The Wanganui Chronicle MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1927. THE TOLL OF MOTOR RACING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19784, 7 March 1927, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle MONDAY, MARCH 7, 1927. THE TOLL OF MOTOR RACING

J. G. Parry Thomas, the latest martyr to the speed mania, has gone the way of several other gallant gentlemen. Crashing to a dreadful death on the Pendine Sands, he has again shown us that man’s mastery over machinery is not yet complete. A hidden flaw in his super-ear’s driving mechanism hurled the intrepid motorist to his doom, and onee more the world must regard with doubt, and horror the futile craze to which he is the latest sacrifice.

Staunch Britons may, while mourning the passing of Parry Thomas, find outlet for pride in the fact that he and his contemporaries, Segrave and Campbell, held for the British Empire complete dominance of international speed honours. But as to the practical value of such distinctions, much uncertainty must arise. Campbell’s “Blue Bird,” Segrave’s punt-like monster which is to race at Miami, and the ill-omened “Babs,” which bore Parry Thomas to his fate—these are freak cars. With their intricate engines—Segrave’s car has two, one at each end—and enormous appetite for petrol, these racing freaks have little in common with the ordinary automobile. Such advancements as are embodied in their construction could not be modified for popular use at a suitably moderate cost, and it is evident that the sole purpose for which they are built is to advertise certain fuel, tyres, and other features used by the recordbreaker.

It has been argued that speed trials uncover, in the materials of which the car is built, any flaws the metals may possess, and that they provide valuable data on design and metallurgy. But these .could be detected or ascertained—and, indeed have been—by other methods, without the fearful risk that such undertakings as Parry Thomas’s attempt involve. Beside the riot of elemental forces let loose when a car becomes uncontrolled at 170 miles an hour, the skill and strength of man are insignificant. Where races are run on banked tracks and the speeds range round 100 miles per hour the driver has a chance to control his car. Similarly his skill saves many crashes in road races and reliability trials. But where the man is merely a puppet guiding a madly whizzing mass, and that mass takes charge, then no skill of the pilot can avert disaster. Even New Zealand, though as yet in only a comparatively small way, is beginning to pay homage to the speed mania, as witness Saturday’s speed trials at Muriwai and the long-distance road records that are being put up from time to time. So far, the cars engaged in such events in New Zealand are mostly of orthodox design and many of them are from stock, so that perhaps contents under these conditions may have some practical usefulness. At the same time, even in this country there have been fatal accidents at speed contests and perhaps there will be again. But even when free from mishap they can hardly be claimed to supply proof that car-racing involving risk to human life is justified in the scheme of mechanical affairs.