DUKE'S MOTOR RACE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3137, 2 October 1922, Page 7

DUKE'S MOTOR RACE.

The Duke of Leinster drove a motorcar from London to Aberdeen on July o in, according to his own statement, 14| hours of actual driving time. Ine Duke declares that he won a wager of £3,000 which he had made with another member of the peerage by completing the journey in fees than I 'J hours'. Leaving London at 3.7 a.m., he reached Aberdeen at 9.7 p.m., a certain amount of time having been spent on the way at meals and in waiting for a ferry across the Firth of lonrth. The distance from London to Aberdeen, according to. the road maps, is oIS miles. The speedometer on the Duke s car recorded 557 miles, the difference being accounted for by the fact that the road was lost twice m Yorkshire. It is understood that the Duke had an argument as to the time that the ionrnev from London to Aberdeen should take, and it was suggested that a motor-oar could reach Aberdeen sooner than a train which started at the same time. The fastest express trams complete the journey (522 miles by rani) in 12 hours. . . "The wager came about in the usual way," the Duke told a London Evening News reporter before he set out. "There was a discussion as to whether it was quicker to go to. Aberdeen by train or by road. I made a level wager that I could do it in 12 hours, the time a train takes. But we decided, in view of the wet condition of the road, that another three hours should be allowed. My motor-car can do 80 miles an hour all out, and I shall certainly have to touch that speed at times—it■ wjl'li cost me £3,000 if I don't," *The Cuke left the boundary of London on Finchley road at 3.7 a.m. in his Rolle-Koyce motor-car, which carried a perfect car«o of spare wheels. He was accompanied by Mr Kenneth Cameron, a bookmaker, who was the referee of the performance. The car travelled at high speed throughout the whole journey. The highest sustained speed was to miles an hour. There was no tyre trouble, and the roads were in good condition. The Duke said that he had been extremely fortunate m regard to the weather. The Duke was very tired when ho reached Aberdeen The average speed of the Duke s journev was nearly 40 miles an hour over the whole distance—a journey carried out over public roads and through many towns. It will be remembered' that Jean Chassague, who won the motor-car tourist trophy race in an eight-cylinder Sunbeam in the Isle of Man last month, only covered 1,302 miles of the course at an average speed of 55.7 miles an hour.