WHEELING

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1746, 23 August 1905, Page 47

WHEELING

(By “Austral.”)

The London “Times” of June 3rd contains a sub-leader on the recent de<bate on- the English Motor Bill, 1905, which should be read and digested by all who are keen on bringing into vogue restrictive measures relating to motor traffic. According to the “Times,” th® speed limits under the Act, 1903, have proved unsatisfactory, and the probability is that the new Bill will omit sjieed limits and insert instead “the furious driving to the common danger” clause, which will throw the onus of reckless driving on the motorists. The advent of the automobile means the initiation of a great civilising movement which should not be subjected to unnecessarily restrictive and impolitic measures. The debate was certainly favourable to motorists, and the probabilities are that a> Royal Commission will be appointed to* report on the whole subjeet. In view of the above, would it not be as well to allow the matter of passing the proposed Victorian Motor Bill to stand over a few months until the Imperial House has definitely decided its course ? Nothing is to be gained by hasty legislation. If the lines of the English Act, 1903, were worth any copying by the framer of the oroposed Victorian Motor Bill, and the Imperial House intends altering the said Act which has proved unsatisfactory, surely the Victorian House will not make law an obselete Act which the Parliament of England deems unsatisfactory. A significant fact has already been made manifest in London in connection with the growing motor omnibus traffic. It has been proved that to make motor busses pay they must be of the double-decked variety. The single-decked busses in London are now being double-decked with a view of carrying more passengers at practically little extra cost. Now that the motor ’bus is about to take an important" part in the raimportation of passengers in the leading cities of Australasia it behoves the importers and builders of motor omnibuses to procure up-to-date ’busses and not the obsolete single deck form of vehicles which in most instances, where used in London, has proved a financial failure. The Victorian rider, S. E. Gordon, has opened the cycle racing season well by carrying off three events at the Brisbane Cycling Carnival. On the first day he won the One Mile Australasian Championship from Don Walker and W. Houston, with R. Walne fourth. On Saturday, August sth, Gordon won the Two Miles Handicap and One Mile Handicap. He also finished second to l Don Walker in the Five Miles International Scratch Race.

Apropos of Gordon’s winning the Mile Australasian Championship, ft certainly seems out of all reason that the blue riband sprint event of Australasia should be decided a-t this period of the year, when practically very few racing cracks who follow the Australian circuit are training or in form. This is a matter that should certainly receive the attention of, the Federal Cycle Council at its next annual conference, for in the present instance the race, whilst carrying the blue riband of Australia for 1905-6, has not- fulfilled its object and is no-t likely to when decided during the winter months. No objection is made to the event being held in Queensland, but in the writer’s opinion it is farcical to hold an Australian championship earlier than October in each year. “The Little Gordon-Bennett Race—as the International Motor Cycle Road Race held annually in Frauce—has been termed, has been decided, and resulted in a win for an Austrian representative named V. Wqndrieli. The conditions of the race have already been touched on in these columns. Each country is allowed three representatives, the motor cycles not to weigh over llOlbs. The race was held round the Dourdan circuit in France—the circuit of 33 miles had to be covered five times—making in all 165 miles. Four teams were repersented, viz., France, Austria, England, and Germany. The winner’s net time was 3 hours 5 minutes 15 seconds, an average of over 53 miles an hour for the full distance, a performance which is reallv almost incredible considering the light weight of the cycle used. The winning cycle was a twin - cylinder Laurin-Klement. belt driven. The same make of cycle finished second in last year’s contest. The French crack. Demester, finished second, close behind the winner, but was disqualified owing to changing a wheel during the race. Guippone, another French representative, was placed second. No' others finished, tyre troubles eliminating a number of the contestants. The English team met with a series of mishaps although Collier succeeded in negotiating four circuits of the course.

The organisers of the big motor reliability contest ..from Melbourne to Sydney next November have decided to place tin danger discs at all the dangvouß • “V’s” on the route. On the New South Y ales section of the course some of the finest rends iu the Com-

monwealth are met, the only blemish being open water gutters across the road. As the “V’s” are usually unseen until one is almost into them ied danger boards will be erected with the letter “V” distinctly displayed about 25 yards before each deep gutter is met which will enable 9ars to slacken speed before a channel is reached. -All dangerous hills, crossings, and turns will also be conspicuously marked by danger boards. The course will be inspected early next month with a view or preparing special detail maps, giving full details of route —even to height of all the big climbs. The Teague of Victorian Wheelmen held a 25 miles open handicap road race on Saturday afternoon, August sth, starting from Campbellfield (10 miles from Melbourne). The day was an unpleasant one for road riding, a strong cold northerly wind having to be faced by the 53 starters for the first half of the journey. The winner turned up in R. W. Morgan who won by a second from M. Chappell. Both of these riders started from scratch. Chappell had the misfortune of falling during the race, despite which he only lost the race by the small margin of one second. The winner’s time was l_hour 17 minutes 40 seconds. J. Wyllie (7mins) finished third. A 125 miles motor car non-stop run was held by tho Automobile Glub of Victoria on the sth inst. the course being from Essendon to Ballarat and back. Out of the 17 entrants 12 faced the starter the weather conditions not being too inviting for a long motor drive over the Pentland Ranges. According tp the conditions of contest one point per minute was deducted for every minute of engine stops, whilst the fastest driving time permitted for --"contest was 7 hours for the return trip with a 9 hours maximum time limit. ~ The. starters were: Mr A. H. Bell (6-h.p. Be Dion), Mr H. I*. Roeszler (7-h.p. Swift), Mr F. Bennett (10-h.p. Pope), Mr Jas. W. Moffatt (10-h.p. Be Dion),, Mr J. P. Wallace (lOHI-h.p. Bens), Mr H. W. Grimwade (10-12-h.p. Argyle), Mr Jas. MacLeod (10-12-h.p. Argyle), § Mr W. Johnson (10-12-h.p: Clement Bayard. Mr B. W. Bagenal (12-h.p. Darracq), Mr A. M. Foster (12-14-h.p. Talbot), Captain P. Chirnside (15-20-h.p. Panhard), Mr W. H. Davidson (16-20-h.p. Clement Bayai’d). All the contestants except Mr W. Davidson completed the journey, the car of the gentleman named colliding with a stump resulting in the occupants of the car. including one lady passenger. being thrown out. The observer, Mi* G. Buckley, was the only one of the party to sustain any injuries, he being slightly cut on the face.' .Of the twelve starters five reached the finishing point without; loss of points, the successful contestants being Messrs H. Grimwade, J. W. Moffat, J. A. MacLeod, A. M. Foster, and J. P. Wallace. The following contestants also completed the run with small loss of points, the maximum points being 100: —Messrs W. Joimson (99 points), H. Roeszler (99 points). F. Bennett (97 points), A. H. Bell (80 points). The arrangements for the contest were well handled by the club officials. Future contests of this description should be held later in the season, for at this time of the year it is too cold to be pleasant sitting in a car for 7 or 9 hours without exercise.