NINETY-MILE BEACH.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20085, 14 November 1930, Page 8

NINETY-MILE BEACH.

DAYTONA OF FUTURE.

"WIZARD" SMITH'S CHALLENGE-

Two and thirty-one miles aft hour! That is the world's land speed Tecord as it is'to-day, but will Sir Henry Segrave's amazing, figures still stand supreme this time next year? The question is of outstanding interest to New Zealanders, for the next slttempt to travel faster than any man ijas yet travelled on land will be made on the Ninety-Mile Beach by Norman "Wizard" Smith in February.

And if Smith is successful is NinetyMile Beach to become the Daytona of the future? There seems no reason why it should not be. No matter how stupend'ous a speed Smith or any other racing motorist may attain, there will always be others who will covet their laurels and who will try to establish even better figures. Kaye Don is one whose life's ambition is to wear the mantle of speed supremacy. He tried to shatter the record at Daytona in March last and failed. But he is undismayed. Having formed the opinion that Daytona is unsuitable for his high powered Silver Bullet will he turn to New Zealand for his next effort? All will depend on the success or otherwise of Smith's venture. "Best Track in the World." "Nowhere in the world is there a motor track, either natural or artificial, that will compare with Ninety-Mile Beach," said Smith, when he broke the Australian and New Zealand one-mile and the world's ten-mile records there last summer. "There is no other beach in the world to compare with it. If anyone wants to tackle the ten-mile record, he will have to come here, _ for there is no other place he can do it." For the one-mile run Daytona Beach, in Florida, is the most satisfactory that has been tried out by a car doing over 200 miles per hour. It is, however, only about 19 miles long, much too short for a ten-mile dash at that speed. Even the mile course, "Wizard" Smith maintains, is not nearly as good as the greater part of Ninety-Mile Beach. Only one fault makes the New Zealand beach dangerous; the presence of sharp pieces of broken toheroa shells. One thing that was discovered when the Anzac tackled the mile record was that at high speeds the shells do not damage the tyres as much; as was expected. When the ca,r was towed along the beach from Ahipara to the course the tyres were badly cut, and before the trial both Smith and his mechanic, "Don" Harkness, admitted that they were worried. "There is no doubt that the machine can do it," said Harkness. "It is the shell I am afraid of. There is less than an eighth of an inch of rubbet on the , silk cord fabric of our racing tyres, and the whole is only half an inch thick. That is little enough to puncture, and a puncture means—well, you know what a. puncture means." After the Anzac's. .record breaking j dash, however, the tyres were but little damaged. One deep gash, two inches long, was found in left rear tyre, but there were no ethers.. The tyres had picked up a light film of fine sand, which, at the speed the wheels were revolving, was impenetrable. An examination .of the wheel tracks showed that the saird-covered tyres had acted as carborundum wheela, and ground the sharp, edges off the • shells." * £ Smooth Surface Essential. In good weather the beach for miles on end is perfectly smooth, as it needs to be for racing. When the Anzac, travelling between 150 and 160 miles per hour, struck an almost imperceptible blimp, not enough to shake the men in her, but just enough to loosen the grip of the wheels, on the surface, the light wind that was blovying off the sea carried the'car 3ft sideways. In this way several fatal accidents have been caused on Daytona Beach. It was unfortunate for Smith and, incidentally, for the prosperity of Kaitaia and the other towns adjacent to Ninety-Mile Beach, that his time for the ten-mile dash —4.2 1-s—was not recognised. As it is, the record put up by March and when he maintained 133.8 miles per hour on Montlhery track still stands. A thorough search of the world has failed to discover, any other'., -natural traek equal to an ocean beach. Malcolm Campbell thought he had discovered a good course in "Verneuk Pan, in the Kalahari Desert, but this has not come up to expectations. Exploring parties have . even tested out stretches in the Sahara, without finding anything suitable. Of the artificial tracks nono are safe for cars doing over 150 miles per hour. Marchand took a tremendous risk to put up his record; and no one has been able to beat, it on the Brooklands -track. Time, is lost on the turns, and no amount of banking will ever make them ' practicable for very high speeds. Nor does the artificial surface provide as good grip for the tyres as does the hard sand. The amount of slip in tlie case of the Anzac on NinetyMile Beach was under a half of 1 per cent., much less- than it would have been on concrete. Smith's New Oar. In the meantime mechanics in Sydney are busy constructing the car in which Smith is to make his big bid for world honours in February next. The first rivet in the car was driven on August 28th by the Hon. J. A. Beasley. Through the aid ,of the Federal Government, Smith has secured the '.loan of one of the secret Schneider Cup aeroplane engines'from the British Air Ministry. The engine is to be fitted into the Australian-designed machino which is being built by the firm of Harkness and Hillier, Ltd. It is one of the engines built for the last Schneider Cup race which was won by a British aeroplane flying: at a speed of 328.66 miles an hour. Although details are not available it is r aaid to .develop nearly 2000 h.p. at about iQOQ % revolutions.per minute. If this is correct, it will give off practically double the horse-power of tha Golden Arrow's Napier engine. It would be a tribute to Australian engineering skill if a car capable of capturing the world's land speed record is produced. Whatever the result the Australian endeavour to raise the record will be an excellent advertisement for New Zealand, and may open a new field for motor record trials in the future. In Smith's opinion the Ninety-Mile Beaeh will "carry" a speed of 300 miles per hour.