MOTORING

Taranaki Daily News, 31 October 1935, Page 14

MOTORING

BRITISH “COME-BACK” INTERNATIONAL RACING. ENTRY INTO LARGER CLASSES. (By “Spotlight.”) After a lean period of five years during which Continental makes have skimmed the cream of all the European racing classics in the larger car classes, Britain is again becoming a substantial factor in international events. Ever since car racing was taken up on an international scale various countries have been pre-eminent over a certain number of years. In the early days the French makes scooped the pool, the Napiers brought Britain to the fore, later Austrian and German cars were markedly superior to all others and then the war called a halt. It was some years before car manufacturers, nearly all of whose factories were commondeered for war purposes, began to overcome the disorganisation caused by the war years and before interest in car racing was renewed. Several Continental makes were prominent for a few years till the late Sir Henry Segrave and his team mates with Sunbeams gradually swept the international board. Those Sunbeams were far in advance of any of the contemporary racing makes and after they had overcome the teething troubles inseparable from the introduction of a new model to racing, they scored one success after another. { Car racing is an expensive method for any factory to advertise its products and it is rarely that the returns in sales compensate the makers on their outlay. Sunbeams gave up racing but so good were the cars that a number are still raced today in handicap events at Brooklands and other meetings in the British Isles and the marks they are placed on show that they are still regarded as formidable to all but the best of the more modern makes. With the exit the Sunbeams Continental makes came to the fore again —mostly the French Bugattis with the Italian Alfa Romeo and German Mercedes concerns beginning' to take an interest in racing. EFFECT OF TAXATION. During that time the British horsepower tax of £1 per rated horse-power popularised the small car in a war impoverished Britain. Larger cars were made almost solely by those concerns marketing cars in the higher price range and only in small numbers. The car industry was badly affected by American competition and practically only two manufacturers gave serious attention to racing. They were Austin and M.G., the latter a branch of the Morris Company. Alvis and Lea Fancis cars were raced but neither firm could afford to take the business up seriously. The Riley Company entered racing about the same time as Austin and Morris and to those three makes was left the. task of upholding British prestige in international events. In their classes cars of those makes were supreme but in. the field of larger cars—those of two litres capacity and over—the Continental makes had things all their own way. Then the Bentleys became assertive. They were not racing cars in the true sense of the word as were the Bugattis and Alfa Romeos and for a while they were not regarded as serious opposition, but minor initial successes were followed by wins in some of the most important Continental events and at Le Mans where the annual 24 hours’ endurance race is run and constitutes one of the severest tests of the racing calendar, Bentleys won year after year till the French and Italians gave up hope of mastering them and what was regarded as the Bentley happy hunting ground. But the Bentley Company found that even successful racing was a ruinous business, so much so that the company went into liquidation. It was absorbed by Rolls Royce which now builds Bentley cars but does not race them though they have competed successfully in the hands of private owners. At the time when Bentleys dominated racing, European Governments were trying to develop their motor industries as part of the intense nationalism that became apparent then. The Italian Government subsidised the Alfa Romeo Company to enable it to improve its racing cars. France did the same for Bugatti and latterly Germany has subsidised Mercedes and Auto-Union. That system helped towards cutting short the Bentley racing career and the Talbot also. Talbots were raced by a British retail firm. The cars were modified sports models and could not be expected to compete on equal terms with Continental cars built under subsidy for racing alone and costing three times as much as the Talbots to buy. Even at that, Talbots scored some successes and in all events in which they were run they so rarely failed because of mechanical trouble that the reliability of the cars became a by-word in the trade. The racing of Talbots ceased about the same time as that of the Bentleys and Britain had no regular entrants in the larger classes of Continental events.

Two years ago several wealthy Brltlsn racing drivers and others interested in the sport amalgamated under the name of the English Racing Association to build racing cars that would compete successfully against foreign rivals in three of the main racing categories—--1100 c.c., 2000 c.c. and 3000 c.c. About two years ago the first cars were built under the name of E.R.A. and once a few minor troubles were overcome they proved very fast with unusually good acceleration and road holding capabilities. The 1100 c.c. model was perfected first and then the 2000 c.c. and two litre cars were perfected. Each model has been so successful, both in Britain and abroad that crack Continental drivers have signified a desire to drive them—a reversal of the usual procedure during the past four or five years when British drivers have had to drive European cars if they wished to get into the money in the open events. Then the firm that raced Talbots a few years ago entered a British 4$ litre Lagonda in the Le Mans race. The Lagonda won the large car class handsomely and British cars filled most of the places in the smaller car classes.

Probably the next step of the E.R.A. will be to enter the three litre class seriously and if the string of successes to date with the llOOc.c. and two litre models is any criterion the Continental makers will be given more to think about. Though the Lagonda is a sports and not a racing car and its win was scored in a race that is regarded more as an event for sports than purely racing cars, the achievement was a significant one for no large British car had won at Le Mans since the Bentleys. With the E.R.A., Riley, M.G., Austin and AstonMarton capable of coping with foreign companies in the small classes and the E.R.A. and Lagonda invading the larger classes, there is reason to expect that British interest in international track and road racing will no longer be confined to a few British entrants in the lower rated sections. WARNING TO CYCLISTS RIDING CLOSE BEHIND CARS. CAUSE OF MANY ACCIDENTS. Though many warninp have been given, many cyclists, particularly youths, persist in following close behind fastmoving motor vehicles, says the latest safety first message of the Automobile Association (Canterbury). This habit is one of the most dangerous that a cyclist can have, as it must be obvious that the risk of serious injury to him is very great. Some cyclists, with head, down, and the front wheel almost touching the rear bumper of the car, trail motor-cars for miles at night time as well as in the daytime. Foolishly, they use the cars as pacemakers and shields from the wind. Motorists have quite enough to do in watching the road ahead without being called upon to safeguard some ill-advised cyclist .from the consequences of his folly. (Should some sudden emergency arise tb make the' motorist apply his brakes quickly and effectively the cyclist would have no chance of avoiding a collision with the rear of the car. The danger, of course, is greatly aggravated at night time. There have been many collisions through the practice, and publicity is necessary in drawing the attention of cyclists to the danger they run in trailing too close behind other vehicles. No doubt some of the so-called mystery accidents—where cyclists have been found injured on the roads—are traceable to this cause. Some cyclists even go the length of holding on to the backs of trucks and other fast-moving vehicles. That, too, is a practice which is highly dangerous, and which cannot be too strongly condemned. Improvising Lamps. In the event of serious electrical trouble—if the dynamo ceases to generate, for. example, at a time and place where it cannot be rectified—one can often get home safely by buying three cheap flashlamps and tying them to the existing wing and tail lamps securely. The tail lamp can be covered with a red handkerchief or red paper, or even dabbed with red paint. This improvisation will work well at moderate speeds and has the advantage of leaving what current there is in the battery for the coil’s use.