CYCLING AND MOTORING NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 24, 13 September 1911, Page 6

CYCLING AND MOTORING NOTES.

The annual West Australian test race from Beverley to Perth (11(3 miles) was held, hist ■ Saturday, and produced the finest 1 road contest yet held in Western Australia. Sixtysix riders faced the. starter, and fortytwo finished the , course, one. of the most tryirig-in Australia. The winner turned Jiip jh K ]yi. Gray, (Perth) j who was in receipt of 45 minutes handicap, and covered the course in 6hrs 2mins. H. Ridley (Kalgoorlie), off 34 rains, finished second, with F. Schryver (Perth), off JOrnins, third. Fastest tithe’,' establishcd . Ly, A . Kaiser, who*-startedoff. .the iTihins mark, an'd)fidished seventh,, riding the 116 mile&-ujn^^i^‘sßnnns 32 .1-5 set s, a record, for s .the ’’course, the ’ pro,vioqs.fastest , being A, ;jianta’s ,6.hrs Oh pi 30secs, established in 1909. Of the Scratch coinpiising ■A. E.J. Senior, J. McSwooney,

~; a nd A. J. Gayies (Vic.) , ~he urPtwo only finished, Wright running fifteenth, in 6hrs 4mins,‘ ard Senior, twenty-second, in fihrs ISmins., Unfortunately, A. Kaiser, who.put up such a fine performance and , won the right of representing Western Australia in the Dunlop, Co.’s big Australasian road race, from ■JVarrnambbol to Melbourne, will not be 'able to got away, consequently the W.A. League of Wheelmen will have to 110mitiute another rider to take his place, probably C. J. Senior, or A. E. Wright. A striking feature of the race was that eVOfy 'prize .was wpn on ,Dunlqp tyres, every rider out of .’the forty-two that finished, with the exception of the tkirty-second, riding, these tyres. The dinner,’, f Oray(. intends competing' in the WnrrnamhooL s ■ ■ • - The.'world’s two greatest motor cyclists, J. De. Rosier (America) and C. R. Collier (England), who iccontly ih’et.. ip-,^:|.se|j^^jqf, matches on tin Brooklaiids, track (Eng.), victory resting/With nftijr ii'.'sofriddliat inconclusive .dontest, owing .-to machine troubles; have since met on .Brooklaiids track under open. handicap conditions/ hodV although' 'Collier Could ;Bn .finishing iri'froiitpqf; the American flyer. , . j)e Rosier.> wants: Collier tp rfetiirn to. America with him, and guar dhtpe’s. big money if the English crack .dduld compete in'Jp-series'ok matches iij America,, but owing .to business rea- ~ dphe Collier could - not undertake the trip;!

• A CfiUforniau mining man has had a most -elaborate .motor caravan, made lor prospecting, wopk on the Califor-

nia u sand-deserts; which, will not only on able -him and his wife to trjive] about in-comparative comfort, but also to test ‘sample-; quartz within an hour of, •finding".promising stone',, for a com-: plelp ore' • testing. equipment is carried abbarfl the car. The engine is 33 h.p_., and in.addition to .driving the van 16 miles an’.hdur: is used fbr sup r< plying electric lighting and driving the ore crushing, plant. The van. .which, is 13 J . feet , long by 7. feeKlJv ty, ’ feet wide; carries .40 gallons of waiter and the same quantity of petrol. Motqrisits vvßoji driving along dark thoroughfares often get almost on top of cyclists; before . they are their presence on the road. rapid incrQase of pars on Englishiblpads! it hasj.beeh found necessary- to some means , whereby motorists pan‘.be' made avvare qf: the-fact that, a cyclist-i is: travelling initfie same, direction'in? front. Tlie • 'Autdhiobile Association of iEngland, with a view, of lessening the evil-has .offered to donate ,/uid distribute.. gratis England ten thousand ' little reflex, glasses for ? attachment - 'to the back of Bicycles, and which when■-potation reflects the motorist’s .light back,at .what ever angle it is approached from. The .action of the, Aut-ompbilb. Aesc.lotion has.been well received in England, and it may eventually, be L.e -mca.s of bringing into operation the.compulsory fixing of red reflex . glasses-they, are only about the size of a half-a-crow;n piece and • do not - cost much-ori; all* types of vehicles that are not compelled to carry .roar lamps. The use 61 such glasses, by.;cyqlists in this country will no doubt soon be taken up by those who desire to insure themselves' from: any.faster travelling ] vehicle running them. down, on : dark, roads, and cycle agents throughout this State slibiild make'a point of stocking .and f endeavouring every wheelmen,to fix a.red reflex -glasfe, wLkli'sldnes like a. small ruby star in tko glqrP of a motorist’s lamps, oh his , . -••• v> * vpr; : , maemno. . . : - ' • . ~

So E-,tisfactcry ■ has been the experience of the officers of the London -Fire Brigade with tho motor vehicles which they already have, that, it is proposed to discard horsed vehicles entirely* The sura of £210,000 will probably be spent in the conversion of the full equipment to mojtor vehicles. . ' • • A -well;known - South’ Australian road rider in ,E,.' ;Grigg has announced his intention of .making .an attempt at an early date, to beat ,C. J- Senior’s 25 miles’'out and-home record of r lhr: 3min; 3sec. .Grigg is a promising candidate fbr -the Warxhiambool. ■ .