THE CINDER SPORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20520, 22 March 1930, Page 14 (Supplement)

THE CINDER SPORT.

WESTEItN SPRINGS EVENTS. The daring Australian rider F. Pearce lowered his own mile record for the Western Springs track last Saturday evening, when ho covered the distance in 1m 225, which is 3s better than his previous time. He was given an enthusiastic reception by the lprge audience, and rodo well throughout the evening. Of the local riders, B. Bray vras easily the most outstanding, winning the two big events of the evening. He is the first of the local men to learn the a,rt of riding " flat" in the manner of Pearce and Sticpewich. This evening Miss Kay Tnylour, the clever lady rider, will make her final appearance in New Zealand, and it is expected that there will be a large 'attendance. M. Graham, St Wentworth Speedway champion, and S. Perkins, another well-known Australian, will also be riding. BLANDFORD PARK MEETING. An exciting exhibition of clever riding was given by L. Curtis, when he broke G. Walker's four-lap record of 75s at Blandford Park on Monday evening. Curtis covered the four circuits in 73 4-ss, from a rolling start, while C. Goldberg also equalled Walker's previous time, during the evening. Goldberg won the Gold Helmet again, after a good .race with Curtis, the previous holder. A. McLaren and C. and K. Yeats rode well during the evening, all meeting with considerable success. The meeting showed a decided improvement on those of recent weeks, the majority of • the races being keenly contested, while serious spills were conspicuous by their absence. OVERSEAS VISITORS. Two " round the world " motor-cycle tourists, Messrs. J. Gill and P. Irving, were present at both the grass and cinder races last week. To date they have visited 17 countries and travelled 17 200 miles. They leave New Zealand shortly for England via Vancouver and will carry an official letter from Sir Joseph Ward to Mr. T. Wilford in London. They a,re using two 4 li.p. spring frame H.R.D. raotor-cycles. WORLD RECORD. Tho fastest speedy that has been credited to a motor-cycle with a side-car attached has recently been attained by a Swedish rider astride a 1000 c.c. Royal Enfield outfit. He was clocked at 117 m.p.h. The previous record was held by tho same make of machine at 110 m.p.h.

DEFYING GRAVITY. The " Wall of Death " is now well known in New Zealand from the good exhibition seen at Luna Park. Ihese motor-cyclists who ride round the inside of an erection like a gasometer with vertical walls used at one time to employ cotton wool soaked in petrol in order to avoid the regulations prohibiting the use of such fuel in theatres. Such a system of carburation provides an almost perfect gas, and , when volumetric efficiency is not important from the aspect of liorse-power. .t-lfe thermal afficiency, if it .can be considered alone, is extraordinarily high. In the old days of surface carburation mileages were often good, but not so freakish as certain two-stroke ' enthusiasts have claimed after heating a crankcase to a point where lubricating oil burns as fuel. The motor-cyclist on this vertical wall daims to defy "gravity, a happy expression which merely implies that the machine is; in equilibrium in regard to the various forces tending to make it fall down the wall. When the rider is travelling round he does not project at right angles from the wall, but leans to a slight extentjind permits the friction between his tyres and the wall, surface to hold the machine in position. Until the speed becomes_ infinitely fast, the rider has to rely on | this friction, and it is doubtful if it ever becomes sufficiently high to allow the j motor-cycle to attain an angle of ninety I degrees. , j

NOTES. | Al\vays Uie brakes and steering I in faultless condition. i A world census of motor-cyclcs shows ! that there were 1 2,262,932 two-wheelers in ! use in 1929. Be completely master of your machine and don't drive unless you are physically fit to do so. The English A.C.U. "Everyman" Trial is to be held from the 7th to the 12th of April. I During. three months of last year 235 motor-cycles were registered in the French zone of Morocco. ? In 1921, according to a return, there were only about 25,W0 motor-cycles registered in Germany. Now, less than nine years later, there are 600,000. This phenomenal increase, however, is no mushroom growth, but lias continued steadily, year by year, without a setback. The figures show that the number of motor-cycles has practically doubled itself every two years since 1921.