HIGH MOTOR SPEED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20427, 2 December 1929, Page 11

HIGH MOTOR SPEED.

AUSTRALIAN TRIAL DASH.

130 MILES AN HOUR ATTAINED. (Received December 1, 5.5 p.m.) SYDNEY, Dec. 1. Mr. Norman Smith intended to attempt to establish a world's record motor-car speed feat yesterday at Gerringong Beach, 78 miles south of Sydney, but he found that the sand was too rough and postponed the test. In a trial dash o\er a-quarter of a mile, however, he attained a speed of 130 miles an hour.

TEST IN NEW ZEALAND.

THE NINETY-MILE BEACH.

Writing on Thursday last in regard to Mr. Norman Smith's car and aspirations the Sydney correspondent of the Herald said: — " This car was designed in Australia by two men who are prominent in the racing world here, and they say they are well satisfied with the preliminary tests that were carried out. on a concrete road ' somewhere near Sydney '—at dawn on Sunday morning last. Then the machine was not all out, for the conditions for a speed test were not satisfactory. Still there was no difficulty in making the 121 miles in the hour, and the way the engine behaved indicated that a speed of between 170 and 180 miles was within it 3 compass.

" The new car may be termed a Rolls-Royce-Cadillac special, for it is fitted with a 12-cylinder aero engine (Rolls-Royce), and there is a Cadillac chassis on which has been placed a steel body with a fin-ended tail. This machine is of great length and looks more like a motor-car than some of the engines that have been designed for great speed A other parts of the world. That is to say, it is not a freak design, but has many special features which it is contended make a terrific speed possible. Harkness is the designer of the car, and Norman Smith, known in the motoring world as ' Wizard," because of some of the extraordinary feats that are to his credit; is the driver. "If the car behaves as well as is anticipated, Smith and Harkness will then go after the world's 10-mile record which was attained in Franco some months ago at an average speed of 133.54 miles an hour. For such an effort the sceno will have to bo carefully selected, and a search in Australia has failed to reveal a stretch that could be regarded as satisfactory. As both men are familiar with the Ninety-Mile Beach in New Zealand it was not surprising that they should have selected this as the venue of their big trial —their hoped-for world conquest. It is likely that the big car will bo shipped to the Dominion soon after it has established an official Australian record so that it can mako the attack on tho world figures early in January. If a world's 10-milo record is established, Smith and Harkness will then concentrate on the building of a machine which, they hope, will beat tho record established by Major Segravo."

Major Segrave's record, established in March last, is equal to over 231 miles an hour.