ROAD RACING AND INDUSTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 279, 25 November 1936, Page 10

ROAD RACING AND INDUSTRY

GIVING A LEAD IN CAR DESIGN DEVELOPMENTS IN AMERICA It has always been recognised that that thrilling and dangerous sport of motor racing exercises a real and profound influence on the development of the breed of passenger cars intended for private use. The expression, “the racing car of to-day is the touring car of to-mor-row,” though hackneyed, is as true a; it ever was, true, not so much in the sense that to-morrow’s touring cai s will approach to-day racing cars in the matter of speed, but in the sense that they will embody those features of engine and chassis design which are being tested to breaking point in the smoke and dust and noise of the speedways and road circuits of lhe world. But of the two categories into which this sport falls, road racing and track racing, the first is by far the more useful to the manufacturing industry. In this a premium is placed on the qualities of road holding, braking efficiency, accuracy of steering, and acceleration —all features of performance of much more use to the private car-owner than sheer speed. New Speedway. For this reason the construction on Long Island, near New York', of a new road racing circuit, known as the Roosevelt Raceway, has a much greater significance than may al first sight appear, says a writer in lhe Sydney Morning Herald. The new racing course was opened on October 12. with a revival of the Vanderbilt

Cup Race, a famous annual event in pre-war days. European cars and drivers swept the (boards, headed by the master of them all, the fiery little Tazio Nuvolari in an Alfa Romeo, . followed by the almost equally famous Jean-Pierre Wimille in a Bugatti. Third and fourth places went to Alfa Romeos, and fifth to a Maserati, driven by the Australian, McEvoy. This result was to be expected in spite of a lot of talk in the American press about the superiority of American cars and drivers. Road racing in America should have the same effect on the design of the home-produceu passenger car as it has had in Europe. In those desirable qualities of steadiness or the straights and when negotiating corners, accuracy of steering and braking power, many modern American cars, indeed most, of them, are splendid, and are vastly different from their predeces- ' sors of a few years ago, which were so difficult to keep straight at any speed above 45 miles an hour. But. these fine productions cannot really compare with some European cars whose manufacturers have had extensive experience of road racing. In their manner of handling on the open road, some of these cars are very closely akin to the racing veh ; < Their steering is so definite and they stay so rock-s'cady under almost any conditions, that a feeling of safely and confidence that is quite extraordinary is imparled Io the driver. I When American designers have the I experience of producing real road racing cars, an experience they have not ! had since pre-war days, some revoluI tions may be accomplished in their I standard productions, and with that I undoubted genius possessed by some j of them for applying features of handI built cars to models produced in big i quantities, it will not be at all surI prising Io see even the cheapest I American cars exhibiting those delightful characteristics which hitherto ’have been the prerogative of highpriced European vehicles.