Cycling.

Southern Cross, Volume 8, Issue 35, 22 December 1900, Page 2

Cycling.

The World’s hour cycle record has had another lift, this time by an American cyclist named W. Stinson, who succeeded in covering' thirtynine miles 1456 yards in sixty minutes, The previous record was held by Bauge (France) with thirty-nine miles 1111 yards to his credit. Stinson also recently covered twenty-five miles in thirty-seven minutes fiftytwo seconds on the track, so that his most recent performance is no fluke. * * * The Dunlop Tyre Company, Melbourne, intend shortly testing their two and three quarter horse power De Dion motor tricycle over the famous Warnambool to Melbourne to road race course, a distance of 168 miles. It is more than likely that H. B. James, the ex-cyclist, will make the trip, and will endeavour to show what one of these up-to-date machines is capable of doing. The express train from Melbourne to the popular seaside resort takes six hours thirty three minutes over the journey, whilst the ordinary train’s time is seven hours ten minutes. The cycle record over the same course is held by J. Carpenter, who, favoured by a strong southerly wind, covered the distance in eight hours forty minutes fifteen seconds. It remains to be seen what time an ordinary (i.e., not fitted up for racing purposes) roadster De Dion can cover the one hundred and sixty-eight miles in. # * * An innovation is being tried by the Melbourne Bicycle Club this year in connection with the running’ of the Austral Wheel Race heats. For the last two years only the first man in each heat and two or three of the fastest seconds have qualified for the final, whereas this year’s events will be run on totally different lines. Ten heats are to be run, the first, second, and third man to be taken, but only the first man to qualify for final. The ten second men will then meet in a separate heat, the first, second and third men to start in the final. A third heat will consist of the remaining ten third men, the first and second of which will also qualify, making a total of fifteen riders in the final. The above idea certainly appears a first class one, and should prove a long way more satisfactory buth to the racing men and the public, than the old arrangement, whereby only the first man in each event qualified. * * * In reference to the £2O (twenty pounds) offered by the Dunlop Tyre Co, to the person who sends in to the company the most suitable name for the second grade tyre they intend placing on the market, to meet the existing demand for a good wearing tyre at a low figure, the Company state that competitors can send in as many names as they choose, the only stipulation being that the names are to be sent in on separate slips of paper. * * * It is a peculiar fact that whilst the trees yielding India-rubber are well distributed over the tropical parts of the world, the tree which furnishes gutta-percha only flourishes in the Malay Archipelago. * It is generally supposed that the most expensive motor car yet made is that possessed by M. Charron. Last year this daring Frenchman drove his car from Paris to Bordeaux, a distance of 375 miles, at a rate of over thirty miles an hour, and has since refused—so rumour has it—an offer of £2OOO for the machine. The cars possessed by the Earl of Carnarvon, the Hon. S. Rolls, and Mr Henry J. Lawson, swallowed up small fortunes in their construction.