MOTORING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15375, 9 August 1913, Page 10

MOTORING.

NINETY MILES AN HOUR.';,,, RACE FOR £5000. . '

: Jules Goux, the dapper little Frenchman, who recently; won nearly £5000 by '< carrying off : the: great international 'motorcar track race at Indianapolis, U.S.A., gives some interesting particulars in the Motor, ■' England :—" It was," says Goux, " my first appearance ; in ; America—the i first time I had run in ? a long distance j track race, and the first time I had formed < one of a group of competitors drawn up like a ' company of } well-drilled -" soldiers attentively waiting the order 'to'march. I ; was 'on the outside position ; of j .the second row. ' In- the leading rankf was my friend Guyot, on the six-cylinder Sunbeam, the only English-car m the race. Somewhere in the last row but one was my team mate Zucear elli; doubtless as anxious: as any of us to relieve his pentup energies in this 500 miles struggle..' I looked round, but it was impossible 'to him. As soon as the order to start trie engines ; had bean f given, most ; : ofA the American cars belched forth v/ clouds of grey smoke, shutting out cars, and drivers frorc view. .Splash lubrication «, the order in i America, and the mechanics {have no. thought 'of economising lubricating oil. Ahead of our ; company was a low-built roadster having oh board the:president, of the speedway. They.' ; were to pace lis oh , the initial round,. arid ■ it was forbidden either to pass ahead of this car .or. to change our. position in :'th'e^{company. : While waiting for the , signal to get .away I had the leisure to look at my surroundings. Grandstand upon grandstand around the outside , of, the course, ; packed with human beings. Eighty thousand heads waved and bobbed like cars" of com be-; fore the breeze, as many : voices chattered and yelled in expectant excitement, - and nearly twice as many arms appeared to be waving flags, handkerchiefs, hats , and. sticks. -, On the inside of the track nearly 30,000 spectators. watched us from their closely-packed car*. ; Altogether, more than 100,000 people were gathered round the ' two miles and a-half of that bricksurfaced: speedway. I have never before looked upon such a sea of faces. " . Somewhere in the various : stands four military bands were blaring out; music ji at any rate, it was? understood they were doing so, but the . effect on us was only the addition of a little : more sound to the already great volume of noise formed by the barking v motors .and the human throats. Promptly at 10.30 the starter dropped his flag, and we were off.,:-; Not with the. dash which usually" marks the beginning of a race, but with a slow and gradually accelerating pace, determined by the leader. These first few, rounds must have been curious to witness from the grandstands. : Two of the: four • cars ahead of me were' smoking like factory chimneys; all three on my left we*©: practically invisible.- Poor Zuccarelli in the i rear must have felt as if he were driving through clouds, Getting round the first two bends into the back stretch the i pace I was increased to 40, 50, 60 miles; an hour; > and it was at this.speed that we shot down the home stretch . again past the timer's box. - At a certain point the pace- i maker slipped into a side track parallel to the course, leaving the 27 ; racers > to fight it out to the bitter end. Instantly my throttle was : shot wide open, v My scheme was to get ahead to * avoid the

smoke of my 'rivals, to find oat ;,what. thlllfß other cars : ware capable of doing, V and ifljwßß possible to dishearten my, companions by i: '•'•' J my fast pace. .7 But there .were' others : -§Ssii who had the same idea in ■ mind. Burman, who is popularly known in America, as the. ' Speed King,' 'and who, accord- lip mg to the reports of his manager and his - rj. partisans, was a certain winner, had no "r $S| intention of being shaken off the - throe bJS Stutz men were dashing, and had cars of<S® real merit; De Palma and • Wishart, oa the Mercer oars, were out for f speed ~'3§l the Sunbeam, just ahead of me, was not --%S going to throw away any of its chances. §1 Just think of it-—27 car 3 ;in rows of lt| four abreast suddenly let loose at 70 111 miles an h'lur, amid a dense cloud ; ot||#l smoke, and . every man convinced that iSS BO laa he can help it nobody shall get :Jf ahead of him. -A- couple of rounds were II sufficient to make the. weaklings give wav, 4| to distribute the competitors round ■ the track, to drive away all' the smoke, to give x m four or five of us an advantageous posi- p! tion, with my Peugeot at the head of the « group. To shake off the others I did mv ■% first few rounds at 90 miles an hour. ffcW'Sß was too fast, for by the time I had govered 15 rounds (37| miles) I had burst ' two rear tyres, so I decided to reduce my&Mj speed consistent with reasonable tyro wear. All the trouble occurred through" the fouri'&jg sharp bends every circuit, the entire rub- v| ber covering being torn away from the caaisfe|fa vas casing after only a few miles nw-Vssra nmg. Owing to tyre -changing I droppedfef|l back, but as my competitors soon had "J similar troubles I was early in the lead-slll again. ' At 60 miles my team mate, Zuccarelli, retired with his car in flames, :% the result of the petrol pipe having broken. v®|p A little later, when approaching the end of the first 100, which I was keen on winning, ' J I again lost the lead owing to a back tvre : 3 going, and Burman's name went up 'oa the board as ■ the >. winner. Less than 50 IiSS! miles further , Barman had mechanical •/:£ trouble, and lost all chance of success. The ; ip? neat was now excessive; and it was : like -Mbriding in a. monstrous baker's over. When- v.v ever I had to stop for tyres I would havo a gallon of water dumped : over my head,~i3|l| but five minutes later it was" as dry as bone. At 200 miles I was five miles to the good.4lflf When half distance had been covered I felt ■££ that I had: the race in my own hands. I liad i driven hard at first, and had broken last year's records, made with bigger-powered # cars. But when. I bad six. minutes to L the l A good there was nothing to be gained ,bv forcing the pace. I calculated that if I h&2 to change two. tyres and fill all tanks, ! M? I could; not -lose more than four minutes at- the pits, this still left ma with a margin. > Thus by keeping not. less' than f?ar minutes' '' ' | ahead of - the nearest car I felt that I wan £jf tha winner whatever, happened, and such : <m proved the case. • Prom half-past tea to nearly five o'clock the Peageofc spun round r '|>l| that super-heated track, with only an oc- S M| casional stop for changing a tyre or filling? S a tank. I held the wheel for the whole M of the time, - evidently to : the surprise of |fl| the Americans, for they imagined that |i>:l when my team mate, ZuccarelJi, had aban- X doned fie would relieve me at intervals. The , plaii ,had - been * opted by some MHi our American competitors. 1 The Peugeot = v victory was received w'th thorough hearti- , ■ ness, but I " had the - impression that .'if we! J® had been defeated vit would have been impossible to control this f huge" crowd in] it»'|&ff| delirious joy. The Americans were sunerka* to us in tyre [ changing. ■ They ' nearly alll|:|j|j use detachable rims. When a car.^^e'j®?®!!! for a change of tyrea the driver j^pd.■, mechanic Would J remain seated. In an' in- « stant ; the wheels; were jacked up, and my v.manager timed several , entire changes of; * rims, carrying inflated tyres in from 20sec.V: : to 25sec. || It was marvellous!,, My fasted 1 change was about a minute. Next year*# jy£/J race is, I believe," to be limited to smaller- 'jj powered engines, ,as it now realised that | the track is not fast enough fop such cm as the Grand Prix racers. The winning Peu- : ; > geot was sold t after the', race" ■ for .a" big sum to an American sportsman." .. ... $$$&£&