Twenty-Four Cars Taking Part In Economy Run

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29055, 18 November 1959, Page 16

Twenty-Four Cars Taking Part In Economy Run

In brilliantly fine weather and with a slight wind assistance, the 24 cars competing in the Mobilgas Economy Run through the South Island established some outstanding figures on the first day of the run from Blenheim to Christchurch yesterday. Honours for the day went to a Holden car fitted with a diesel engine, which covered the 190-mile odd journey on only 2.85 gallons of fuel. Driven by a former chief traffic officer of the Transport Department, Mr J. E. Ainsworth, and his son, Mr J. E. Ainsworth, jnr., the diesel Holden is not actually competing in the run but is trying out its paces against the conventional models—particularly the Holden SpeciaL A land agent, a coal miner, two taxi-drivers and farmers—persons from many walks of life who have entered in the run and were balloted to take part—competed keenly to get the best figures yesterday. Rivalry is running particularly high between two Chevrolets—one a six cylinder model and the other a latest V-8 model. On yesterday’s run, the sixcylinder model took the honours with 26.24 miles a gallop. For part of the run, the cars had the company of aircraft from the carrier H.M.A.S. Melbourne, which flew over Kaikoura as the cars entered the town for the lunch stop. On many parts of the road, school children had assembled to wave to the cars as they made their way along the coast road to Christchurch. The only car to meet with misfortune was the tiny Fiat 600 of M. B. Angelo, of Wellington. Near the Greta river in North Canterbury, the overheating light on the car’s dashboard began glowing, and the driver was forced to stop. The bonnets on all the competing cars are sealed, so that the occupants had to wait until an official car caught them up and enabled them to refill the radiator under supervision.

In class A, for cars up to 1200 c.c., the best figures were achieved by a Standard 10, driven by E. T. Skews and J. J. Simpson. of Wellington. It averaged 53.70 miles a gallon for the journey. In class B, over 1200 c.c. and up to 1725 c.c., a Vauxhall Victor driven by E. Meredith and E. W. Metcalf, of Blenheim, is heading the field with figures of 43.92 miles a gallon. A standard Holden Special leads the class C field (1725 c.c. to 2650 c.c.) with 39.25 miles a gallon, and a 3.4-litre Jaguar heads the class for cars over 2650 c.c. with a figure of 30.45 miles a gallon. Extreme Measures Some of the drivers go to great lengths to get low fuel consumption. The Standard 10 and the Fiat 600 almost cooked their passengers as they proceeded on the journey with windows wound up to reduce drag. The heat inside the cars built up to such a

degree that the windows fogged up and the drivers had to relent

The control of the event has been excellent, aided considerably by the constant radio network which is maintained among the official cars, to keep track of the whole train of cars, at times stretched over 25 miles of highway.

Today the first car will leave the King Edward Barracks on the long journey to Invercargill —the longfest trip of the four-day event. The first car will reach Dunedin at 12.32 p.m.,. and is expected at Invercargill at 4.50 p.m. The leading figures achieved on yesterday’s run are provisional, depending upon penalties incurred for any breaches, no matter how slight, of the road code. They are:— Class A: Standard 10 (E. T. Skews and J. J. Simpson, Wellington) 53.7 miles a gallon; Fiat 600 (M. B. Angelo and R. B. Weir, Wellington), 52.54; Morris Minor 1000 (D. J. Le Cren and J. McD. Hall, Nelson), 49.61. Class B: Vauxhall Victor (E> Meredith and E. W. Metcalf, Blenheim), 43.92 miles a gallon; Consul (R. D. Youngman and T. H. Pearce, Palmerston North), 43.15; Humber 80 (R. J. Barnes and M. B. Mills. Blenheim), 40.14. Class C: Holden Special (G. T. Wagg and G. H, B. Worsley, Masterton), 39.25 miles a gallon; Jaguar 2.4-litre (G. Rushworth and J. Rushworth, Christchurch), 38.18; Standard Vanguard (W. W. H. Brown and W. L. Affleck, Invercargill), 32.41.

Class D: Jaguar 3.4-litre (E. Rillstone and' H. T. Melhop, Invercargill), 30.45 miles a gallon; Plymouth Savoy (G. G. McLean and P. J. Thomson (Ashburton), 26.63; Chevrolet Bel Air 6 (I. R. Chalmers and Mrs H. M. Chalmers, Auckland), 26.24.