FATAL SMASH.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20510, 11 January 1935, Page 5

FATAL SMASH.

Tragedy at Centenary Motor Race. TWO MEN KILLED. Mr G. Graham and his mechanic, J. Peters, received fatal injuries when their car overturned toward the end of the 300 miles Centenary motor race at Cowes, Victoria, on New Year’s Day. Graham was among the leaders when the accident occurred, and the car was travelling at 100 miles an hour. From the corner known as Gentle Annies, on the rectangular six-mile course, there is a long straight stretch, ending in a rise and a slight decline, between embankments, to “ Hell Corner.” On his thirty-fourth lap Graham was speeding down the straight, called the Needle’s Eye, in a desperate effort to catch the leader and eventual winner, L. Murphy. Graham had attained a speed of 100 miles an hour, when the car developed a speed wobble. It left the road and somersaulted several feet into the air, and came to a stop about 100 feet from where it left the road. Both men were alive when the ambulance officers reached the car. but they died on the way to hospital. W. B. Thompson, who was the favourite, crashed at Beaven Corner. Thompson came down the straight at 100 miles an hour, slowed down to 60 miles, but failed to negotiate the corner. He skidded into a scoring board and turned over. He and his mechanic, W. Balgarne, were slightly injured. Thompson was conceding the limit man nearly an hour, but he was driving well, and up to the time of the crash had averaged 82 miles an hour.