FOR EXHIBITION

Grey River Argus, 5 January 1940, Page 9

FOR EXHIBITION

CAPTAIN EYSTON’S CAR. AUCKLAND January 3. Captain George Eyston’s recordbreaking seven-ton racing car, Thunderbolt, is now in Auckland on its way to be displayed at the New Zealand Centennial Exhibition. Packed in London in a large case, the Thunderbolt arrived in a Britis i steamer from New York, and was carried by the Harbour Board’s floating crane, Mahua, from the ship to the central wharf, where it was landed. Powered with two 1500 horsepower 12-cylinder aero engines, the huge car, which will form part of the exhibit in the British Government pavilion covering the development of all forms of transport, was designed in 1937 and, driven by Captain Eyston on the Bonneville salt flats, Utah, thiee times broke the world’s record. Captain Eyston. who twice broke his own record, raised the world's record from 311-4 to 356.5 miles an hour, the latest figure being established in September, 1938. The record has since been raised by another Englishman, John Cobb, who, driving a Reid Railton car of only three tons, set up the present record of 368 miles an hour. The Thunderbolt will be railed tr Wellington and assembled for . the exhibition.

GRASS FIRES. WAIMATE, January 3. Forty acres of pasture was burnt and miles of countryside threatened by a grass fire at Glenavy yesterday. The cause of the outbreak was attributed to the carelessness of a motorist, who picnicked by the roadside. The grass was long and dry, . and "the hedges like tinder from the hot, dry weather lately, and the fire swept rapidly through them. A number of farmers and assistants attempted to extinguish the flames, while two farmers stopped on the roadside and signalled to motorists for assistance. When the fire was finally extinguished, about 40 acres of grass had been burnt and half a mile or more of gorse hedge and fencing was destroyed. At one stage it had appeared hopeless to save miles of countryside 'from devastation.