Motor Racing at Wigram – Part 8
Financial pressures in running the annual motor racing together with declining attendances continued to be a headache for the Wigram event organisers into the 1980s. Added to their worries were a contraction of sponsorship investment and a failure to get off the ground a profile-boosting Pacific Region Championship. Wigram and similar local circuits had to battle on their own. The committee even considered calling off the 1981 meeting.
No longer could a grand-stand be afforded as it did not generate the cash to cover its costs. Contributing to this decline was the decreasing number of ‘household names’ entering for races. The international motoring fraternity was no longer represented on starting grids. The paucity of prize money and lack of financial assistance to bring cars to NZ were contributing factors.
In 1984 two meetings were attempted in one year, January as usual, then again in December. The hope was to attract more overseas entrants to the later date, which it did, but it proved most unpopular with local drivers, only five of whom lined up for the Trophy Race. The whole trial arrangement was deemed a failure. It was a long 14 months before Kiwi drivers could again compete at Wigram – in January 1986.
Low roll-up crowd numbers and financial stringencies continued in 1987. Light relief this year (and again in 1988) was the participation in two of the races of Prime Minister David Lange – in the South Island Production Race driving a 1.6 Ford Laser, and in the Laser TX3i Championship. For the record his lap performances on the track were a tad less successful than his political forays on the Hill.
Towards the end of this decade it was tobacco company sponsorship that put the puff into motor racing balance sheets, as attendances remained static. The Motor Racing Club was advised by the RNZAF that major runway reconstruction was to begin in December 1989 , including installing lighting facilities to enable night landings. Another venue would have to be found for the 1990 Wigram racing.
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