MOTOR MADNESS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 19, Issue 100, 18 December 1908, Page 2

MOTOR MADNESS.

The men who took part in the Pa* kin to Paris race no doubt underwent great hardships, but that race will be as a pleasure trip compared with the race from Now York to Paris. About six thousand miles of the route will be through the ■ most desolate land that it is possible to imagine. The real troubles <of the motorists will begin when the competitors commence to cross the Behring Straits from America to Europe. There are fifty-four miles of treacherous ice to be negotiated, and even when the competitors are able to use boats, there is the possibility of them being crushed by huge blocks of ice. When they get to Cape East then will start the worst part of the journey. They will be within the Arctic circle, with desolation all around them, not a scrap of verdure, no trees, and no human beings. The intrepid racers will have to rely on canned food and on their own efforts to provide fresh food. But' the worst of all terrors is the cold, So intense is it that even the mercury freezes and man’s breath covers his face in a thin film of ice. Often the cold is so extreme that it touches 80 and 90 degrees below zero. For hundreds and hundreds of miles they will be facing death in many forms, knd if the car breaks down they will have to repair it under almost impossible conditions. At night a brilliant searchlight will be used, one man steering while one operates the searchlight and the other sleeps. In the daytime one man will steer the car while the other two sleep