MOTOR-CAR RELIABILITY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16750, 3 June 1922, Page 10

MOTOR-CAR RELIABILITY.

RESULTS IN DOUBT. TROUBLE OVER THECOURSE The results of yesterday’s motor reliability trial to Akaroa and back were not available to-day. There lias been a difference of opinion as to the route followed by some of the competitors, and until this is settled poinfs cannot be added up. The matter will be discussed at a special meeting of the trial committee on Monday. It is not suggested that anyone intentionally took a short cut. The mistakes that occurred were due primarily to the thick mist that clung to the hillsides above Akaroa and to tlie fact that tho route was not the one originally fixed. At some places drivers with little local knowledge were left on the horns of a dilemma. For instance, on the homeward run, there were two side-roads down the saddle between Duvauchelle Ray and Barry’s Bay. One competitor out of the first ten either went two or three miles out of his way or he was the only man to stick to the track. Later on there were other errors of a similar character. Apart from all this, and even taking into consideration the rain and the bitter cold, observers, drivers and passengers concur in voting the trial a distinct success. It was certainly an exacting trial, but it passed off without serious accident, and no one suffered i inconvenience. Only one machine broke down, and its load was picked up by the official car. The driver of another car nearly had a capsize at a nasty turn while homeward bound, but wonderful control saved the situation. In a second instance * a driver coming into Takamatua had to send his car up a bank to avoid a head-on collision with* a farmer’s outfit returning from a country sale. Another minute might have seen a terrific crash. Gebbie’s Valley and the climb to Long Bay Road presented two really stiff.,obstacles. Tho first was soft and unmetilled, and when the last car passed by the place was like a quagmire. Chains had to he used to negotiate the stretch to Long Bay Road, but the surface here was fair, except at some of the bends. To many .passengers it seemed that ♦•he most hazardous position of the route lay between Tai Tapu and Christchurch. Here it was almost pitch dark. The rain kept coming down steadily and the wind often cut like a knife. Added to these discomforts, were tho number of unlighted vehicles met with on the road and the scores of cyclists, especially near Lincoln Road, most of them without lamps, and some on the wrong side of the road. Though back to civilisation, drivers therfore had to keep the keenest of look-outs. A mix-up in the last few mile® after getting safely •over the rest would have been more than disheartening. Officials of the Canterbury Automobile Association controlled the trial with conspicuous success in the face of odds. If they decide to hold their next trial in summer time, however, most people will be better pleased.