MOTOR WORLD

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 12 September 1925, Page 16

MOTOR WORLD

1.393,000 MOTOR VEHICLES. The total number of motor vehicles —excluding tram cars—licensed in Great. Britain on May 31 was 1,393,000, according to figures published by the Ministry of Transport. This total includes*: — Cars taxed on horse-power . . 533,000 Motor cycles 518,000 Commercial goods vehicles .. 217,000 Motor car “hackneys” 92,000 Total gross receipts from the tax collected between December 1, 1924, and May 31, 1925, were £13,902,255. CHICAGO ALDERMAN PRESSES FOR TAIL-LIGHTS ON HORSES. .CHICAGO, July 17. Alderman Donald McKinley introduced a Bill requiring all saddle horses to wear tail-lights. There is so much night horse-back riding, says McKinley, that it presents a serious menace. ROAD SIGNS. AMERICA WARNS “HOGS.” America undoubtedly leads the world in the wording of roadside warnings to motorists. The following are selected from many recently erected at United States danger spots. Speed limit .in this town: fifteen miles an hour. One day lor every mile over that. Over 1,700,000 injured in. 1023. lveep out of this census. Don’t run up your mileage with skkls. Keep your hands on the wheel. Let your girl hug herself. Doji’t try to think with your brake. There are three grades of eggs. There is but one grade of crossing, and that’s dangerous. The glass in your windshield is the same stuff they put in hospital windows. Look through one or the other. Don’t try to scare locomotives with your horn. ' Accident insurance is a good thing to have without the accident. A road hog roots up macadam with his nose. A circus is the id ace for clowning. Gur roads ate wide and smooth, but some drivers are narrow mid rough. We have seven, good hotels and one gaol. Take your pick. Your grandfather Jived to be 90 because he had sense, and so did the horse. Act like Pullman porters on curves. Give wide swingers a wide berth. There is room for two hands on a wheel. No more and no less. Fifteen miles an hour may be a chill, but fifty is a fever. You are approaching our insane asylum Be yourself. . You wouldn’t travel on a. freight train. So don’t try to travel under one. The minute you save may lie your last one. THE MOTOR CAR HABIT. PROBLEM OF GETTING AWAY FROM POPULAR FUNCTIONS. LONDON, July 10. The number of motor cars at big social events this season is striking evidence of the growth of the motoring habit-. The following figures are approximate:— The Derby: 45,000 cars. Ascot: 42,000 for the meeting. Richmond Horse Show: 8000. Torchlight Tattoo, Aldershot: 10,000. Wimbledon: 1000 a day. Chelsea Flower Show: 800 a dny. R.A.F. Display, Hendon: 10,000. At Henley on Wednesday the number of motor-cars parked was a record. Reports from the county -agricultural shows show that the attendances this year are being largely increased by motorists from long distances. Accommodating and regelating suck big numbers is a new and perplexing problem, and in some instances there have been complaints of congestion at the exits. Brooklands, Wcy-bridge, is an example. On big days tlieTe are often 10,000 cars present. Getting the cars in is a comparatively simple matter. Bub everyone wants to leave at the same time andi there are only two exits. Twelve would not be too many. MOTOR-CYCLING TRIAL. AUSTRALIANS IN ENGLAND. Three German teams have retired from the international motor-cycle trial of 1080 miles, through the west of England and Wales, starting from Southampton, and it is necessary for only one of the three English teams to complete the trial and retain the international trials trophy. The three Australians have proved themselves exceptionally speedy and sure on stiff hill climbs, where many others .came to grief., There were two accidents over the western moorlands. One machine overturned, and the rider sustained a broken rib. A tyre of another machine burst, resulting in concussion to the rider. The Australians are offering the greatest resistance to England for the international silver vase. Norway is a good third. Holland and Germany have retired. [The Australians, Williams, Stratford, and George Gregory, did well on the first day of the trial. Eightyseven competitors started from Southampton. The chief competition is between national teams, driving machines manufactured in their own country, for an international trophy. It was won last year by England from Belgium. Germany this year was England’s only challenger. The trial comprises a number of other competitions, including the international silver vase for teams driving motor-cycles manufactured in any country, and the News of the World trophy for the British motor-cycling championship. For both of these competitions Australians entered.] Provisional results of the international motor-cycling reliability trial of six days begun at Southampton —a total distance of 1080 miles, and concluding with a speed test at Brooklands in the afternoon—show that England’s three teams beat all the challengers and won the international trophy from Germany, in addition to gaining the first, second, and fourth places in the International Vase contest, in which Australia, represented by Williams and Gregory, was third. In the International Vase contest, Williams (Australia), on a 2£ A.J.S., was one of the eight riders who did not lose a point through thei contest. The. News World trophy was won by the East Midland team, Australia and

the Midland Centre A team tieing for second place. Notwithstanding the gruelling course for the motor-cycle trials, which lasted six days, 35 of the 52 provisional medallists won gold medals, including three Australians and one Dutchman. Three Germans gained silver medals, ■but the remaining overseas competitors, including Norwegians, failed.