-litre)

Hudson Trophy (Jan. 14th)—LevIn, New Zealand 56 kilometres

1st: J. Bonnier (Cooper-Climax 2½-litre)-24 min. 21.5 sec

2nd: J. Clarke (Lotus-Climax 2½-litre)

3rd: D. Hulme (Cooper-Climax)

Lady Wigram Trophy (Jan. 21st)—Christchurch, N.Z.

1st: J. Brabham (Cooper-Climax)

2nd: S. Moss (Lotus-Climax)

3rd: A. Hyslop (Cooper-Climax)

Warwick Farms (Jan. 29th)—Sydney, Australia 160 kilometres

1st: S. Moss (Lotus-Climax 2½-litre)

2nd: I. Ireland (Lotus-Climax 2½-litre)

3rd: B. Stillwell (Cooper-Climax)

Teretonga Park (Feb. 4th)—Invercargill, N.Z. 120 kilometres

1st: J. Bonnier (Cooper-Climax 2½-litre)

2nd: R. Salvadori (Lotus-Climax 2½-litre)

3rd: D Hulme (Cooper-Climax)

Victorian Trophy (Feb.11th)—Ballarat, Australia 160 kilometres

1st: D.Gurney (B.R.M. 2½-litre)—1 hr. 02 min. 52 sec.

2nd: G. Hill (B.R.M. 2½-litre)

To keep a sense of proportion it is worth recording that the 500 Mile Race at Daytona, on the banked speedway, saw a highly-tuned production Pontiac saloon win at 149.601 m.p.h., while in a 100-mile event the winner averaged 152.77 m.p.h. This was a three-day meeting for production cars, or stock-Americans, on the high-speed banked track and the 500-Mile Race was the major event.

Daytona 500-Mile Race (Feb. 26th)—Florida

1st: M. Panch (Pontiac)–149.601 m.p.h.

2nd : J. Weatherly (Pontiac)

3rd : P. Goldsmith (Pontiac)