Good Mileages In Economy Run

Press, Volume C, Issue 29504, 4 May 1961, Page 17

Good Mileages In Economy Run

(From Our Own Reporter) WAIRAKEI. May 3. The firs* stage in the 1961 Mobllgas economy run finished at Wairakei this evening with the Christchurch drivers. G. W. Drayton and W. ITimlin, strong favourites to win the baby car class. They won this class last •year, driving a Morris MiniMinor and averaging 57.75 miles to the gallon. With the same car today on a 246-mile drive, starting at Hamilton and driving to Wairakei, via Waiouru, they averaged 5925 miles to the gallon. It was a fairly hard drive, but Drayton and Timlin were among the freshest at the finish. They attributed this to the fact that they were using safety belts which. they said, kept them firmly

in their seats on the winding sections of the journey They are the only crew using belts. Some of the other crews in the 26-car field were envious of this tonight. A. N. Boustridae and R. M. Cooke, of Greymouth, driving a Morris Oxford, averaged 38.48 miles to the gallon in their class, but they were well behind the Citroen crew, W. R. Tucker and N. G. Foster, of Opourama. who averaged 43.37 miles to the gallon. Ashburton Driven The Ashburton drivers. E W. Wilkinson and V. G Rule, with a Triumph Herald, were out of luek today, being at the bottom of their class with 39.11 miles to the gallon. The leaders were R. G. Rutherford and his wife, from Hamilton, who averaged 50 22 miles to the gallon in a Morris Minor 1000. The big car eiass was headed by the Rover crew, M. C. Paterson and R. Wil-

son, who averaged 31.81 miles to the gallon. This section looks as though it will be keenly contested, for the lowest performance in the class was that of H S. Howat and G. Dawson (Greymouth). who averaged 2852 miles to the gallon with an Austin A 99. Over-all petrol consumption figures were better than last year The cars are running on 93-octane petrol—the first time it has been used in this event. Tomorrow, the drivers face a 365-mile journey by a circuitous route to Tauranga. and on Friday will cover 155 miles to the finish in Auckland. The main complaint of drivers today was their having to maintain a higher average speed than they had expected. However, it was hardly a legitimate complaint as the average speed, though probably not the best from the economy point of view, was consistent with every-day motoring.