AUTOMOBILE NEWS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 310, 5 December 1912, Page 2

AUTOMOBILE NEWS

(Eiirnished by the Publicity Department of THE STUDEBAKER CORPORATION.. Detroit, Mich.) Having bettered, since May Ist, virtually every record on the books of the American Association for the light-cai class, the Studebaker racing team has disbanded for the season. Using continuously the same tv. o cars, Drivers Evans and Toner carried the Studebaker fortunes in a rapid succession of events on road, track and beach. Au idea of the sensational success oi their whirlwind campaign may be gathered from the wholesale slaughtei of records which resulted. | The first start was in the light cat division of the Santa Monica road race. Before the date of this event- the best time on record lor the class was an average of 5!').8 miles per hour. Evans clipped oil GO.‘2 miles per hour, and Fower was close behind. In Tacoma’s big.road race a short time after Evans and Tower, finishing first and'.second, averaged nearly 62 miles an hour. On the mile, board tracK at Los Angelos. Evans made one attempt at the i existing short-distance marks. He turned the mile in .52:6-5. two miles in , 1:1-1.10, three in 2:33.80, lour in! 3:21.25, five in -1t15.95. and ten in i < *:31.35. The former records wore re-; spectively 4:20.20 lor five and 8:40.1$; for t.en miles. I On the same day Tower’s Studebake’ I —a twin of the Evans car —established j ■i now class record lor 2-5 miles in ; 21 :12.42. , ! The scene then shifted to the Galvas-| ton Beach meeting, where, after finish-j ing first and second in their class, the ’ Studebaker cars tackled the. free-for-ali j contingent—a galaxy of cars surpassing, in number and class anything gathered | it any 1012 meeting during the sea-on, j the Indianapolis Sweepstakes alone excepted. While unable to defeat all the big speed demons in any one race, the Studebaker entrants amazed motordom ; by their speed and consistency, and; closed the meeting with at least one win I over every care of the score or more entered, excepting only two highpowered foreign-built racers. I 1 Evans and Tower closed their season’s ’ competition with a short campaign on the mile dirt tracks. The Stndebakei , cars took to the short turn' of the dirt i courses as though hunt ten the pur- • nose, and demonstrated anility to turn t good mile ring in ernse io 5-> seconds. Probably the most . mg no lotmance was that scored bv Evans at Cleveland. | where from a standing start he won a ive-mile event from t ’ fit’d in 1 :5b ( —the first time tb"t " light i >r had ; | ’ver approached 60 miles an hour speed ; lon such a track. A pleasant fhattir-• the Studebakei : ’antpaigu was the fa-'t that it was ■mitred by no accident. Despite the - terrific speeds developed, the cars ran steadily and handled well. One of the ; inique boasts of the members of the ■ team was the fact that there never was; i time when rhe car- were not in -fane to iollvw one race day v.itli another. •.