ROUND THE WORLD RACE.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 939, 5 March 1908, Page 12

ROUND THE WORLD RACE.

A cablegram states that the contestants in the great motor race around the world from New York to Paris (17,000 miles) are as follows: — Godard, 30 h.p. Motobloc (French) ; Pons, 15 h.p. Sizaire-Nandin (French); St. Chaffray, 30 h.p. De Dion (French) ; Sirtori, 28-40 h.p. Zust (Italian); Mass, 40 h.p. Portos (German) ; and Roberts, on a 60 h.p. Thomas (American). Considerable disappointment will be fe.t owing to the absence of Prince Scipio Borghese’s name from amongst the list of starters. The winner of the Pekin-Paris contest entered for the Round the World Race, and it was assumed that he would be a starter. His absence will rob the event of a lot of interest. In M. Godard and Pons the contestants include two other Pekin-Paris drivers —Godard completing the trip on a Spyker (Dutch) car, after surmounting terrible hardships. Pons attempted to get through on a Tri car, but failed to negotiate the Gobi Desert. If pluck and perseverance 'will overcome the difficulties of the New York Paris route, then Godard is the driver one would pick for the arduous undertaking.. The ingenuity and resource-

fulness of this driver was such that he engineered and financed his trip across Asia and Europe without any funds. Borghese found the trip a terrible one, even when backed up by the influence of the Russian and Italian diplomatic service and unlimited wealth, but to overcome worse difficulties than Borghese met—on mere bluff and what he could borrow —stamps Godard as a driver who will not easily be frightened by the privations and difficulties of the journey through Alaska and Northern Siberia