Cycling.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 132, 4 June 1904, Page 15

Cycling.

("Rt D\oonet.T Tho Automobi'e Club of Victoria has" aecured His Excellency Sir Reginald Talbot as patron of tho club. His Excellency is an onlliU.sinstie motorist, and already has one car in Melbourne. Two other fin» cars will shortly be landed to his order in Melbourno. The American multi-millionaire, Mr. Andrew Caruogie, is i»pi4 ding £10,000 on an automobile-house in New York, and as a preliminary has ordered five elootric cars in the way of "furnishings. " Inventors on the Continent and in Great Britain are exercising their ingenuity to perfect a non-pumcturable, resilient tire for motor cars, and the papers to hand contain milny cuts illustrative of ■ several devices. Tho* in^ntors arc not confining themselves to pneumatics, but are exploiting tho solid rubber in decided way. A 'Parisian has discarded rubber entirely, and has patented what is called an clastic wheel, scroll springs being utilised in place of spokes. Tho Automobile Association of America has just made arrangements for the greatest motor-run ever held <-Two thousand five hundred cars from all the principal cities of the United States will take part, and 10,000 motorists will compete. Sonw of these will, ride more than 2000 miles. The objective point will be the St. Louis Exposition, where a great field will be resorved for tho tents to be provided for the accommodation of the tourists. All the leading motorists in America will take part, and it i« estimated thnt fully £200,000 worth of cars will be in line. The Melbo\irnc Cycling AmaVeur authorities have decided to allow a, team of amateur riders to compete in the Victoria interclub road contests over 25 and 50 miles to be held on the Sydnej; roads in July. I'his is the hody, that tvva t y>&rs ago refused to allow their riders to compete in tho Warrnambool race for trophies. The probabilities are that the amateur authorities wil" 1 . yet allow their road cracks to compete' in the greatest of all Australasian road events — the Warrnambool to Melbourne race. In Franco no youth under eighteen years of ago is permitted to drive a motor car on the 'public roads The Automobile Club of Victoria has followed the example of the leading similar bodies in England, America, and France, and wi!l not admit members under eighteen years of age. A Gorman firm recently built a special machine for a Russian giant named Mnchnow, who intends training for longdistonoo path races. Mnchnow, it n said, can easily hold a 6-h.p motor car working full speect, nnd his strength can, therefore, be imagined. Ho is 9ft 4in tall, his cheH measures 70in around, and his feet are 18;n in length nnd Biin in width, while his hinds are of corre* eponding proportions. His pacing machine. u» said to tie a very powerful one, , but the one thing that is troubling him is the small (for him) wind-shicldfc which j the controlling bojy allows on the motors. MochnoV intends n^kinc per JnKsion of the authorities to use windshields of a commensurate me. Thr gear lie will drive is the rropectabfc one f>f 23p in. nnd 10in wheels, to Which :ire fitted 'liin tires, tvill be u?ed, nntf which look uncommonly like those of a big automobile, but ns they nro to carry n •weight of 9cwt they nre, perhaps, riono j too larjre or massive. The moVer which is to pace him seems to be abnormally ■ powerful — 65 h.p — but it remains 'to be Been what thi« unique specimen of an •thlfte Is capable of in tho inaUer of speed nnd endurance. Some interesting rending is furnished in tho reports of the big Continental j races in which Walthour, the American, competed against Rob! and other Kuropenn cracki The s&ncrnl opinion kerned to bo thnt Roll! wan outclaj*sod, Walthour having no difficulty whatever in disposing of him. The competitions, of cowtso, •were motor-paced, which nro the chief attractions on Contiwr-ta' 1 rnre-trnrks. There is to be somo big racing in Paris before tho season clo^m, the value of the prizes offered for one meeting; of three dava being £1700. This is best appreciated when 'compared with last yonr'a Au«trnl meeting, nlso over three days, when the prize-money amounted to £1050.