CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2883, 23 June 1909, Page 67

CYCLING AND MOTOR NOTES

ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT. Engine. — The Motor Cycle, the Autocar, and the Motor are three excellent motor journals, and can be ordered through any local booksellers. The prices are very , reasonable. I h-ave no knowldege of the Challenge motor cycle, though I have seen mention of it in the 1 cycle journals. The , fact of the ma-chine being a Coventry product should go fax to assure up-to-date workmanship. So far as lam aware there is .no agent in New Zealand for the Challenge.

I BY DEMON.

The big- Warrnambool-to-Melbourne | road race will this year bo run on Saturday, I October 2. The Dunlop Company reserve j the right of refusing nominations ir excess of 500. The prize list, aggregating in value £170, includes feeven bicycles, the first prize bsing a money one of £30, with a five-guinea gold medal. No outside pacing is allowed, and contestants must ride the machines they start on throughout th-a race. The use of single tube race tyres is not permitted. All competitors covering the distance in 10£ hours and under will receive a bronze and enamel medal. At time of writing I have not heard what 6teps the Dominion branch of tha Dunlop Company or the League of New Zealand Wheelmen intend to take to ,have New Zealand represented in the race : whether a Timaru-to-Christehurch test race will be held or the league simply eelect what in their opinion are our two or three fastest road riders. I cake it for granted that New Zealand will enter a few competitors, and. personally, would like to see a trial run so as to allow a fair selection j to be made. As, however, three months wiH elapse before the Melbourne race eventuates there is still plenty of time for such, a contest fo be held. In the event of a Tima.ru trial coming off there is every probability that an Otago sub-test will be run, so as to .have an Otago man sent up north to compete in the New Zealand test. — - Dr Stanley Batohelor has secured the Model 10 Buick landed last week by Messrs Cooke, Howlison, and- Ob. This should be -a fine- car for a medical man, ib haying plenty of power, ac well as being very light. Grades like Black's road, L ISoxth-Easfc Valley, can be taken at 15

miles per hour on this machine on either ignition. Another car very highly spoken of Tor solid work both in England and thW Continent is the 8-10 .Gregoire. Messrsr • "Dooke, Bowlison, and Co. landed one of thoss machines this week. / Several ol out local cars will b« difficult jto recognise in a week or two-; The garages and painters are busy. -The oldest active racing cyclist in' the world to-day is Veteran T. C. Riley, ,of -the New South Wales Cyclists' -Union, who has seen just on 60 summers. Riley\ storied from limit in the Picton-Ashfield Cycle Road Race yesterday (says the Sydney ]>aily Telegraph of the- Bth "irist.), 4ind that as as the last the other competir tors saw of him. for he was never headed, and won by.7imin. "Tommy," as he is familiarly known, was accorded an ovation; on pedalling into Ashfield a winner. He was allotted -a start of- 47min in "a 45 miles* course— rather,, a liberal handicap,— but aJ the veteran rode the 45" miles in 2hr 50mia he put up a remarkably fine, performance for a man of his' years. He showed that he" is far "from 1 being^ a back number yet. although mest cyclists have retired when: 20 years younger. — — Something special m the way of a skid -was witnessed at the Bank of New Zealand on Saturday morning, when the motor fire engine, rushing to the fire ao Mr John Mill's coal-shed, suddenly, described a complete semi-circle. _ The outer wheels failed to grip, while the inner wheels continued to do their duty. Thei driver stopped the engine in its own length, and no damage resulted, r Some motor cyclists suggest that the noise of the open exhaust serves a goo* purpose in warning pedestrians of the approach of the machine, but it is quite evident that the public do not appreciate such an alarm, and the alleged reason for its use is more of an excuse than a reason. Others aver that the absence of a mufHei: adds to the power of the engine and keeps it cooler, but experts deny this., and have proved that with properly-designedl silencers there is no disadvantage in their use. In any case, a continuous roar as of • gatling gun fire- serves no good purpose, but constitutes a public nuisance. In an annual track race decided iiil i Paris, reserved exclusively for novices, no j fewer than 700 participated this year. - Int • all 23 heats were contested. !• The export trade of the \ r arious counj tries last year in cycles and parts a'grgre- ! prated £4,630,187, Germany easily topping" i tha list with £2,825,352, England being her nearest competitor, with a trifle less than, half of Germany's total. Large as these. suni6 are, however, the amounts for 1907 were !arg3r, Germany's trade fcsing well j over three millions sterling. Both Great ( Britain and Prance improved on their 1907 totals during last year, while Germany, that United States, and Belgium lost. A significant feature in the returns is the vast preponderance in the business done in cycle' parts as compared <with that of complete machines. In 1908 the total value of cycle* parts exported was £3.335,370, while that in/ finished bicycles was only £932,597. America once held the pride of placet among the world's exporters of cycles and' parts, but lonpr since lost that position, and last year her total over-sea trade? amounted to £140,022. In "Great Britain, many of the cycle dealers have complained: of the market beintr flooded with machines, the frames of which were built in Germany, while their equipment was composed) of the best English fittinge, the complete* machines being sold as a high-class British mount. In October of last year 68 miles 1380 •yards was covered by the well-knowrt English motor cyclist C. R. Collier on a' Matchless motor cj'cle in one hour on the! track, that distance constituting a world's - record for a motor cycle. Whilst raoordl holding has its value, and proves a man's '■ capabilities, no lees than that of his 1 machine, there is always an amount of glamour attached to a performance won in competition, and when the event is of the* importance of an Isle of Man. R.A.O. international race for the tourist trophy,, the winner is hailed as the possessor of the highest honour of the year.. -^Saoh war Collier's good fortune when lie led all the way and woo the 158 miles contest in, 1907. ■•— — In view of the recent airship scare i»

England over the nightly appearance of a aupposed unknown airship, which subsequently turned out to be a derelict airship aised for advertising purposes, it is interesting to learn that the crack German airsnip, Zeppelin I, recently leffc its garage at 1C p.m. one night and did not return until 11 a.m. the following day. As this dirigible balloon has a speed of well over 36 .miles an hour, the latest demonstration of tjiis fine airship means that it could have travelled over 400 miles, practically (from Cfermany to England and back, should *it§ operators have so desired. Exactly whafc Occurred during the flight of 13 hours' duration is, of course, unknown, but the allKright flight was attended with success, and ',pnly serves to demonstrate what marked tirogresa has been made by the German Authorities in this direction during the last two or three years. An exceptional performance has just "&eeD .put up by a well-known Melbourne ijnotorist who makes no special claim to yein^ a, record-breaker. Twelve thousand Vniles have been covered on a F.N., a car j •finder ordinary touring conditicus, without ♦noe removing' the Continental tyres usee 1 jn the front wheels. .——Not so long ago, when a prospsf^tive

purchaser of a voiturefrte was lecommended ) by his experienced fnencK not to think I of haiing les? than sK horse-power, unj leso he liked giving his motor soim human j assistance on the hills, he guilelessly a<k-ed why he must have fix hoiss-power to propel himself and one pa=eenger, when with a single iiving animal he could trans- ! port his entire family With a motor ! of six horse-power he had quite imagined he could take a large party of people ' about the country Absurd though thia ' seems in the face of facts, it is neveri theles3 not an unnatural supposition on ! tho part of a person uninitiated) in the ! meaning of the mechanical term "horse1 power." J Nothing- short of several miles of , stiff gradient a£ a stretch is sufficient to test in adequate fashion the climbing capab ilities of modern cars; and if the road I be rough and twisty so much, the better j for the purpose. An easy climb simply | resolves itself into a speed test, and a i short steep climb does not give the cooling [ time to show its qualifications. There is no question now of cars aotually failing to tackle gradients encountered on public roads. Even with sniall ca.r if- is e'mply a matter- of having suitable gearing 1 ,

and keeping the weight in proportion to the power. Makers have long since acquired the experience necessary to enable them to construct cars rightly in these I respects. What is now required in the ' case of unproved cars is a demonstration that the mechanism can stand the continued strain of a. succession, of seve;e climbs. In automobile practice it has been found that after a magneto has been in constant us>3 for about two yea re tbs- magnets require recharging in some instance? even 4000 milss of use have boon found to well nigh exhaust them. The usual sign of exhaustion is extreme difficulty in obtaining a spark hot enough with which ! to readily start with any sort of mixture. It is cne of the peculiarities- ■ of magnetos, however, that, despite a runcjown condition, th"y will fire regularly once they are started. Magneto-makers I have discovered also that the magnets | h-ave the same virtue of recuperation that is pos-rcssod by dry cells. Thus a.n instrument whiob has lain idle during the winter is stronger . than ever in the sp.ring ; or ono that is ussd, say, only once or twice each week will retain its strangth about twice as long as one that is in constant use. AERO EXHIBITION. Amon.;* the arcoplar.-ss and dirigibles exhibited at the Aero Exhibition at Olymoia, London, in March, were the- Weiss. Brequet, Simms-Vcisin. R.E.P., Howard Wiight, Vchiri, De' La Haulf, Windham, Short, and Lamplough a veoplanos. and the Alplvin Van i man dirigible. The Weiss and X.8.1*, machines a.r.3 both mcr.oplanes of the ''bird model" type. "THE GOOD OLD DAYS." Few people in the-e days of luxurious tra-v-ellinio-, when enjoyable cycling and motoring runs are but d«tai)s of* everycViv life, realise the effort andi labour that similar iourneys entailed in the days of Queen Elizabeth. In view of the ease and comfort of road travelling in these days tha following extracts from the diary of an Engli-sh gentleman of the period mentioned, who with his family tra.vell&d from his r-osidene-a in tha country to London — three days' journey, "as our horses were gcccl" — afford 1 amu^inc reading. The merle of progress was banned- as follows: — "Mt wife is to ride behind 1 the cost hoy, and , my daughter behind me. It will ba '?«* bi-M-d-'nyomo to the horses than if my wifo and 1 ropo together, sh-2 being a little cor- \ puleni. which I attribute to her being fend , of a liouor that I am told is fattening." j Leaving home early in t-he morning three miles were covered before breakfast. A running footman was then sent on ahead to "order a pound of beefsteak a.piece," j at an inn "which .sometimes had thrse < or four customers a weok." After their ' substantial breakfast the travellers pursued tlieir journey, and the diarie continues : — We were overtaken by a drove of oxen, and though I ussec'J every m.athod to make mv servants keep up with them, yet they ' left us far behind. Mv wife complained cf her bones aching with the rapidity of our progress." ' . . The diarist devoted much space to descriptions of tb-e creatua-e comforts which he and his family partook cf during ths trip. Om the third day, j and when nea.riniq; the end of the jour- ' ney, they stopped at an inn called the ' George, where they were served with a m^al consisting of "a fat gooee, a bacon ham. five pounds of black puddings, and a whit pot," and vet "for this trifling fans the rcgiue had the conscience to rihfirjr'? us for eating and strong drink, 2s 9'J. Let ignorant travellers beware of ithe Georp-3 in future." In th-ese days of cycks and motor cars the a.bove makes ; amusing reading— but who knows? Ip i days to conn?, when the popular mode of transit from place to place will be by th? perfect aeroplane, may not our present feeble and comparatively «Jow means of cxn e-ing space anrt our present-day hotel i eharprp- meot with the "amu-r-d laughter a:;.! ridicule of trav^llerg of a future more enlightened generation? I