EXCITING "MOMENTS ON A MOTOR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13745, 9 May 1908, Page 5 (Supplement)

EXCITING "MOMENTS ON A MOTOR.

• nr. s. i-'. kik;k. In* the course of a- life devoted so largely to the management of vehicles of high speed, I have naturally had several narrow escapes, dating back even to the- days when, long before I had anything to do with s-o complete a machine as the modern motor, my career was very nearly cut short while riding a tandem bicycle with my .wife. Yet, considering that my experience with motors lias been so Wide, my adventures have really been comparatively few, and the infrequency of them goes far to prove the absurdity of the notions one sometimes finds abroad of the dangers of motoring. And, ill any case, I do not see why there should be any danger for the average motorist who takes up motoring for purposes of amusement or business; it is-only when you come to racing and the high speeds necessary in it that you get any danger at all. My own racing experience has been acquired very gradually, and I have gone on by degrees from one speed to another. This has, I think, saved me a lot of trouble, for the confidence and familiarity that gradual improvement give do a great deal to save one from getting into perilous situations. Nearly all the accidents that one hears of are due to drivers more or less new and inexperienced being in charge of cars going at a speed a good deal greater than they have been accustomed to. No one who has not actually experienced it can imagine what a tremendous difference it makes to add another ten miles to one's speed. AT THK-BEifD OF TUB KO.U). The Gordon-Bennet Cup has been responsible for the two incidents thai 1. think were the most exciting within my experience. The first -occurred during the 1902 contest, yvhen I was driving with Mr. Cecil Edge. As many people know, the roads on the Continent are bordered at short- intervals by trees, and we generally find these very useful, to steer by when , the road in front of us is obscured "by thick dust. Well, I was steering by the tops of these trees when we came to a part of the road where it bent round in cork-screw fashion. 1 saw the bend to the left, but- could not ste the returning bend, so I leave you to consider what my situation was when I found myself suddenly, before some stolid looking gates shutting off a railway crossing. The road at this point crossed a railway tit a- slightly higher level, and was banked up at a slope to cross it. each side thus descending -down a steep bank to the level of the fields below; Without' the slightest hesitation I jammed down the brakes, quick as thought, with all my strength. The locking of the-' 'wheels that followed swung the car completely round twice, and over it plunged headlong down the embankment. If we hud struck' a tree we should undoubtedly have been smashed to atoms with the motor, but fortunately we escaped this fate and came out- of it- unhurt. But it was an absolute chance we might have done the same thing ten times again and not have escaped once. It is surprising, but quite true, that in a moment of real danger the motorist never feels tho slightest anxiety about himself. For one thing he has no time, and for another his faculties are so fully occupied with the control of the machine that he can pay no attention to anything else, and if he thinks of anything at all, it is how he is going to get the car safely out of it. It ,is only afterwards that one has time to afford j oneself a shudder of relief, and contemplate I what might have happened. j XKAB .A I'RKI'IPICK. ; I was particularly struck with this fact during an exciting adventure I had during the trials for tin? Gordon-Bennet race of j 1903. My car had been undergoing repairs, and although it was a pouring wet day. ] and the roads were very slippery with a i coating of yvestramite, ■ it was absolutely necessary that: wo should go over the course. Never shall 1 forget the succession of narrow squeaks that- marked that day's journey. At one time we were descending a Iti 11^ by way of a narrow road, on one side of which was a precipitous descent. Suddenly the car , got quite out of control, and.when-1 put on the brakes, the locking of the wheels sent us skidding straight for the edge of the j precipice. It was lucky for us that we regained control in time; otherwise we should have gone down to the destruction that yawned ready for us below. Yet even at that perilous moment I found my- i self wondering nothing but how on earth we were ever to get the car up again. Apart from racing, the motorist is, of j course, faced in touring with- tlie same J dangers to which all vehicles are exposed, j I particularalv remember an accident that j happened during a journey from Monmouth to London. I was going along fairly slowly, j when I saw advancing a huge waggon drawn by four very restless horses. I stopped the "bar without delay, but in spite of .this the horses .started to bolt straight in my direction. They made directly for the car, but just as thev reached it, swerved to their left in such* a way that though the horses did not come in contact with the car the wheels on one side of the waggon came right on top of the car, whence it took j several men to lift it down. It was a marvellous thing that I escaped without a, scratch, and even the car met- with very little damage. In another short hour we were off again on our way to London, all repairs completed, just as if nothing in the world had happened. . . . " 1 cannot conclude the - story of my adventures without narrating an incident which happened while I was steering the Napier the Second in the Gaston Menier motor-boat race at, Trouville. . In the course of some alterations in the boat we had thrown too much weight on its head, and the result was that as we made for a huge wave over which a boat light at the head ' would have sped like a shot, our bows were buried beneath, the billows, and we disappeared from sight like a submarine. Verymemorable were' those few seconds beneath the sea. I had to hold my breath close and strain 'every muscle to the utmost to keep my hold of the steering wheel. I hardly think I could have held on three. seconds longer than I had to, but to my great joy it 'was only a few seconds before I felt the ] welcome breath of the open air upon mv j cheeks, and knew that we had cut through j the wall of water.