MOTOR & CYCLING

Taranaki Daily News, 30 August 1930, Page 5 (Supplement)

MOTOR & CYCLING

MOTOR RACING

G OLD - LIN ED LAU II MLS. (London Motor Correspondent.) Little surprise luus been created among those in close touch with the motor 3 industry by the announcement that the makers of Bentley cars have decided not to enter for further racing events. If any surprise be occasioned it is that they, and one or two other manufacturers, have taken part for so long in racing fixtures when the whole trend of the industry was against such participation. Tire cost of enterinw cars in a big international rale is almost ruinous, .and considerable doubt has existed for some years pa it as to whether the victories, if any, were worth while when translated .nto terms of car sales. It is as well in this connection that one thing be realised, namely, that motor car manufacturers do not go mto these contests for the glory or fun of the thing. They incur a lavish expenditure of money simply in order to d’.aw attention to*the merits of their ears They do not object to laurels, but the laurels must have a lining of <oid. or in other words, the victory must mean increased sales of their product or the whole object of the entry faibj. Considered purely from the point of view of racing laurels, the. Bentley people could not have retired from racing at a better moment, for they have won more laurels recently than they know what to do with. Their-example in ret’ring at the peak of their racing career is worthy of emulation in other spheres of activity.

It ought to bo emphasised, however, that the decision of Bentley Motors, Ltd., does not mean that no Bentleys will ever again grace the racing track. Far from it- Any private person can enter a Bentley in any race. For instance, in the R.A.C. Tourist Trophy Race over the Ards Circuit the British entry is headed by three supercharged Bentleys. They are, however, entered privately. ‘ All that the Bentley decision means is that the firm will not officially enter for any more racing events. 1 TJIE GOOD OLD DAYS. In this respect they are only following a practice adopted by Rolls Royce, Daimler and other concerns of the first rank. In the old days of motoring participation in_every and any racing or reliability competition was essential to a firm because the standard of :e--liability was much lower and motor manufacturers could only convince prospective car owners of the merits of a particular model by putting- it through its paces publicly. When a make of car survived what must then have been considered a gruelling trial, the manufacturers had every reason to crow about its performance, and prospective purchasers were duly impressed, for, obviously, a car that could- whizz along at a steady fifty or sixty miles an hour without breaking down, and could climb a steep gradient without slipping back, was one that could' be bought with some confidence. • But nowadays reliability is taken for granted and GO miles per hour is the prerogative of almost any modern car, though it is only fair to say that some cars will do a mile-a- minute better than others. British manufacturers realised some years ago that the usefulness of the road trial or track race had come to an end for all practical purposes connected with the industry and their governing body, the S.M.M.T., cut down tile number of events in which manufacturers could participate to two or three in the year. There is substance' in the contention of Bentley Motors that while racing experience has been valuable in the past as a means of ‘•'improving the breed" of motor-cars generally, 0 much of the advantage is lost nowadays because road conditions make it impracticable to attain higher, speeds than 50 or GO miles per hour without endangering public safety. J SPEEDWAY' PROJECT. The view is held among many motorists that even land speed record attempts, such as those undertaken by the late Sir Henry Segrave, Captain Malcolm Campbell *and Mr. Kaye Don are of little practical valve to the average car owner despite all that is said by experts to the contrary. At the same time the sporting value of high speed bids is indubitable, while such attempts are also to be applauded because of the lesson they give of human courage and the manifestations they afford of the fact that the pioneer spirit in this country is not dead. That is why it is pleasing to learn that the project for the construction of a motor racing track in East Anglia, between Boston and Skegness, looks' like being proceeded with at last. The British Treasury does not often give anything away to outside bodies, but the promise of that department to the promoters of the Boston speedway of some 8000 acres of foreshore is certainly an action that will be appreciated by all who are interested in moloring sport. It is true that these barren acres are of little use to the treasury, and it is probable that that department in making the offer was more concerned with the employment potentialities of the scheme than with its sporting aspect, but the main thing is that the land is to be made available and that the project is thus enabled to proceed. That such a speedway is highly desirable cannot be questioned. It seems absurd that a motorist who is desirous of making an attempt on the world’s land speed record should require to journey across the Atlantic to Daytona Beach, there to await propitious conditions of weather and tide—conditions which in the case of Mr, Kaye Don did not materialise. A specially constructed speedway, such as is projected in East Anglia, with a length of 15 miles and a breadth of 200 yards, ought to make any British aspirant not only independent of the weather but able to try his luck at much less cost. ‘ULSTER GRAND PRIX. Reverting a moment to. the R.A.C. Tourist Trophy Race, it is gratifying to find that the* total entry, which has closed .at forty-eight, is so international, in character. It seems a pity, however, that no American cars are included to round matters off. Ninteen of the forty-eight cars are of foreign origin, the countries represented being France,

Germany and Italy, but despite the fact that American cars are übiquitous to the roads of this country, not one of them is apparently to participate in the Tourist Trophy Race. In addition to the Bentleys the British entries comprise Austin Sevens (entered by Sir Herbert Austin), Talbots, Lagondas, Alvis, Lea Francis, and Triumphs. Some are entered by the manufacturers concerned: others by private owners. Coming to the foreign entries we find for the first time in this race an entry of three Renaults. This famous French car has not been seen in any race of . importance since the war and considerable interest therefore attaches to its emergence again. I have heard excellent accounts of the cars entered, the 28 h.p. 8-cylinder model, and they should help to set the pace to the 4g litre Bentleys, in whose class (up to 5000- c.c.) they will run. The German representation is again confined to Mercedes-Benz cars, which have been entered by Captain Malcolm Campbell, who will himself be at the wheel of one of them, with Earl Howe and Ilerr Carraeiola —the German driver who won last year’s race—in charge of the other two, Italy seems to be making a special splash this year, for it is represented by half a < ezen Alfa Romeos and five O.M.’s, Another noteworthy entry is the air-cooled S.A.R.A. in the* French contingent, while a light car that ought to be mentioned is the Amilcar, What appeals to me most about the Ulster event is that the cars that participate are not specially designed machines. They are all cars that are available as stock models to anyone who feels like buying one. Thus the race loses any suggestion of artificiality. It is truly a race in which the owner-driver can take an interest.

NEW ROADS IN BRAZIL

REPLACING RIVER TRANSPORT. The State of Para, Brazil, is entering on a broad policy of road construction between Belem, the capital of the State, and the important centres of the interior. The present total mileage of roadis is only 173 miles, and of this only about 23 miles are suitable for travel. The rest are isolated stretches in the interior of the State, connecting email villages with the railroads. The principal factor which so far ha« seriously handicapped road construction in Para is the geographical position of the State. The numerous rivers have always been used for communication and transportation. The Federal Government of Brazil has now authorised a military commission to survey the Cyapock district with a view to making the ’ necessary arrangements for work to start as soon as possible. SELLING CARS IN INDIA. MANY TONGUES MAKE IT HARD. For operating in a territory that embraces a multitude of languages General Motors, India, holds the record over the 23 other General Motors’ plants located all over the world. General Motor-., India, at Bombay, sells motor cars in 221 distinct languages, to say nothing of hundreds. of dialecte that exist in India, Burma and Ceylon. Advertising is prepared in fourteen predominating languages. —Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Telugu, Marathi, Tamli, Gujarathi, Kanarese, Burmese, Malayalam, Oria, Singhalese, Gurumukhi and Sindlu. An many as 307,000,000 persons belong to the races represented by this list. General Motors, Near East, at Alexandria, Egypt, ranks second in the matter of diversity of language, with twentythree different tongues in which to convey the message of motor transportation. MOTOR MISSIONARIES. A CANADIAN ENTERPRISE. Two young Canadian missionaries who have recently been assigned to the far north-west of Toronto .will carry the Gospel to their far-flung flock in the modern fashion, covering their territory by motor-car. Their mission home is a* truck and the student missionaries,Frederick Hotson, of Tavistock, and Gordon Maxwell, of Ctehawa, will serve in the northen fields under the director of the Boards of Religious Education and Home Missions of the United Church of Canada. Hotson a few years ago was Canada’s boy orator. The possibility of using motor missions to cover .the immense areas of the Dominion, which are as yet thinly populated, has attracted wide attention, and great interest has been shown in the equipment of this mobile church. The car is designed to allow the seats to fold and provide a bed. It is equipped to meet any variety of road or trail conditions .and, if needed, can be transformed into a snow-car. Maxwell, who is the musician of the party, carries a portable organ in his luggage. Ample room is provided for the storage of supplies and everything needed for extensive trips. A tent, folding table, camp cot and stools are all among the items of equipment. Results of the experiment, will be observed with the greatest interest by church officials. They feel that the use of special motors may simplify to a great degree the difficulties of covering properly a great stretch of territory with a limited number of workers. The many advantages of mobile missionaries, carrying complete equipment with them as they go, are obvious. The two students are not under any delusions concerning the territory which is their goal. Thpy do not expect, for instance, that their car will be an unfamiliar sight in the territory which they are to serve, since Peace River already has 3000 automobiles among its 60,000 population and the speedy communication possible with cars has played no small part in its spectacular development.