CYCLING and Motor Notes

Otago Witness, Issue 2849, 21 October 1908, Page 59

CYCLING and Motor Notes

A question as to the liability of a I driver of a motor car was raised in a case heard by Mr V. G. Day, S.M., at the Magistrate's Court at Asfoburton on Friday. Wallace C. Smith wae charged, on the information of the inspector for the Ashburton County Council, with having on September 23 driven a motor car past after the informant had given him the signal to stop. The defendant pleaded " Guilty " to being in charge of the motor car, but etatcd that he was not the driver. The magistrate said that under the by-law iho driver ought to have been pro&scuted, he being the responsible person. The defondant caid that the car belonged to the New Zealand Farmers' Co-fperative Association, and both he and the driver were in the employment of that firm. He would therefore consent to a. plea of "Guilty.' Tho magistrate eaid thai he agreed to that course, and he imposed a fine of 20s and oosts. ! Mr T. Eraser drove up to Shag \ alley on Saturday, and had a fine run in his 12-H Stuart. Tho Hon. G. MXean's 25 h.p. Deasy is running very well. The association's president was in town last week, using his fine car to proceed to tho Wingatui races. By ihe way, this car, in spite of the extra weight of the body, etc., can give most cars of her power "all they want" on the hills Mr F. Dennison, Oamaru, was in Dunedin on Sunday with his 16 h.p. Ford. There was a fine showing of cars at tho race meeting on Wednesday — Hon. G. M'Lean's Deasy. Mr Aoton-Adame's Humber, Dr Batchelor's arad Mr T. Fraser'a Stuarts, Mr Elworthy's Talbot, Messrs Jt'riedlander's (Asnburton) and JM'Veigh's numbers, Mr Cheyne's Talbot, Mr Laurence's Cadillac, and) Mr G. B. -Bullock's Belsize. Mr W~. Montgomery, of Cbristchurch, was in town this week in his 20 h.p. Rover. This is a splendid machine, and' is fitted with the latest improvements. The Mione-

•lin steel-riveted covers of this Rover are^ giving excellent wear, and are proving? ■ths'insclves very reliable. The report rea<l'at the annual meeting of the Terauka. Bicycle' Club congratulated the members on the successful year, the club had experienced, and stated thaft the November sports had resulted -m ai slight 1c63, but the Easter meeting - hart been a great success. The balance sheet showed receipts £367 fa 5d,--and expenditure £3*5 12s M. The credit balance was t621 lls lid, besides which the Temoika fcjporfe Association owed £50, money lent to the association by the club. There •were- no liabilities. The report and balance sheet were adopted. With the great improvements that* ■have been effected within the past year or- two in motor cycle construction the output shows an increase throughout tha world. The trade in England in motor cycles has improved coring 1 itht past sea-. pon, i.nd a similar txpansion Ixits taken place right throughout New Zealand 1 . At the Sydney Eight-hour Datj demonstration Andrews, off the 260yt5« mark, won the .Eight-hour vvneel Race, G., Hoivler securing the Mile Championship of New South Wales anwl ithe Five-miles Scratch Raco. — — Australian riders continue to" do welß' at Salt Lake. Senhouse won a two mil« 3 handicap from.- lOOjads* in 3mir 51sec. lit connection with this event. Don. Walker^ the Victorian, was fin<sd lOdol for holding back >tho 'second division. Clarke won th« Mile Scratch on August 9, in which Maye< ,waa only fifth. On August 2 Clarke won: the Three Miles Scratch from M'Farlan<| k-nd W. Palmer (the Victorian). Oi< August 15 Walker won a two miles handi« cap from* 75yds, and with 110 yds front Clarke he won a mile race the next day. Tlie auihori'ties have at last taken. action in America towards stamping out the •teaming" evil. One of the first mem to bump up against the referee at Salt Lake City was W. Palmer, the Australian, who so palpably slowed the scratch buncht so that th;i front markers could win that' tie was fined lOdol. Kramer and Fogler, who hays teamed a-H the eeascm, also bumped the referee. Fogler sacrificed liia chance for Kramer, who won in a halfnyle, with Fogler third, but both were disqualifies for collusion. The Feilding Carrying Company lias just purchased a 2-ton new ArrolJohn«ton motor lorry. This commercial! vehicle is eminently suited for haulage of goods and material, the running cost bein.gfl3 low as 2d per mile. This type of lorry carries two tons at th«i rate of 15 miles per hcur. These lorries, made by the weU•Jfoown Paisley firm, are in great use by, the London County Council and leading municipal corporations. — — "I (says a Christchurch writer) have always contended thai the electric trams' would not pay in Ghristohurch owing to the popularity of the bicycle and recent events have fjhown that it is taking alfi (the Tramway Beard's tin*a to pay its way. Christohuroh, with its fine level roads, is a veritable cyclist's paradise, and it is not surprising that the able-bodied' ■person prefers riding a bicycle to a ride in a stuffy 'tramcar." > ' ' The Star Cycle Company (Ltd.), Wolverhampton, are justly very proud of th© performances of their Starling cars in the recent Irish leliability trial 6. The, Koyal Starling, driven by Mr E. Leslie, jun., made absolute non-stop runs each day.

& completed the court© without losing mark. Another Royal Starling four day non-stop runs, and an Impemade two day ron-etop ifona. ——A. moior raoe for tbe grand pnte of *LO»rio% will bo oontesW thjayear over % oevatt) its Sxrms.»h IL P%., 20.!3 raii<c in

length, which is to Ik- 1 covered 15 time 5 , making the total distacc 400 85 mi!e=. The competition wih be conducted by the Automobile Club of America and. unlike the contest for t'u. V^nc'uiLut Cup, it will j.ci be a spe-e<l-raee, a= there aie ,i 31c.1t m\:n- | ber of turns. A& a umte 1111 11. 1 of Lid, the

longest straightaway stretch is only about - tw 0 miles suna a-half. while jiiere arc a ctozen rigiht-angie turns, and two or three oven more acute. — — As an outcome of the American portion of the New York-Pafis Race, th-e New York Times is endeavouring to orgai!iis3 a ccsntest for touring cars across tho American Contiii«nt and oack. It is proposed that the oars shall rruoughout be •worked by ce<? crew, and that speed shall ha^-e only cne-half consideration, reliability alro being a factor in determining the •winner. The car 3 are to journey to the pacific coasft by on© route, and return from &an Francisco by another, so that as many large towns and as great a variety of test <a-3 po3sib!3 may be inducted. " Was jours a case of love a.Z first sight?"— " Hardly. The fir-t time I raet my wife she had -on automobile gog^Las!" Wh.?n the French won the GordonBenaett Cap on the Taunr.s with Therv und tho Brasier oar the German Emporcr >-ent a telegram to the lat-3 Pre^ivlent liOubct, congratulating- liim on [he victory of French -industries. After tho Grand Prix j Kace at Dieppe Baron <I<a Zuylen. president of the French Automobile Club, =enfc i B telegram to the Germam Emperor, congratulating him on the succ:ss of tho two trerman firms whose cars finished fii-st and second. Tho German Emperor replied from Norway ir. the following brief but sportsmanlike, message: '-ThanL-3 for your [ kind congratulations. Th.2 German cais I nave been fortunate. — Wiixiam." t — "The acetykne lamp has gcr.e out, sir, ' said the chauffeur, as the car-owner camo vnto the garage. " WeJl, light it again, ' commanded rhe owner. "I can't," responded tiha chatiffeur. •• It's gone out through the roof, sir." "——A frequent cause of overheating in modern cars, particularly on tliose where no pump is employed, is .dipping of t?<e v ii lt is most ■ n f=«S6ary that v fan •snouid alway 3 be doing- its work thoroughly. . Practically there are two competitions decided in the - Warrnambco! road race— the struggle for first- plac- and the ngint for fastest time and Auetralaaian championship honours. The majority of the back-markers; I (" Fcrtis ") think, would jist as soon gain the time prize as win the raco. although it is almost certain that if a rider from a mark behind, say. 15mm crossed the line first he would register fastest time; indeed, be would need to. However, the men on scratch and the short marks look upon the prize and honour attached to " faste-t time"' as neing specially fcr them to raco for, although the prize for first p ]ac3 is- not fc .-gotten. This year, as in tho past two or tm-eo races, opinions have been quietly -oiced by several of the back-markers to t'ae effect that the prize for fastest time shculd equal that for first place, as the struggle for its possession is very keen. There- is, I think, sometOunq; quite reasonable in tho contention, and' wcrthy \ little consideration by promoters. Regarding the value of tho first prize— £so in cash and a £5 5s medal — it is not this which attracts the large entry— l believe a sufficiently large nomination would bo received were the first prize a filO^note; but, whatever its value, the reward for tho rider gaining fastest time might in reason, and yvitii advantage, bo made to approi.iinat-3 it. The trouble and annoyance which motorists ihave "to put up with from obstinate drivers almost daily determined Dr R. E. Weigall, of the Victorian/ Automobile dab, to appear at the St. Kijda Police Court against a driver for wilfully obstructing the passage- o-f his motor car. 'Ine driver refused point blank to give way, and his conduct was reported to a constable. In the court- Dr Weigall eaid : — "I appear here to-day as a matter of principle, and as a member of the Automobile Club of Victoria, to protest againet conduct of this kind. If I pas--, a driver on the wrong side I am .liable to be fined." The driver was punished by a small fine. The whole trouble seems to be that tho slower vehicles will not, as a rule, keep to the left of the road. Probably through tha comparative success of the American car in the New York-Paris race the motor prose of that country gives the contest «ome little credit, stating the while that, farcical a3 was tho plan in its original conception, including a3 it did a l'outo through portions of Alaska and Northern Siberia, where the hauling of the motor-cars on dog-sledges as freight would obviously have been necessary, the later modifications served to bring it more within the bounds of common sense, and the actual performance of the winning Thomas car was such in itself as to redeem the whole affair from the absurdity which threatened it. The motor-cycle behind which A. E. Wills, an Englishman, rniocd the mileago of the hour on the Munich iraek in August to 61 miles 942 yd? is of 32 h.p., and is a moneter of ils kind. The drher of tho machine, one Bert in, is aUo of huge pio-p-ortions. Wills subsequently reduced some short distance records on om of the Paris tracks behind the same motor-cyt le and man. Twice he lowe/ed tho kilometre distance from a standing' cfart. the rime? boing 56 2-5 K ec (cr 1-5 under record), and then 55 2-s&ec. Rain prevented other attempt., at tho time. Of tho several compounds that have been applied to prevent the rutting of motor-wheel rims, one of the bc=t has been found to paint them with a mixture of .shellac and finely-pulverised graphite, mixed to the consistency of a stiff pasl-e. After treating the rim-> in this manner they will be found to 1;a very e\ en of surfaco and a waterproof layer or fkin is al-oo a^ured. Some double were- express '■,-] regarding the effect-. — tho trreasnu-s—of tho graphite, but applied in this form H becomes quite inert, and there n'l-e-d be nn apprehension regarding any dctiimcnlal effect upon the rubber. Por the Vanderbilt Cup race io be <1<- C id"d on Ocober 24- a special cour^, )iiis been pieparcxl on Long Inland. Ir is an elaborate" track, cf which 11 mile-, aie en a new motor parkway, and 14- mileon public roads, ths idea of the aurhorir >.-• beinsj to have an uninterrupted run on the occssicn of big races. A grant etaml is to bs provided to accommodate 10.CC0 tpef T at)r.«, while 11 miles of p<irk epaoc along- tllo track will be rtser\ed for thosu wi«hincr io view the cont«=t from their car=. A deposit of £5000 lias been <J<;mandetl by tho local governing authorities to ensure that all damage done to the ioa'U v. il! bo repaired. The course will be truf-lrd by 12C0 troopers. It is so laid down iiv: t ! ,o hiphe-st ■speeds may ue developed <md <u-tnined wir'iouf t'angCi-, t|)oeial oar" having bc:n to lia\c tho £cv, luin? properly baak-ed. Tec =

of the turns are- to made with a fast racing car to make certain that the degrees of pitch 'and curvature have "been laid out in such a way as to accommodate the enorous centrifugal foroa developed by big speeds. -In a one-hour race at the annual race meeting of the Auto Cycle Union, on the Stadium track, Shepherd's Bush. London, H. V. Colver, o^ a 2|h.p. Matchless, covered 52 miles 1650 yds, a world's record for 76 x 76 machines. C. R. Collier. 2| h.p. Matchless, was second, 50 miles 320 yds. The previous record was 51 miles 540 yds. AERONAUTICS. A Fpsnch firm, which lice manufactured iho, majority of aeroplanes in that country has declared ' that the Wright machine, while very efficient in skilled hands, is really "unstable, as everything depends upon the ' Value of the aeronaut. The money (over £100,000) . which was irabscvibed for Count Zeppelin is to be used, for building a new airship- and also founding an airship institution to be called after, tho cottnt. .... THE JOURNEY ACROSS DARKEST AFRICA. Lieut. Graetz has been once nior© able to report a further stage in his journey acrc^S Africa, from Dar-es-Salaam. in German East Africa^ to Swakopmund. Lieut. Graetz and his companion have thus succeeded in getting a littl<e more than .half •way across tho Dark Continent since August 10. It would appear that the adventurers' <lifficulties are increasing instead of diminishing as their task progresses, the latest s=tage having been worse than anything so far encountered. In crossing the M'Kushi and, the Lunsefwa Rivers the crazy bridpes, •under' the weight of the car, collapsed, -whilst to make things worse an explosion occurred with the petrol tank. SALVANA'SvRECORD RIDK J. Salvana, who left Melbourne at 8.15 a.m. on Thursday week, in an attempt to low«r tho Melbourne-Sydney record, had to abandon his task. He left Melbourne in the rain and mud, and after getting considerably, ahead of schedule time in the first SO miles'it vrha thought that fee would scon leave tho rain and mud behind him. It accompanied him all the way to Albury, however, where he was forced to abandon tho attempt. Salvana arrived at Albury at 1 a.m., and, deapus the bad weather, conditions, he was then only ISmin behind his schedule time, and he covered the 189 miles^n 16hr 45min. co that he averaged nearly 12* miles per hour to Albury. Salvana ihes been particularly unfortunate in all his record rides, and deserves better, luck. He would undoubtedly have put up B. great rido with favourable weather.