SUPER-SPEED.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 85, 11 April 1929, Page 23

SUPER-SPEED.

SEGRAVE'S TRIUMPH.

CROWD SILENT IN FEAR. WIFE AFP AID TO WATCH. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SAX FRANCISCO, March 14. In a flaming streak of super-speed, Major H. O. I). Segrave, the famous British race track driver, set a new world s speed record for motor cars by sending his powerful (iolden Arrow machine roaring over the hard, wavela pped ocean speedway at Daytona Beach, liorida, at the tremendous speed of 231,3t!24ii miles an hour.

Driving his glistening twelve-cylinder machine at a dazzling pace, Major Segrave eclipsed by "23,51 miles an hour the former record of 207.•">•"> set on the samp track last year by I lay Keech, of Philadelphia in the 3l>-eylinder Triplex owned bv J. M. W liite. The new mark also surpassed by 2S miles an hour the record of 20.'? which Major Segrave set at Daytona Beach in 1927 with his Sunbeam Special.

On his first official run north. Major Segrave literally burned up the course when lie negotiated the measured mile in 10..»5 seconds for the amazing speed of 2.i1.51120 miles an hour. His second trial, made southward over the course, was clocked at 1 7 seconds for a speed of 231.21357 miles an hour. His average elapsed time was 15..~>f> seconds, and his average two-way speed was 231.3<i24(i miles an hour. The two trials, which were timed and sanctioned by the American Automobile Association, were without incident, and staged under only fairly good weather conditions before thousands of spectators, who lined the sand dunes for miles parallel to the course. Visibility Imperfect. \ isibilitv was not perfect, however. i and the beach course was a little in spots. A brisk east wind was blowing diiectly off the ocean, which tended ; to help Major Segrave keep his machine , from running too far out on the course , while travelling as such a tremendous , speed.

i-leetinjr to make his first official run north over the course, Major Segrave <!ro\p his powerful car sout the beach at a clip of 177 miles an hour to make certain it was working perfectly. .Mechanics, made a hasty, lastminute check of the giant machine, filled the cooling system with ice. and pronounced it ready for the official trials. A moment later the telephone in the judges' stand junglcd, and the voice of the track attendant at the startingpoint announced that the youthful driver was set for his fast and dangerous ri.le down the hard-packed sands, which the receding tide had levelled out .-mooth and hard.

! "° K-. let him go!" said Odis Porter, •official timekeeper, who had taken his position at the timing instruments. The ; spectators wore on their feet in an ;n.-tant, tense with excitement ami craning their necks to catch the first -limp-e ~f the powerful car as it burst ! into view. Roar of Giant Engine. irar down tiie course the roar of the ..Jam machine could be heard, and the crowds stood motionless, tearing that at \ an\ m;nute the .-peeding racer might go , out of control and plunge into the ocean ■ or plough through the crowds that lined I the course. With a mighty roar the j car dashed by the giaiulstand at the |start of tlie oflicial mile, gaining such .tremendous speed that it .seemed the | machine fairly skimmed over the hardpacked sands. Physically exhausted from the strain they had been under during Segrave's epochal run, the spectators sank back in their seats in the Errandstand and marvelled at the driver. When his speed was announced, a wild cheer, which lasted nearly a minute, rose from tlie stand.

After a short delay at the north end of the course, during which time Segrave changed all four wheels and tyres, and replenished the ice supply in his cooling system, the intrepid driver notified the officials lie was ready to make I his second run south over the course. The two runs were necessary that his average speed with and against- the wind could be calculated. After stopping for a few minutes at the south end of the course. Segrave drove his machine slowly up the beach and stopped in front of the grandstand. Immediately he was surrounded by hundreds of cheering spectators. Smiling broadly, Segrave climbed out of his car, shook hands with many of his admirers, and observed he was glad to have been able to establish a record. Hero Embraced by his Wife. The first person to reach his side was his wife. She sat in the grandstand during the trials, but would not witness tlie race. She kept her hands over her face, fingered nervously with a handkerchief, and occasionally put a smelling salts vial to her nose. Segrave brought his machine to a stop before the grandstand, she rushed out on to the course, embraced him, and congratulated him. Then she posed with her proud husband, while newsreel cameramen recorded the scene.

Major Segrave was not satisfied with the record he set, and said he contemplated trying to set it higher. He felt certain the Golden Arrow was capable of 240 miles an hour, nearly nine miles an hour faster than the record he had just set, and that he probably would have made faster time had his mechanics not "talked him out" of putting discs over the racer's wheels. The mechanicians, he said, feared the effect of a sudden gust of side wind on the discs at high speed. The driver said he did not believe the ocean speedway at Daytona would do for speeds much higher than 240 miles an hour, because of poor visibility due to the mist of breakers and lack of enough length for the requisite running start. How the Driver Felt. Major Segrave described to newspaper men the thrills he experienced as he shot the Golden Arrow over the beach at over 231 miles an hour. "I really expected something serious—you know what I mean—a skid, a bump—that would have placed me in danger," he said. "At least eleven times during the run back and forth I ran into the water. I could feel the car slow up each time my • wheels dipped into the surf. At one time I attempted to run higher, but got into soft sand, and this caused me to have considerable difficulty with steering until I got back near the water. The perfect construction of my car is attested to by the fact that several times I struck bad bumps near the middle of the mile course, which caused my car to leave the ground and hurtle through the air thirty or forty feet before I came back down on the course. The steering apparatus worked perfectly, and at no time was I in danger," he said. I