PETROL FOR EVENT

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25308, 7 October 1947, Page 6

PETROL FOR EVENT

SOURCE OF SUPPLIES

Aviation spirit of the octane ratings ai F I craf t likely to compete in the 1000-mile air reliability trial, next February, did not at present come to New Zealand from dollar areas, and future supplier would continue to be drawn from sterling areas, said an oil company representative yesterday when asked about the sources of supply for the event. However, it was impossible to aay definitely that all the petrol to be used had come from sterling areas, because some supplies left over after the war might have originated in dollar areas; he said. In the change-over ’ which was taking place, stocks from various sources might have been mixed. Describing the opposition to the race expressed in some quarters as “a storm m a tea-cup,” he said that even though a little extra petrol might be consumed on the week-end of the race, this would be offset by. the time the aircraft would be out of the air being overhauled and inspected before the race. The type of fuel used was not the kind used by the private motorist. “The sterling,dollar position will not be affected in the slightest,” he said. Another opinion was that it did not matter which area the petrol came from, because New Zealand was just one of a number of sterling countries, none Of which produced sufficient petrol for their needs. The balance had to ccme from dollar areas, and it was not material which sterling country received “sterling” and which received “dollar” petrol.

Consumption of Petrol When asked about the consumption of petrol during the race, several pilots agreed that it would probably not be more than aero clubs would use in a normal week-end’s flying. Most of the entries would be Tiger Moth aircraft which cruised at 80 to 85 miles an hour, and used about GJ gallons of petrol in that time. This, said one, was almost as many miles to the gallon as a large number of motorists would be getting from their cars on long trips during the holiday period. Of about 120 civil aircraft owned privately and by clubs in New Zealand (about 80 belonging to the 21 different clubs), between 4200 gallonsand 4800 gallons would be used during a week-e„nd by aero clubs, working on a basis of five hours a day for each machine at that time of year and assuming that 60 machines of the 80 were serviceable. Allowing for circuits and landing training which called for a higher petrol consumption, and the fact that probably less than 25 per cent, of the aircraft available would be unserviceable, the - total might be much higher. If 50 entries were received for the 1000-mile contest, the petrol used would be less than 4000 gallons, taking 40 Tiger Moths and 10 faster aircraft which used up to 10 gallons an hour, as a basis, and allowing for travelling time to Harewood by competitors in the North Island.