MOTOR-CYCLING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21560, 3 August 1933, Page 14

MOTOR-CYCLING

TWO CLUB TRIALS VISIT TO WEST COAST A coijrso which is said to lie the most difficult ever chosen for a niotorcyelo sporting event lias been selected by tho Waitemata Motor-Cycle Club for its trial next Sunday. In view of the exceptionally severe conditions, only the most experienced riders will bo permitted to compete, tho list being as follows: —G. Howlett (Velocette), W. H. Youren (Ariel), H. E. Matthews (Royal Enfield), K. Parncll (Royal Enfield), E. S. Brookes (Douglas), Lees (Ariel), J. Chapman (Coventry-Eagle), S. Person (Velocette), J. Booth (A.J.S.). Tho event has been organised with a view to discovering the best combination of rider and machine in the club. Tho first prize will be a silver-mounted shield presented for annual competition by tho Broadway Motor-Cycle Company, while the winner will also receive a cash prize. The course will take riders to Karokare, on tho West Coast, along the beach to Whatipu, through difficult country to Huia and back to Titirangi, where the final check will bo arranged. jA strict check will be kept on the performances of tho competitors, who will be timed and observed on a difficult climb. They will also be observed in a mud section, which is expected to cause a general loss of marks. Auckland Glub's Event The trial .held by the Auckland Motor-Cycle Club last week-end proved highly successful, and resulted in a win for A. Myers (Royal Enfield), who lost 16 points. The second man was G. Booth (A.J.S.), who lost 21, while P. Fletcher (Norton), lost 28 points and was third. There were 14 starters, including one lady rider, Miss Porter, with her B.S.A. The course took riders to Glen Eden, over a clay section, across country to Brigham's Creek, through to Kumeu and Huapai and over good roads to Taupaki and back to the city. Only two riders, Booth and I?. Matthews, passed through an observed scrub track section without losing points, but a second observed section proved easier, a number of riders avoiding a penalty. After lunch at Huapai, riders encountered a muddy hill that lost everyone marks, but time was made up on the final road section, which took the competitors to Taupaki and back to Western Springs. Fine performances were given by Booth and Miss Porter. As in an earlier event, Booth rode without a watch, this proving a severe handicap. The Pascoe Cup trial, one of the most important events of the year, has been set down for August 19 ami 20. The course is considered easy enough for riders of little experience on smallpowered machines, and, a good entry is j therefore expected.

DOMINION T.T. RIDER Further details of his experiences as New Zealand representative in the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races were given in a letter from S. Moses received during the weekjjy his father, Mr. Claude H. Moses, olSAuckland. A broken gearchange lever necessitated the New Zealand rider's retirement in the first lap of the senior race when he was going well, the letter said. He was extremely disappointed as his Rudge was running well, and he was making better time than he had done in the junior. The two speeches he was called upon to make, on the occasions when he received his junior replica and the special award, proved greater ordeals than the actual races. The Auckland rider was given an enthusiastic reception at the prize-givings, although in his letter he made light of the fact that he had taken part in the junior with seven stitches in a wound in his arm. Moses will return to New Zealand by the Rangitata, which is due at Auckland on August 30. NOTES Owing to the high price of petrol in the Hunan Province of China, considerable interest is being taken in experiments which are now being made for the propulsion of motor-cars by charcoal gas. It is proposed that a memorial at Capetown to the famous racing motorist and aviator, Commander Glen Kidston, who was killed last year, shall take the form of a cenotaph surmounted with a curved reflector. Out of 510,654 candidates examined during 1032 for the French driving licence, 316,837 were successful. Successful candidates included 28,217 women out of 47,070 who presented themselves for examination. A motorist who was charged with failing to obey the signals of a policeman in England was stated to have told the constable: "I come from the place where officers know how to give signals." He has now found where they know how to inflict fines (£2 and 15s costs).

The mails from an English sorting office arc carried to the station on electric trucks. Recently a bag was missed. A motorist who had driven past the sorting ofiico on his way homo found the bag lodged on his axle when he arrived at his garage. It was not damaged, and apparently the axlo had picked it up immediately it fell from the truck. An American newspaper suggests that the modern car tends to give a false impression of security, which in turn causes a lack of vigilance on the motorist's part. It further suggest* that the less attention that the driver is forced to pay toward the operation of his car, the less there is bound to be. From this it would appear that old crocks, and perhaps cars not so old, are less prone to accidents, a fact scarcely borne out by statistics.