MOTOR CYCLE TEST.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1110, 25 April 1911, Page 4

MOTOR CYCLE TEST.

''TfiE WELLINGTON-WAIPAWA TRIP.

The New Motor Cycle" Club's ■24-hour schedule reliability trial, which commenced at 7 o'clock on Friday evening, and finished at 7 p.m. on Saturday proved one of the most severe tests of machinery and riders yet held in New Zealand. Tho conditions of tho trial have already appeared- iri the press. Ihe riders were dispatched at intervals, ■commencing :at 7,p.m., and, with few exceptions, passed the various controls to Palmerston on time. A stop of half-an-hour was arranged at the Levin contro , where supper was ready , ;- $his control was conducted by Mr'. Phillips, who commenced dispatching tho competitors at midnight.. The Palmcrstoti control was managed by tho Manawatu Motor Cycle G'lub,~who made; excellent arrangements, and hadb enzino and carbide and water for ..lamps-ready at the-post- office af.2.-a.m....The; time, Bchediild ;be'tween -lalmcrston and Dannevirke (the next control) was calculated to givo the competitors''ample time : --to"-negotiate the Manawatu Gorge slowly in tho darkness, and this was fortunate, bicause rain was met after leaving Palmerston, and the road in 'the gorge, being wet was very difficult to see. Messrs. R, S. Bender, W. Hyslop, Draffin, Gilbert, and Sutherland passed,. : tbo;:Dannevirkc control, at Vanous times , : , i-45 and 5.30. The other starters, having •by this time either missed the road or been.'delayediby'punctiires, daylight was welcomed in tho vicinity of the Norsewood control, and Messrs; Bender,; Hyslopi and Sutherland arrived at tho'turning point,' the-: iWhipawS ■» PosKoOffice at rtheir'.■•scheduled ,, :times '!jlisf/ after 7 a.m.,..and., wero closely followed by Gilbert .and After breakfast the return journey , to'Wellington was commenced about 9 a.m., and wet roads and heavy showers were experienced all tho v.-ay,to,:Mastertoii,i; Thfi.cbntrols ..were ... at, Norsercood,. .. Dajjncyirke, Pahiatua (where-there was a 50-minute stop fori-lunch), Mastertou,"Grc'ytown, Pakuratahv-ind Taita. \Rairi ; was again met in crossing the Rimutakas, and lamps had to bo lighted at the Pakuratahi. which was readied at various 'times after 5.22 by all tho riders who had left Waipawa, with ' the : exception of Sutherland, who had tho misfortune to break a .valvo near Featherston, and retired. Messrs'. R. S. Bender, W. Hyslop, W. Draffin, and K. Gilbert completed the run, reaching tho Wellington Post Office shortly after 7 p.m. Mr. R. S. Bender wins a gold 'modal, and also the silver cup presented by Mr. E. W. Daniel, president of the club, for the rider running nearest to schedule at each control, and W. Hyslop, who ran exactly to schedule the whole way, but had the misfortune to loose a minute at the finishing control, comes next, winning a silver medal. W. Draffin, who only lost 13 marks, gets a certificate, and E. Gilbert only misses a certificate by two points. Competitors speak highly of the receptions they got at tho various controls, and especially of the promptness with which they were received and dispatched at the controls passed during the night. . ■