Wigram

The first summer meetings at Wigram Aerodrome, in 1949, are regarded as the oldest motor races in New Zealand. The Canterbury Car Club ran the Lady Wigram Trophy there on a temporary 3.54 km circuit laid out on the runways and taxiways, with a 1.3 km main straight – a "horsepower circuit", as NZ Speedsport called it, with fast, sweeping corners around the hangars.

Source: Wigram Airfield Circuit – Wikipedia

"Two American cars and drivers have been brought out"

"In recognition of the fact that big powerful saloon cars have the greatest spectator appeal," the Peter Jackson series brought two American cars and drivers to its Auto News TraNZam races – Bruce's Pontiac Firebird for Scott Lagasse and his Porsche 944, the car that raced as #11 in the USA, for Chris Kneifel. The car to beat was New Zealand champion Kayne Scott's Petch Motorsport Ford Merkur; other fancied V8s included Grant Brennan's Camaro, Don Grindley's Oldsmobile Cutlass and Kieran Wills' Mazda RX8.

The Americans "were not that confident of beating the likes of Kayne Scott and Kieran Wills on what is a horsepower circuit," wrote NZ Speedsport, "but little did they know what was ahead of them, Scott Lagasse in particular."

Lagasse second on the grid

Lagasse "made a big improvement in his Pontiac Firebird to score second on the grid", wrote Bernard Carpinter. John Harcourt, sixth, would later own the Jenner Camaro. Earlier, in practice, Lagasse had been timed at 191.01 km/h – just behind Scott's 191.16.

Three from three

• Race 1: Lagasse made "a disastrous start" and was 2.5 seconds behind Scott after two laps. As Scott's power steering failed the gap shrank to half a second; they swapped the lead, and Lagasse passed him for good a lap from the end. Kneifel had "a lonely run in third".
• Race 2: Lagasse led lap one before Scott took over – until power-steering fluid sprayed across his windscreen. Lagasse won from Wills and Scott. Kneifel "lasted five laps before withdrawing with an engine problem."
• Race 3, the traditional "flying farewell": Scott led and again lost his power steering; Lagasse took the lead with Scott hanging on for second. Kneifel retired again.

Times from NZ Speedsport's results (programme races 2, 9 and 19). Scott set the weekend's fastest lap, 1:12.34.

"A 3-0 drubbing to the Kiwis"

"A fantastic day. I'm giving up 100bhp on the top Kiwis, but the Pontiac is really good onto the straights and we just carried that momentum down."Scott Lagasse

"We had the car stiffened with lots of sway bars to help solve some other problems but it worked to our favour. The opposition sort of helped us out, but that is racing I guess."Scott Lagasse, NZ Speedsport

"Jenner needless to say was also ecstatic over his car's wins particularly when it was giving away 100 or so horsepower to Scott and Wills." – NZ Speedsport

The drivers

• Scott Lagasse (St. Augustine, Florida) – two-time SCCA National Champion, in the blue #8 Pontiac Firebird: the 1985 car that still races today as the Jenner Camaro.
• Chris Kneifel (Chicago) – Indy 500 starter and Trans-Am podium finisher for Bruce in 1987, in the Porsche 944, now #4.
• Bruce Jenner – entrant, there in person, helping Lagasse into the car on the grid.

Petch Motorsport's Mark Petch, whose team ran Kayne Scott's Merkur, later called 1993 the year TraNZam "was by far the most popular category in New Zealand", remembering "the ex-Kiwi Bruce Jenner's 2 car Team's and his 2 USA drivers".

Baird, Radisich – and a young Jos Verstappen

Craig Baird (Reynard-Toyota) won the Lady Wigram Trophy itself – his third – and the preliminary heat, from Paul Radisich, Steve Cameron and Stuart Crow. Radisich had driven one of Bruce's Porsches at Brainerd in 1988. Series leader Jos Verstappen, 20, hit the marker tyres while chasing Radisich in the Lady Wigram Trophy race; Australian Russell Ingall won both Formula Ford races.

Sources: newspaper results and John Hawkins' report, 18 January 1993

"The wild rumour of the week"

"…was that American Scott Lagasse's Pontiac Firebird, which scooped all three TraNZam races at Wigram, will remain in New Zealand after the Peter Jackson series. Even more exciting was the story that it would be staying in Christchurch."

It did. Rebodied as a Camaro, it passed to Paul Williams of Rangiora – and more than thirty years later it still races at the Wigram meetings, with Chris Hatton.

All the 1993 Wigram clippings →

For safety reasons the last race at Wigram – a classic meeting – was held in 2000, and the Lady Wigram Trophy moved to the Canterbury Car Club's own circuit at Ruapuna, now Euromarque Motorsport Park. The aerodrome closed to air traffic in September 2008 and has become the Wigram Skies housing development.

The name lives on: the Lady Wigram Trophy is still contested at Ruapuna, and the Wigram Revival meetings celebrate the old airfield circuit's history.

The idea goes back at least to 1998, when the Motor Racing Club organised Wigram Glory Days Relived at Ruapuna on 31 October for cars that had raced at Wigram. Among the hundred entries registered by June was "the ex-Bruce Jenner Camaro" – most likely the 1993 winner, then in Paul Williams' hands. The clipping →

Sources: Wigram Airfield Circuit · Lady Wigram Trophy – Wikipedia

Chris Hatton and the Jenner Camaro

Since 2009 Chris has taken the car – Lagasse's 1993 winner – to eight Lady Wigram Trophy and Wigram Revival meetings at Ruapuna. At the 2025 Wigram Revival he qualified second in Classic Saloons, 1.03 seconds off Neville Stowell. Race results for each meeting will be added from the timing records.