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Ken Smith with his Lotus 41/Ford 1493ccEditors note: On the eve of the 2010 Lady Wigram Trophy race we revisit an interview with Ken Smith from two years ago.....
Ken Smith will be on the grid for the 2008 Lady Wigram Trophy Race at the Powerbuilt International Raceway, Ruapuna, Christchurch this Sunday. It will be the second round of the Toyota Racing Series. Nzracer.com caught up with him at practice to ask seven questions:
1. Ken, when did you race in your first Lady Wigram Trophy race?
It was 1968 at Wigram (airbase) in a Lotus 41 with a Ford twin cam 1500cc. In those days that was a pretty modern car for a Formula 2 car.... it was a very good car.
2. You were up against some powerful machinery – Jim Clark’s Lotus 49T/Cosworth 2491cc V8; Chris Amon’s Ferrari 246T/V8; Bruce McLaren’s BRM P126/V12; was that quite daunting?
Well NZers didn’t have much of a show in those days, because we didn’t have the machinery that they had, but in saying that it was a privilege to be driving with some of the world’s best and you learnt a lot from the guys.
3. In the field of 19, there were eight current or future F1 drivers (Clark, Amon, McLaren, Hulme, Piers Courage, Pedro Rodriguz, Graham McRae and Frank Gardner), did you get to know them well?
All the Aussies were easy to talk to, and so was Jimmy Clark, Graham Hill. They weren’t , well I suppose you could say that today some of the drivers are a bit stuck up themselves where in those days they were all friendly, they were a different type of people. They worked at what they did, today a driver is made to drive one car where in those days they would have three cars to drive, Clark would drive a sports car, a single seater and a saloon car like a lot of them did and thought nothing of it.
4. Were there any that stood out, that had a real influence on you?
There wasn’t one individual, I admired the likes of Jimmy Clark, he was one of the greatest and I had a lot of respect for him and Graham Hill,…it's what you got learnt from them when you were driving, even though you were lapped in Grand Prix’s you could learn a lot from them.
5. Unfortunately five of these drivers eventually all died at the wheel of a race car, what effect did that have on you and those in NZ who were associated with those early Tasman Series years?
Well I mean, if it was close to home, a Kiwi, you would feel it more than the others because you didn’t know them as much as you did the local, but it does make you think at the time when someone loses their life, you think why the hell are they dying and not you but when you look at it now (today) these drivers don’t know how lucky they are driving what they are driving. Everyone that got killed in the old days, well if you put them in a car like this (a Toyota) they wouldn’t have got killed today, and that’s the differenc. In my opinion it was harder years ago, kids today look at those cars and think what a piece of sh.t but they don’t realize that some of that old stuff was hard to drive. You had no down force and you had to work at the wheel and if the car didn’t handle you would use the throttle and steering to make it work where today if it is a little bit out of the window then you’re way off the pace.
Guys have got it very easy today, let’s put it that way, it’s ready made for them, they don’t have to work at it. I know the technology is different and they’ve got to be fit and all that stuff, where you would get away with it years ago.
6. Back then did the talent show more than today?
In my opinion yes it did. Yeah definitely. Those cars had little narrow tyres on them, even Formula 1 cars. I saw the Lotus 25 that Jimmy (Clark) won the world championship in 1963. That car was at Eastern Creek at the Tasman Revival Series where I was running the McLaren (M23), I couldn’t believe how narrow the tyres were, in a simple looking car that was a dangerous car. You had to work at what you were doing, when you look at top speeds in those days like with Maserati’s and that, they were still doing 190mph, so they (today’s cars) are not going any faster, they accelerate faster and they glue to the road. It will get to the stage when you can put a monkey in a car or send a car out without a driver and let technology take over
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7. In 2008 do you see the same keenness to win the Trophy amongst the young drivers and does it still hold the same mystic that it had in the sixties?
The Lady Wigram Trophy Race and the NZ Grand Prix were and are the two races that everybody loved. …Its sad that the Lady Wigram Trophy race isn’t back at Wigram (airfield) but you can’t have it there but they’re doing a good job of putting it on here.
They were good days and I love driving now and I would struggle to stop. I used to get more of an enjoyment in those days, not that I hate it now, well if I did I wouldn’t be here and I really have to be in a car, it’s a disease in me that I have to race a car. It pisses me off that I’m not up the front more often but I have to realize that I’m 66 and body condition problems....and if I can beat them (young drivers) then it’s not a waste of time……………. I love helping them…NZ has got some magic talent you know, people like Brendan Hartley. If Brendan plays his cards right and keeps doing what he is doing he’ll wind up in F1 in 2-3 years.
I suppose the front running drivers of today, Halliday, Gaunt and Knight would love to win. The Lady Wigram Trophy (and the NZ Grand Prix)race are known all around the world, because those Formula 1 drivers raced in them. But if you won at Taupo or Manfield that wouldn’t ring a bell. They’re two prestigious races that I have won one twice and the other three times
Toyota have done a magic job, we're very lucky that they have stepped in. Barry Thomlinson and his wife Louise (Toyota Racing) have done such a great job and it's on the ground floor and it's good. Without them and Toyota this wouldn't happen and because of that I'm very greatful.
