NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20968, 3 September 1931, Page 14

NOTES.

Specially-designed kerbstones to allow water to drain away under the pavement and thus lessen mud splashes from passing vehicles, are being tested in a street in Birmingham.

According to a recent report, 94.4 per cent, of the cars stolen in the United States last year were recovered. There were 31,660 cars stolen, 29,883 recovered and 1777 not recovered.

An American motorist is making a tour of the United States in a car which he assembled from the parts of 100 other cars of 20 different makes. It is said to bo capable of over 70 miles an hour. .

The financial year of tlie Auckland Automobile Association expired last Monday, and motorists joining at the present time will gain the full year's benefits and will be admitted to membership without any entrance fee.

In order to cope with the large amount of work in connection with the maintenance of thousands of the familiar A.A.A. road direction signs, the association is next week placing a new truck on the road. This is to replace the vehicle which has been in service for the past four years.

An analysis by the A.A. oi Great Britain of the Home Office statistics of motoring offences in England and Wales for the yoar 1930 shows that 63 per cent, of the "total number of charges brought, against motorists were for purely .technical offences, such as those concerning lighting, driving licences and silencers.

Tho post-licence tuition scheme of the A.A.A. is meetiug with continued support from motorists desirous of improving their standard of driving. For the present week the instructor is fully engaged with appointments and for tho coining week only a limited amount of time is available. The service is free to members.

OVERSEAS SPORT.

HILL-CLIMB IN ENGLAND.

Many of tho most prominent racing and competition drivers in England, as well as two representatives from Spain, assembled for tho annual hill-climb at Shelsley Walsh recently. There was an extremely largo-crowd present to watch the performance of the various cars, and several drivers closely approached tho record. Indeed, with a little bettei luck, one or two would undoubtedly have equalled or perhaps bettered the time made last year by tho noted Continental sportsman, Hans Von Stuck, in his veiv special Austro-Daimler. On his fastest run R. G. J- Nash was a mere off the record. He handled his 1< razer-Nash machine, known as "Tho r l error," with remarkable skill, and tho car, which is equipped with twin rear wheels, performed admirably. A number of leading drivers was particularly unfortunate in meeting with mechanical trouble. Van der Becke, foi instance, at the wheel of a supercharged car of his own design, fitted with a Wolseley engine, was going well when the machine suddenly stopped dead, and no amount of coaxing would make it restart. Raymond Mays, on a supercharged Villiers, made one very fast climb at the first attempt, but was even better the second time, and had tho record well within his grasp when the supercharger seized on the final straight. Individual Performances. The two Spaniards, Juan Zanclli and E. Tort, had come all_ the way from Barcelona, bringing with them their Nacional Pescaras, extremely fast straighteight racing ears. They arrived only on the day of the event and had little timo for practice, but both drove with skill and clocked 44 2-5s and 44 3-5s respectively. Earl Howe had three cars in use, a pretty Delage, an AlfaRomeo racer and a huge blue MercedesBenz, with which he won his class. Two Fords also performed well, actually making better times than a pair of big- Bentleys, but their times were easily beaten by Mays and Chilton on Invictas and E. R. Hall with a 4A-litre Bentley. * There was only one accident, and that was not at all serious. Burcher, with a Riley, came into the S bend much too fast, skidded, hit the bank, skidded again, more or less out of control, and with his foot apparently hard down all tho time, ran off down 'the hill with the marshals shouting. However, he made up for this performance with a good second climb. His car was evidently undamaged in spite of the fact that he hit tho bank twice, and he covered the distance in 57a, quit© a good performance for a car of less than 1100 c.c. capacity. PARIS MOTOR SHOW. British firms that have thought it worth while to take space in the Grand Palais for the next Paris show are Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Armstrong-Siddeley, Humber and Austin. In addition, the bodybuilders, Thrupp and Mabexly, Windovers and Hooper, have secured good positions in the gallery surrounding the main floor. America' is in strength with 20 firms, these comprising all the well-known firms with the exceptiort of General Motors. One of the Paris Show rules says that America shall draw space after the requirements of other nations have been met, and as a protest against this General Motors last year announced their intention of not taking part in any more Paris Salons. There are six German firms in the car section, all tho Belgian makers of passenger cars, and apparently all the Italians with tho exception of Ansaldo.