HANDICAP SECTION

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 100, 25 October 1934, Page 13

HANDICAP SECTION

NEW ZEALAND CHANCES

VERY BRIGHT INDEED

3FGREGOE TRAVELS

HARD

"With the first, nuf.ond, and third places in the speed section Avon, interest in the air race passes to the handicap section, and in this JS'cw Zealand has a lively interest. Probably the air race question most asked and argued today has been: Is McGregor going to win tho handicap? To forecast the result of tho handicap race, even at this stage, is just a little more difficult than it was to pick out Scott and Black while the machines were lined up at Mildenhall on Saturday morning, but it can be said that Mac —everyone calls him Mac by now—has every chance of a place, providing that he does not overdo it and tire himself and Walker and overrun his engine.

It may be as well to repeat' the main handicap conditions. Flying time means the time spent between the starter's flag and the finishing line, less time spent at the recognised stopping points, i.e., the five essential stops, Bagdad, Allahabad, Singapore, Darwin, and Charleville, and the eighteen non-compulsory (really safety) checking points. But time spent at ■other than listed points is counted as flying time.

' Each cliicf pilot carries a log book in which are entered by ground officers the times of arrival and departure at each stop and these entries will be checked in Melbourne and the time spent on the ground at recognised stops will bo deducted lo arrive at the time actually spout in Hying. The machines were surveyed at Mildcnhall and tho handicap allowances were ascertained by a calculation in which the factors wore: (a) Total weight of machine as ready for tho race, (b) payload, including personnel, baggage, sealed packages, but not oil or fuel, (c) power, of engines, (d) area of piano surfaces. I'rom tho net flying' time tho handicap allowance, arrived at as indicated in the preceding paragraph, will be deducted, and the honours will go to pilots who show the best record of net flying time les3 the handicap allowance. Tho cables messages received, though detailed, aro still not full enough to allow, even a. rough calculation of the time spent by pilots on the ground and there can be no certainty afc all until after tho race is over.

SOMETHING UP THEIR SLEEVES?

McGregor and his amateur co-pilot have done magnificent^" in their little machine, but it is too early to raise whoops o£ delight. They have one strong point in their favour: that their handicap allowance appears to be very favourable to their Miles Hawk. Theoretically this machine, on weight, payload, power, and wing area, should fly at 120.57 m.p.h., but on actual performance the Miles Hawk-(Gipsy Major engine) has dono much better than this. In this year's King's Cup race, for instance, it gained second placo with 148 m.p.h., but this was a short distance race compared with the tremendous distances of the Melbourne race. McGregor and Walker may (or may not) have something over 20 m.p.h. up their sleeves, and if so they may work a very pleasing conjuring trick, if they do not overdo progress at the expense of physical and mechanical exhaustion.

Apart from the very natural and fporting desire to make Melbourne in 'as fast time as possible, thero is no need for McGregor and Walker to continue without rest. The handicap race much bo finished within sixteen days, and such great progress has been made by them in these first five days that they could quite well sleep overnight at each remaining stop on the way to Melbourne and still be well within the! sixteen days, but McGregor, at Batavia yesterday, said that they hoped to roach Melbourne on Friday. McGregor also said that they did not know how | they stood in tho handicap race, and for him those two remarks were- outstandingly long speeches. Hewott has tho reputation of never talking at all, and McGregor talks less thaiv that. One of the recent cable messages states that their time from Rangoon to Singapore was eight and a half hours, and enthusiastic supporters have probably worked out distances and times to find their air speed: such _a calculation gives an air speed of 153 m.p.h., which is too good to bo true. Actually, this calculation cannot be made on the milago data supplied on tho race maps, for apparently they did not call at Bangkok, but flew direct from Rangoon to Alor Star. MORE TIME ON THE GROUND. Hewett, Kay, and Stewart, the Auckland team, have spent more time on the ground, and presumably liavo been able 'to give their engines more attention, but they have not had an unbroken run of fortune, for their Boulogne stop on tho first day counted as flying time. The handicap formula seems to have worked out remarkably truly to performance in their case, for it placed their flying speed at 140,10 m.p.h., which is within a mile or so of the regular performance of D.H. Dragons similarly powered. However, that, too, remains to be seen. The longer rango of their Dragon would allow them to cut out some of the additional milage necessary to mako calls at non-compulsory stops off the direct line, so reducing their hours m the air, their flying time. ONE MAN, ONE PRIZE. Scott and Black were entrants in both speed and handicap races, but tho raco rules do not permit of two prizes to one crow. Panncntier and Moll appeared to have the handicap almost in their pockets until their forced landing and delay at Albury, for their net flying time up to that point must have been remarkably low. Tho handicapping formula applied in an unexpected way in the case of the Douglas, for it gave them a theoretical air speed of only 1G8.03 m.p.h., whereas heavily-laden Douglas airliners fly regularly on American passenger routes at over m.p.h. However, they are right out of tho handicap honours under rule 29, section B. This section says that if at the finish of the raco tho payload does not agree with log-book entries or docs not conform to certified load any deficiency shall bo deemed to have existed from tho commencement of tho race. Parmentier and Moll, in order to lighten their machine when taking off from tho muddy surface at Albury, left their passengers behind and arrived at Melbourno without them. The handicap allowance will consequently bo adjusted as though no passengers were carried over the whole journey. THOSE WELL IN THE RUNNING. Those who are strongly in the running for the handicap are McGregor and Walker, Hewott, Kay and Stewart, Melrose CAustralia), Hanson and Jensen (Denmark), tho Stodarts (England), and perhaps Wright and Polando (America), who lost some time on tho first log.

Brook and liis lady passenger, with a new Miles type, the Falcon, have not boon in tho luck, and Shaw (England) has no r shown out prominently. Still, ho may bo playing 'possum on the ground anil travelling fast between stops. Ho whs reporter! flown at Bushiro for repairs to fhe undercarriage of his