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Progress, Volume III, Issue 9, 1 July 1908, Page 307

On 15th December took place the Concours dcs Pannes, or " Breakdown " Contest of the Parisian publication PAut-i. The idea of this contest was that some derangement was effected in the mechanism of all competing cars and the drivers were required to locate the trouble, the one doing so in the shortest time being declared the winner. The time limit was 25 minutes. Great interest was shown in the event, and there were nearly a hundred contestants. The entries were divided into five different groups. In the first trial the magneto -w as short circuited by means oi tinfoil. The time required for remedying the trouble -\aried fiom one minute 2R seconds to 25 minutes. In the second test the inlet pipe was stopped up. Only a single one of the competitors succeeded in removing the obstruction within the time limit. It was amusing to see the drivers hunt and try for the difficulty. In the third trial the carburettor was choked by a piece of paper. The time required for eliminating this trouble varied between the limits of 4 minutes 45 seconds and 7 minutes 6 seconds. In the fourth trial the gasoline tank was shut off and the ignition connections were interchanged. About one-half of the nine contestants succeeded in overcoming these defects, their time ranging from 1 minute 23 seconds to 7 minutes 6 seconds. The final test, consisting in the location of an open contact on the interrupter, was only successfully passed b} r a single competitor. In connection with these hunts for derangements in the mechanism there was a competition in interchanging tires, which were supposed to have been punctured. The best time for renewing all four inner tubes was 9 minutes 4G seconds, and it is of interest to note that both of the prize-winners followed the practice of removing the outer cover and the inner tube together after having first fully unscrewed the security bolts.