AIR RACE PRIZE MONEY

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 25 October 1934, Page 7

AIR RACE PRIZE MONEY

HOW IT IS DISTRIBUTED THE HANDICAP CONDITIONS POSITION. STILL UNCERTAIN. The Melbourne Air Rlace, officially the Macßobertson International AllRace, carries a prize' of £IO,OOO given bv Sir MacPherson Robertson. Melbourne’s millionaire confectionery manufacturer. There is also a gold cup valued at not less than £SOO. Actually the cup is reputed to have cost £650. The second prize, for the speed section, is £ISOO. ana the thiid prize £SOO. The handicap race is worth £2OOO, and there is a second prize of £IOOO. These amounts are to be paia in Australian currency- in Melbourne, reducing the value of the prize considerably in England or the United States.

It is possible tor one pilot to win both races, for the speed race course is identical with the handicap race course. Bagdad. Allahabad. Singapore, liar win. and Charleville were compulsory stopping places, or control points, for both races. Numerous checking-in points were also provided for the handicap competitors, whose machines, not having the range of the speed models, would have to make more -stops. The rules provided, however, that it was not necessary for machines in the handicap race to call at all or any of the checking-in points. Thus it would be possible for a competitor to fly what is generally known as the speed course and still win the handicap race. C. W. A. Scott, for instance, flew the soeed course direct, making only five stops. K. D. Parmentier and J. J. Moll, on the other hand, called at several of the checking points provided for the handicap competitors. The handicap race is to be decided upon what is known as “handicap time.” Handicap time means the flying time less the handicap allowance, and flying time means the time spent between Mildenhall and Melbourne less the time spent at authorised checking points or control points. The handicap race will thus be won by the competitor who, after subtracting the time spent on the ground at authorised stops and the handicap allowance, returns the best time. .Landing at unauthorised points will not disqualify competitors, but the time spent at such points will be counted as flying time. Sixteen days is provided as a time-limit for the handicap race. It would be possible for a competitor to wait several days at ail authorised control point for good weather or engine repairs, come in several days behind the first machine home, and still win the handicap section.

There will thus bo considerable calculating to bo done before the winner of the handicap race will be known. The handicaps for the race are : Estim- Estini. handicap flying Handicap, speed. time. Plj-ing: crew- h.m.s. rn.p.li. h.m.s. J. A. and Amy „ Moliison --- 0.35.24 .162.80 .>7-21-0 0. W. A. Scott and T. Camp- _ bcll-Black ........ 0.35.24 182. So 67.21.0 O. Cathcart-Jones and Ken Waller 0.36.0 182.81 67.21.36 K. P. Parmentier and J. J. Moll 6.31.12 168.03 73.16.-i8 0. H- Wright and „ n „. •John Polando . 13.11.24 154.02 <9.5c0 O. G. D. Davies , „„ and —. Hill ... 17-10.43 146.63 83.56.24 I> 'K E 'G St< Stodan ll f 20.51.36 140.54 87.37.12 E-'VIKE 210-0 •*« M. C. McGregor Walker H ‘ C - 35.22.12 120.57 102. 7.48 H L Brooke ... 37.27.36 119.29 103.13.12 I) C Shaw-..- 39.54.26 115.44 106.40.12 0 J. Melrose "i... 40.58.12 114.32 107.43.48 M jen?e a n Se " 42. 2.24 113.18 108.43.48

THE MAN AVHO BACKED THEM. Mr. A. O. Edwards, managing director of Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London, who hacked Scott and Black, did not see the Comet machine until Scott and Black made their triumphant arrival at Melbourne. Before it was finished iu England he left to bo in Australia in time to see the end of the race. It cost him £SOOO. His previous association with flying has been a ; a passenger only. Mr Edwards, saying it was up to the owner of the greatest hotel in the Empire to win the greatest air race ever held in the Empire, was the first owner to: enter a ’plane in the race. “First in. first home.” said he on June 1.

He expressed the opinion some time ago that he had a perfect team —two first-rate pilots who were also, rst-rate friends. His pilots, he said, regarded the race as a test of endurance as well as of piloting and navigating. He announced that each would flv “four hours on. and four hours off in da,A - time and at night they would take shorter spells.., They would, he said, break four days for the course, barring accidents. Altogether it can be said that, 111 enrolling his team and in forecasting the race, he was a very good picker! Mr Edwards believes in the influence the air race times will have on speeding up air travel, by showing how miles can be expressed in minutes. •‘The race is hound to have an effect upon Imperial communications, and, therefore, on the British Commonwealth of Nations,” he said in an interview.