Stirling Moss was heavily favoured for victory heading into the weekend. He would be driving a Maserati 250S fitted with Dunlop alloy wheels and the latest state-of-the-art Dunlop disc brakes in place of the large Maserati drums. However, there were some other names of interest in the entry list. Both Tony Gaze and Peter Whitehead came armed with a pair of Ferrari 500's that had been tuned to run on methanol, providing them with a notable power advantage compared to the previous years cars. As well as this, the 625 motors had been replaced with 750S's. Reg Parnell had also initially entered the race with an Aston Martin 2.5-litre single seater. However, the engine blew during testing and was consigned to race a Cooper T38 instead. The last of the British contingent was Leslie Marr who entered a Connaught B Type with a Jaguar D-Type engine.
A shipping debacle that saw cars being sent to Wellington instead of Auckland almost curtailed the weekend for multiple drivers including Moss. This, coupled with the cars being loaded well down into the ship and the wild weather that delayed unloading, meant that the cars had to be flown up to Auckland at late notice and the cars would have to be assembled and run without adequate practice. Spare parts for all cars had also gone missing although most were recovered in time for the race. During practice itself, Moss set the pace - and by a significant margin too. Before the race start, a young Jack Brabham's gearbox failed and was forced to withdraw from the race.
Gaze initially lead the race off the starting line, but would be passed soon after by Moss, who thereafter enjoyed a largely trouble-free race to the flag. However, at around half-race distance, Moss began to feel what he thought was raindrops on his visor. Instead, it was petrol courtesy of a broken fuel lead which was spraying fuel back into the cockpit. He slowed speed considerably and eventually made a pitstop for repairs just eight laps from home. Despite this, the lead was such that the Ferrari's of Gaze and Whitehead could not hope to challenge for a potential victory.
Stirling Moss
