Cycling and Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 55

Cycling and Motor Notes

I SOTES BY DEMON. j 1 should like to know who is responj sible for the placing- of the boards on the ■ Bay road cycling track, ostensibly for the i purpose of enabling drays to get readyaccess to the foreshore, and that without damaging the track. At present they are placed anyhow, some sticking up, others crossed, and so on. This popular track for the cyclist has indeed fallen on evil days, and at the present time is ip a very \ j dilapidated condition. Presumably this is ' • another verification of the old adage, I 1 "What's everybody's business is nobody's ; business." I should like to see the Dun- ! edin Cycling dub" take up the matter of the 1 improvement of this track. I feel sure the I , City Council has only to be approached i 1 by a representative body, and steps will be ' taken to put the path in good order again. I f This cyclists' ride is as much worthy of the city's attention as the beautifying of the Town Belt. The latter is preserved and attended to for trie purpose of appealing to tho eye, and the former without doubt is equally useft.il in enabling one to indulge in easy and pleasant exer- j cisc for the body. Cr Walker has here the chance of earning the hearty thanks of Dunedin cyclists by bringing up this matter at the next meeting of the City Council. A meeting of the Otago Centre of the New Zealand League of Wheelmen will be held in the Dunedin Cycling Club's rooms on Wednesday night to make arrangements for the holding of the Otago test race to .select a rider to compete in the Dunlop Timaru-to-Christchurch Road Race. The date for the running of the Otago test race has not yet been fixed, but the Timaru-to-Christchurch event will be held on Saturday, September 2. Test racea will be run to choose representatives from the various centres from Auckland to Invercargill. Each representative establishing the fastest time will have his expenses paid to compete in the Timaru-Christchurch event by the Dunlop Company. This company will also donate a. prize of £20 to the rider establishing the fastest time in the latter event, such rider to represent New Zealand in the Warrnambool-Melbourne Race on September 30. The big tyre company further presents a £5 5s Read Championship gold medal to New Zealand's representative. Last year the prizes donated to the Dunlop Tiniaru-Chrisfcchurch Road Race were the most valuable ever offered for an athletic event of any description in the colony, but this year's prize list in jDoint of value will eclipse any previous on© by a large margin. The Dresden Piano Company have come forward with the handsome offer of a piano as first priz&. With the incentive of the possibility of winningsuch a trophy, the entry of 150 received •last year sliguld this year be eclipsetL

The Christchurch Cycle and Motor Club at their last meeting donated £5 5s as a to the Timaru-Christchurch Road Race. Messrs Magnus, Sanderson, of Wellington, have also donated a Massey-Harris racing bicycle, and this will be allotted as a special prize. Frank Kramer, the American champion, is riding up to his reputation in France. He has already, defeated, practioaly without an effort, the two best French sprinters in Poulain and Jacquelin, _ and when the last files left France the American crack looked liks having a very successful and brilliant season on the Continent. The only rider at all likely to beat Kramer is Major Taylor, and even this wonderful sprinter would have to- be in his ■best form to have a chance of lowering the American champion's colours. ] Mr Tom Stone, of Invercargill, is at present on a visit to Dunedin, and reports that motoring is making rapid strides in the southern city. Mi Stone accompanied the large crowd of motor cyclists that visited Henley on Sunday. The number of motorists in Dunedin js getting so large that they are seriously j considering the advisability of forming a ' club and running a garage in conjunction therewith. As the city fathers evidently have their eyes on local motorists, it behoves the motorists to be on their good behaviour. They have a splendid freedom at present, and it would be a pity to have all sorts of restrictions put on them. Motorists have the matter in their own hands, and if they are careful and cautious { they will probably be left alone for some time. In Auckland, four miles an hour on bridges and corners is Being insisted upon. ' Dunedin motorists, take note of the latter restriction. I . — -I notice Dr Fulton's second son act- { ing- in the capacity of chauffeur to his I father, and though this little fellow can I hardly have reached his teens, yet he drives and handles bis father's tricai in a really masterly manner. His elder " broth&r also drives, and both of theni ride the I motor-cycle. Dr Fulton uses" an E.I.C. i trembler coil on his tri-car, 'and it is a I great success. Mr Stone has, aisc fitted E.I.C. trembler coils to several machines in ! Invercargill, and speaks very, highly of ■ them. He has removed the. make and break contact and ordinary coil from his 2| Excelsior, and fitted a wipe contact with E. 1.0. trembler coil, and claims to get about i-horse more power on slow speeds < and about i-horse additional power on ordinary speeds. 1 hear very good reports of the Borneo naphtha now being: used by several local motorists. Naphtha has risen about 3d per gallon recently, and looks like staying up for a little time. j It appears that Mr Tom Fraser is not ', the only; person who dares motor over 1 dirty roacls, as Mr C. J. Fox journeyed on j his Humber motor cycle between Mosgiel and Waihola twice daily for several weekslast season through some really bad.weather. It is between Dunedin and Mosgiel which is the more treacherous part of the | road when wet. however. 1 notice that Mr Cooke has fitted a pair of spring front forks to his Torpedo eiement-Garrard motor cycle, and they really look very neat. I "have no doubt but that, a lot of vibration is absorbed by ' this device. I Unfortunately, through pressure of war news probably, the result of the British eliminating trials for the Gordon Bennet Cup, run on May 30 on the Isle of Man, has not, been cabled through to this colony, and we will have to await j the news by mail, by which time the great I international race will have been 11111 and the result cabled. J European forecasts that the world's hour paced cycle record would suffer during the racing season now just opening on the Continent have been early fulfilled. The successful rider is the old French road-rac-in«- crack, Guignard. This veteran rider eclipsed all previous performances by riding 55 miles 1530 yards in 60 minutes, and continuing on rode 100 kilometres (62 miles 246 yards) in 65min 59see. Guignard's

! wonderful ride, equal to every mile in lmi j 6sec, was accomplished on the Pare ues Princei track, Paris, behind a powerful motor cycle fitted with wind shields. With the hoiu- record at close upon 56 miles act hour, the mile a minute speed for the hour: is within the bounds of possibility. Already L. Darragon and T. Hall, the wellknown English pace follower, have signified their intention of endeavouring to cram the tremendous distance of 60 miles into 60 minvte?. R. Walthour, the long-distance American racing cyclist, who was suspended foi life because of his defying the authorities in connection with the last six days' raoe afc Madison Square Garden, has been rein stated on consideration that ho pays a £2i fine. An automobile club has been formed in Timaru, to be known as the South Canterbury Automobile Club. Dr Barclay has been elected president and Mr F. Tasker secretary. The club starts with 25 members. Professor Scott stated in his lecture in Christchurch on May 30 that New Zealand had taken a part in making the history of the motor car In 1881, he told his audience, he had designed and had built in Dunedin a steam carnage. It was carried on four wheels-, the back wheels connected by gearing from the engine, and had two speeds. The steam passing from the engine was partially condensed, and that remaining was super-heated in the- fire, so a& not to be visible. Rubber tyres had been ordered from England for the oar. but they did not arrive in time, and iron artillerywheels were used. The failure of those wheels had finally resulted in the disintegration of the car. The oar had attained speeds of over 20 miles per hour, and had proved quite successful until lie had attempted to drive it to Christchurch in 1882 for exhibit in the- Christchurch Exhibition. The wheels failed on the hills near Blueskin, and a complete collapse resulted. The engine was sent on to Christchurch by train, and was finally bought for use on a. yacht, and the boiler for many years assisted in the manufacture of the best pork ! sausages in Dunedin. An effort is being made :"n the Old Country to adopt a uniform code of names for the parts of the cycle, and m dissecting the machines it was found that there

are no less than 115 individual parts which, require and are entitled to a name, and this without any duplication. A uniformity in cycle nomenclature is most; desirable, for

at present

there are many

terms which

conflict, while a oertain component may bear several names. American terms differ from those used in England. The Yankees call a bottom bracket a "crank-hanger," a handle-bar a "cross-bar,"' and a non-return valve a "cheek valve."

At the meeting of the Federal Cycling Council of Austialia George Farley was appointed Australian repesentative afc the world's championships, to be held at Antwerp in July. The Secretary stated thai; the share of the Federal Council in the profits of the last world's championship meeting, at which Don Walker represented Australia, was £3 16s 2d

The Australian championships for. the forthcoming season have been allotted thus: Victoria — One-mile inter-State, 10-mile international, and 25-mile Australasian ; NewSouth Wales — 10-mile Australasian and onemile international ; Queensland— Half-mile inter-State and quarter-mile international; South Australia — Five-mile inter-State, half and 25 mile international ; West Australia— Quarter-mile inter-State and Five-mile in-

tornational

In regard to MaoFarland's racing in the U.S. while under disqualification, by the Australian League, the secretary of the Federal Council at the recent conference in Sydney showed that iti was duo to dilatoriness on the part of the late secretary of the International Cyclists' Union, who did not notify the U.S. authorities, and in the absence of any official communication they could not debar MacFarland from racing. The attempt the Victorian League made to have his disqualification removed was, the conference thought, open to question, and they considered it should not be done again.

A retrospective glance over Kramer's performances of late years reveals wonderful consistency:— ln 1901, 17 firsts and champion of the American circuit ; in 1902, 22 firsts and championship of America; in, 1903, more than a score of handicaps and! scratch laces fell to his credit, against such, cracks as Fenn, the brothers Bedell, Bald. Lawson, Taylor, Root, Bardgett. etc. ; in 1904, a veritable list of triumphs. Not only did the usual number of scratch and handicap events fall to Kramer's lot, but records went wholesale, and only Fenn managed to beat him on two occasions. For the fourth time he was champion of America. 1

Tho following new rules, which arpart of the Victorian League constitution, we're proposed by the Victorian delegate at the receir conference in Sydney of the Federal Cycling Council of Australia, and carried unanimously: — "(a) All trainers and attendants arc forbidden to bet at any cycle meeting ai which they are engaged, and any trainers and attendants found or proved to have betted at any such meeting may be fined or suspended by ih stewards." "(b) All competitors are forbidden to bet at any cycle meeting, and any competitor found betting or proved to have betted at any meeting may be fined or suspended by the stewards."

The Automobile Club of America, Jike the French and English clubs, is a powerful and rich organisation, and intends to build a clubhouse, at a cost of £100,00 G.

Tho British patents office announces that more than double the number of patents are being applied for connected with motors than for any other industry. A book containing patent abstracts comprise/ 600 pages.

Tho Aletropohran l r tre Brig-ado, of Brisbane, has purcha^d a 20 horse-power motor fire engine. It has a four-cylinder petrol engine, and will bo able to do cner 20 n.iles an hour, and climb any lull in the. district. The Sydney Fire Brigade has had a similar engine- running since November last, with tho be=t- results, and it is ordering another for early delivery The Metropolitan (Melbourne) Fire Brigade is following suit with an engine that will cost close iipon £1000. and another to go to an even, highei figure.

From published accounts of tho rcsulls obtained' by the motor as used on branch rail-way lineo, it is certain that this method of transportation will be largely; adopted. A \realthy American railway proprietary, which has been experimenting, with these vehicles for some time, statesi that the coat of runaing them reaches only. one-sixth usual train— locomotive and. cu_-

fiages — and intends to build motor vehicles of a larger carrying capacity than at present in use. These carry 25 passengers, ibut the new cars will accommodate over 60 persons, together with their luggage. Some of the eight motor omnibuses obtained by the Victorian Railway Department as feeders to the suburban railways of Victoria will probably Be running ere this mote appears in print. They are fitted ■with cross compartments, after the fashion of a railway carriage. Ventilation and

protection from the weather are assured,

and if the trial is successful electric lighting will be adopted. Each car will accommodate 24 passengers. Six of the omnibuses will be used in regular service between 'St. Kilda and Brighton, and the other jtwo as spares. A competition of silencers for petrol cars began on Saturday, April 1, under the auspices of the Automobile Club of France. .Twenty-six silencers were submitted to be tested on a single cylinder and a foxircylinder motor. A noted French driver remarked that he estimates the average speed of the winaier of the Gordon Bennett Cup in the ffaoe will not be above 50 miles an hour

owing to sharp twists and turns. The Auvergne course" is alive with the racing monsters, practically all the French drivers ■being on the road daily. ' Jenatzy — second last year — has been busy malting himself acquainted with the nasty turns. — -A. successful motor-cvele hill-climbing contest was carried out at Heidelberg last month by the Victorian Motor Cycle Club. The weather conditions were perfect for such a. (contest, whilst the hill selected for the climb was in good order. . The length of the climb ■was about 1050 yards, the severest grade feeing a rise of 1 in fb — a good climb for any vehicle. Nq pedalling of cycle was allowed after first 150 yards. The event, which was a handicap one, was run off in 11 heats of three riders, with three semifinals, and three in the final. The fastest run' of the afternoon was made by J. ■Webb on a twin-cylinder. 5 h.p. cycle, he Eying up the steep hill at a speed of close Upon 30 miles an hour — his riding time from a standing start being lmin 14 2-ssec. The next fastest time was established by E. W. Brown in lmin 17 2-ssec. Both these riders were defeated in their semi-finals, being unable to concede the liberal starts given — in fact, Webb, the scratch man, iwould have had to break a minute to get aiear the winner of the semi-final. The final placings were: — S. Dalrymple, 2| h.p. Griffon, 1; J. Corlett, 22 h.p. Griffon, 2; K. M'Dougall, 2| h.p. Griffon, 3. Won by 3.5 yards. Time, lmin 26see.

The total number of motor vehicles Sn New South "Wales is estimated by a 'Teliable authority to be 4-80, as against 530 Sn Victoria. According to the same authority, the total value of the 3ST.S.W. cars is about £154,000. The most expensive car in that State, if not in Australasia, belongs to Mr Hoskins, and! is sa^d to have «ost £2000; two others reached £1800 and iBISOO. Taking the whole of the -480 cars Sn N.S.W., -the average price works out at £325 apiece. The Australian Automobile Club will bold a gymkhana on -one of the big sports (grounds early in, the spring, proTjabl'y about the beginning of September. Some 50 ears -will "take part." The programme will consist of "demonstrations of expert manipulation of* the oars in various ways," and Irick performances. The idea in general is to follow the practices at the gymkanas in England, France, and the United States. The Dunlop Tyre Company has definitely decided to hold the next overland reliability motor contest in November next, probably on the Tuesday folowing Melbourne Cup week. This time the test will he from Melbourne to Sydney, over the same route as that followed in last February's Bucoesful contest. By selecting the month of November for the contest better road conditions should be met, aa the holes and. water-worn ruts are • praoticaly filled up after the winter rains, and there is at the same time less likelihood of striking hot weather. The reliability trial to be held in November will be run, on slightly different conditions to those in force- last February. Th« .contesting cars will probably be divided into three sections — viz., Class A, oneeylinder cars; Class B, multi-cylinder cars Up to 10-h.p. ; Class C, cars over' 10-h.p. <With the object of bringing the contest to n more conclusive finish than the last contest—which resulted in seven cars scoring full points, necessitating a xun off to/'scide the winner — future overland reliability contests will probably be held on the following lines: — Time alowance for the first four sections, no repairs or adjustments being permitted outside driving time allowance. On the concluding day a non-stop contest, allowance, 1 point per minute to be deducted for every minute or part thereof overdue. On the concluding day an extra 500 points will be awarded for a non-stop xun, 3 points to be deducted for every minute car or engine is stopped. Tyre — repairs will count againet time allowance, but not against a non-stop run. Lnerine or other adjustments not to be made whilst tyre repairs are tiding effected, during whioh engine must be kept running. To see that non-stop conditions are -properly carried out during the last seotion, one person from each car will be changed aboard another contesting car, and act as observer during the day's run. — — The new conditions should have the effect of steadying the pace of ears in the earlier portion of the contest, as contestants will endeavour to keep their cars In the best of order for the severe conditions imposed on + .h© concluding day. Another advantage will he Ifliat, although a competitor may lose, say. 50 or 100 points during the first four days' run. he lias a chaaice of winning by accomplishing a good run on the last day— the likelihood of m.atiy non-stop runs over the last section bpj'ng rather remote, considering the severity of the course, and that practically no time has been allowed for car overhauling outside daily driving time allowance. 'n, e recent sensational performance made in Paris by Anzani on an Alcyon tnotor bioycle of riding 100 kilometres in lhr lfonin 37sec mu.-.<fc restore interest in hhe possibilities of the small engine. The speed mad<e by Anzani was 50 males an hour, and the engine fitted to his maeme was a Buohet 76mm bore by 73mm, or considerably less than 3in by 3in, and what woud be rated here as giving 2i h.p. The wpi'jht of the machine did not oxo&ed Ihe fifca.idard of 1101b. There are plenty of motor cyclists who doubtless will wonder how this performance is possible, seeing that their own machinos of 3, 4, and 5 h.p. oould not. under tihe most favourable conditions, do 30 miLas an. hour. Reduced

to a plain matter of fact question, what is the use of a big, heavy engine on a motor bicycle if 50 miles an hour can he got out of a small one? The V section belt, as used by Anzani. has proved that as an efficient power transmitter it can beat the chain and gear, so this makes I one ask another question. If the belt is co efficient, why, use the chain and gear drives with their complications? Says "Magneto" in the Motor:— l believe that nianv motor cyclists are by no means pleased with the results they are getting "from the trembler coils fitted to tleir new machines, and I personally happen to know of one or two instances in which they have refitted the plain coil with make and break. It is my firm conviction that many makers of mot-OT cycles will continue to fit a distinctly cheap coil of foreign make, and the tremblers of these coils are of no v*& whatever for a high speed engine. I got hold of one of these "no name" coils some time ago and tried it. No amount of adjustment would enable it to spark the motor at more than 12 miles an hour. In fact, it acted just like a governor, cutting out the engine when the spark was advanced or the tbrottl© opened. On the same machine I tried both an E.I.C. and a Fuller Syntonic, and I could simply race the engine to any speed it was oapable of, and this with a sector on the contact digo much below the average length. This, I think, will show that all trembler coils are not equally good. I do not for a moment infei* that there are no good foreign coils. I have used a B.M and Gurnet coil with allround good results. If I had any complaint to find with them at all it was that they were not so economioal of current as I should wish, and they spark rather freely at th-i trembler, but I have never had them missfire. Some stirring scenes marked the Monaco Motor Boat-racing Carnival, held in the Mediterranean, off Monte Carlo. All the crack racing boats of Europe attended bbs meeting, which is now one of the most fashionable gatherings on the Continent. Many of the light feather-weight ' lls (in severail oases many of only one thickness of very thin mahogany planking), carry engines of from 300 to 300 h.p. _The result of the several races conclusively proved that the hulls of the large-powered launches were not nearly strong enough to stand the heavy strain of the powerful peirol motors. Almost a tragic demonstration of this weakness occurred in one of the races, when fhe crack boat of tihe meeting — the Panhard-Levassor (200 h.p.) — suddenly sank, the pilot and engineer having to jump ' overboard to prevent going down in the boat. Only for a boundary beacon marking course being handy, the two passengers would have probably drowned. The boat sank so quickly that it is bought the hull must have split in two. On the previous day th.js boat won the championship of the sea, over a distance of 124^ miles," -which the Panhard-Levassor covered in the record time of 4hr 22min 54sec, an average of nearly 28 miles an hour. In a short distance sprint contest over a flying kilometre (1093 2-3 yds), the "Dubonnett" (380 h.p.) covered the distance in lmin 8 4-sseo., equal to 38£ miles an hour, which is faster than any other craft has ever travelled on the water. Another sensational incident was the burning of the craok racing boat Trefle — a Quatre — which had to be sunk to subdue the flames. The origin of t!he fire was back firing into the carburetter, the flames setting fire to petrol and oil that had been spilt whilst trying to start the big engines. The Eng-lish-made launches, Napier II and Napier I, scored a big success in the 100 kilometre race (62 1-8 miles), defeating a number of iarger-powered boats, and running first and second respectively. The Napier H, which was driven hy--A. Mac Donald, the holder of many motor car world's records, established at Florida Beach, U.S.A., covered the distance in 2hr 25min 54sec.