CYCLING AND MOTORING.

Evening Star, Issue 15479, 29 April 1914, Page 3

CYCLING AND MOTORING.

The motor cycle carnival arranged and conducted by the Sydney Bicycle and Motor Cycle Club, at Goulhurn (N.S.W.) during the Easter holidays was a gratifying success. There were a 1 few accidents due to various causes, such as skidding, at corners, taking V-gutters too fast, and some to. carelessness-. The. meeting opened on the Saturday with handicap and champion events, the course being a 33-mile circuit near Goulburn—from near Yarra R.S. to Breadalban© and Collector and back to the starting point. The chief contest was the Tourist Trophy Race of 100 miles, made up of three circuits of the course, which was decided on Easter Monday, tho name of the event being borrowed from the big competition held annually on the Isle of Man. There was a fine field of 32 starters from 46 entrants, but only a dozen finished before the officials retired, which indicated the strenuousness of the contest. Harry Jenkins, who won, used a 7 h.p. Indian machine, shod with Dunlop tyres, his time for the 100 miles being 2h Omin 52 4-ssec, or at a pace of about 50 m.p.h., which is a magnificent performance. Yet in a way Jenkins had an easy victory, for he finished nearly 6min in advance of the second man, Eric Tyler, also of Victoria, and also on a 7 h.p. Indian. Tyler, it appears, was very unfortunate in the second lap; in the first he had gained, covering the lap in 38min 6sec —record for the circuit—and showing an average speed of 51 f m.p.h.; the third lap was hut llsec slower, but in the second round, owing to a flying piece of stone catching under the mud guard and delaying him, his time was 50min. which practically lost him the race. '* Jenkins, however, rode finely throughout, and deserved the victory. Two New South Wales riders filled •third and fifth places, and Victoria came in fifth and tenth respectively. South Australia was also represented, the rides* from that State filling sixth and eighth places. R. Ralston (New South Wales), on a 31 h.p. Triumph, ran a good third, and his time, as compared with that _by the winner on a 7 h.p. machine, is exceptionally fast--2h 9min 27 2-ssec. The course is said to be tricky, the sharp turns and Vgutters being very disconcerting. As evidenced by the times recorded, however, it is a fairly fast circuit. , The 100-Mile Tourist Trophy Race is regarded as being the most important motor cycle event yet contested in Australia. and it will now be made an annual fixture. It has been proposed to run next year’s race in Victoria, and the following year’s contest in South Australia, or as may be arranged later. It is possible that for next year’s race the distance will approximate that of the English event—viz., 262 miles. It is not necessary to hold to a perfectly level course, though it is advisable to have as safe a route as possible. One of the most fantastic pieces of anti-motor legislation was proposed By the City Council of Colum!?us, U.S.A.— viz., that all motor cars should be provided with three sets of headlights: a white set to show when the car was going no faster than 10 ip.p.h., a green set to be shown when the pace did not exceed 15 m.p.h., and a red set when the car is travelling at more than IS. m.p.h. Thanks to the opposition set up by the Columbus Automobile Club, the measure was" thrown out.

For the first time since the American Grand Pris Motor Race has been inaugurated it was this year won by an American car. The winner was E. Pullen, with a “ Mercer ” car, a “ Marmon,” driven by Guy Ball, running second. Ralph Do Palma, who won the Vanderbilt Cup, decided two days previous, ran fourth place, his oar, as before, being a “Mercedes,” but he finished with only thre© cylinders working Pullen’s time for the race (403 miles) was 5b 1 drain 30sec, an average of 77.2 m.p.h., as against De Palma’s 75.49 m.p.h, average in the shorter Vanderbilt Cup Race (294 miles). Some interesting particulars of the doings of the team of Australian road racers now in Europe have been forwarded to the Dunlop Rubber Company by Ivor Munro, who is one of the party. Writing on March 11, he says that they went over the Roubaix-Paris course—the same length as the Warrnambool to Melbourne race—and found it a very bad one. “They generally get a wind behind them,” he adds, “ and make fast times, the‘time last year being 7h 30min, record for the course. We think it almost impossible for the time to be done upon it. . . . . We had a gale behind us, and it took us .four days! Our trainer, who has competed in the race 10 times, had to ask his way. In some of the towns it is like a maze—you can’t find your way out. At the finish of the race there is 20 miles of cobblestones, and what with punctures. I don’t know how we shall get on. We have been to England, and have_ been picking at each other as to which is the best country, but there has been so much rain that all we Antipodeans plump straight for Australia, and we now see that for weather our sunny land leads all the year round.” Writing of tyres, he remarks:—“ Our back tyres are about settled, having ridden over 1,000 miles on them, and generally in wet weather. They are light singles, and arc also worn by the brake-blocks which press on them, hence the mileage is not so bad. The roads have small, sharp flints of stone, which, if caught in the right way, will certainly puncture, for the edges are so keen they will cut anything.”