WHIRLWIND TRIP.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 66, 19 March 1930, Page 18

WHIRLWIND TRIP.

FAY TAYLOUR AT THE WHEEL AUSTRALIAN TENNIS PLAYERS ON TOUR. FAST TIME FROM DUNEDIN TO CHEISTCHURCH. Miss Fay Taylour, the daredevil dirt, tivick rider, is apparently just as reek-, less at the wheel of a motor car as she is. "on; the cinder track.' With" two of the 'Australian -tennis teamj- Kalms and' Sproule, as .passengers' she drove from Dunedin-' to "Cliristcliurch'- in 5h 22m actual running time. It happened in Dunedin that two of the visiting Australian tennis team, Sproule and Kalms, overslept and missed the express, says the "Christchurch Star." Miss Taylour became aware of their plight and undertook* $o catch up with the train forty minutes after it had whistled out of• the-station. -That might seem impossible, but Anyone who has ridden in Miss Taylour's car', will know that she is capable of tackling such problems. Hasty Packing. In any case, hasty packing was done by Miss Taylour, and off they set. Forty miles were done in about that many minutes, when she suddenly remembered about some sprockets which should have been left in a garage in Dunedin. The party then had just passed a service car, so they turned round on the road and set off in pursuit. It was easy for Miss Fay Taylour to end the chase, and the sprockets were transferred to the bus en route for Dunedin. Off they set again.

Everything, was going nicely, except for the passengers, who found that there was plenty of room to be thrown round in, a five-seater car,, and also that the roof was hard. Somewhere near Oainaru —Miss Taylour is not certain where—the train hove in sight and the driver's foot was pressed against the floor, when there was a suspicious whistling, and the result was a fiat tyi'e. That occupied some time, but away they went again. On this occasion they drew level >vith the engine and then decided on a short-cut along a newly-formed road. There the car crashed, into an xmbridged ditch or creek of sorts, and they had to go back to the clear road. Out of Peti'ol. The car purred smoothly- along until "a wayside village" was passed, to use Miss Taylour's words. A quarter of a mile .from there the petrol gave out. Back went Miss Taylour with an obliging passing motorist, bought the "juice," turned down an offer for her to ride a decorated bicycle in the "village pageant," returned to the car and set out on the journey once more. The car pulled into Timaru a minute or two after the train, but Miss Taylour and her"companions decided that having gone so far they might as well continue. And they did. They played hide-and-seek with the train from then on to Christchurch, after experiencing another petrol shortage, and arrived at the railway station to shake hands with the driver of the express. The passengers on the train evinced great interest in. the race—if race it could be called. "Look at my nose," said Sproule, one of the passengers in the car, to a reporter last night. And what a nose it was—skinned and blackened from contact with the roof of the car. He Was nil smiles, however —rather grotesque smiles, though, because of his nose. "T wouldn't do it airain," he said in a determined tone. then, relenting, "but it was a great trip. I think I would. What parts of me are not bruised are sore with laueliing. Kalms and I could hardly eat to-night. Miss Taylour is a marvellous driver. You should have been with us to see the broadsides we made. Still I think they should be kept for the speedway. I had on a crash helmet for a while, but it was knocked down over my ears." Kalms, the second passenger, also offerpd-to display a few bruises.

"I had her full out most of.the way" said-Miss Taylour, "and it can travel. Yes. there were lots of exciting minutes on the trip, but I'd better not tell you about them." • , -

The actual running time for the trip was 5 hours 22 minutes. Two-additional hours were spent in mending punctures, hunting up petrol, eating and waiting for the train. The only effect the journey had on Miss Taylour is that she developed a bad cold.