MOTOR-CYCLING NOTES

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12181, 4 July 1925, Page 18

MOTOR-CYCLING NOTES

BATTLING THROUGH EIGHT STORMS.. Road trials seem -the order of the motor-cycling day in iSbuth, Africa. These trials are generally run over i oirouit of none too good' roads,' and prove a gruelling test to both rider.and machines. . . . Of the 28 riders entered, 24 started and nine finished. Machines: and.-rid-ers all finished spattered. with mud. During the event the . riders paisseo through- as many as eight storms. ;,Qnc rider'rode in high-legged' riding' boots which became filled.,with, water whilst negotiating the Klip river.. Spectators gathered round while the rider lay' on his back with bis legs in the air draining the water out of .his boots, which caused much amusement. . ■ , •

The first three places were won by P. D. Castelo (A.J.S.), J. Barkia' (Raleigh), arid Air,; Long (Indian).' '. Alf. Long made the fastest- lap of the day, 53min Cseo. and the fastest time, for the race, 2hrs 43min 33sec. He started under a heavy handicap,; blit in the second lap he succeeded in coming from 23rd place to fourth, then making the fastest lap of the day. In the next lap he changed to third place, and kept it till the end of the race.

To drivers who find that balloon tyres on all wheels cause the cars, to “winter” and to he difficult of steering, it may bo found an improvement to have ballqons on the back, wheels, but to fit over-size pneumatics on: the front. Though what California does iii motoring legislation and registration ' is the last word'so far as some critics are concerned, and is apparently good enough for New Zealand, that same California, with 1239 deaths, leads, the American nation in the number of automobile fatalities. That is over three deaths a dav. This is shown by statistics compiled by the Automobile Association of America for 1923, Mississippi, with only 70, is at the bottom Atlantic City, with' 26, has the poorest municipal record for cities of its. size. The only city that reported no deaths during the year, as'the result of auto accidents was Cicerio, Ills.