DUKE’S MOTOR RIDE.

Franklin Times, Volume 10, Issue 798, 12 January 1923, Page 6

DUKE’S MOTOR RIDE.

The Duke of Leinster drove a motor car from London to Aberdeen on July sth in, according to his j own statement, 11414 hours of actual driving time. The Duke declares that he won a wager of £3OOO which he had made with another member of the peerage by completing the journey in less than 16 hours. Leaving London at 3.7 a.m., he reached Aberdeen at 9.7 p.m., a certain amount of time having been spent on the way at meals, and in waiting for a ferry across the Firth of Forth. The distance from London tq Aberdeen, according to the road maps, is 518 miles. The speedometer on the Duke’s car recorded 557 miles, the difference being accounted for by the fact that the road was lost twice in Yorkshire. It is understood that Duke had an argument as to the time that the journeys from London to Abeddeen should tUke, and it was suggested that q motor car could reach Aberdeen sooner than a train which started at the same time. The fastest express trains complete the journey (522 miles bj) rail) in 12 hours.

“The wager caine about in the usual /way,” the Duke told a London “Evening News” reporter before he set out. “There was a discussion as to whether it was to go to Aberdeen by train or by road. I made a level wager that 1 could do it in 12 hours, the time a train takes. But we decided, in view of the wet Condition 'of the road, that another three hours should be allowed. My mcit'or car can do SO miles an hour all out, and I shall certainly! have to touch that speed at times—it will cost me £3OOO if I don’t.” The Duke left the boundary of London on Finebley road at 3.7 a.m. in his RollsRoyce motor car, which) carried a perfect cargo of spare wheels. He was accompanied by Mr Kenneth Cameyon, a bookmaker who ’was the referee of the performance. The car travelled at , high speed throughout the whole journey. highest sustained speed was 75 miles an hour. There was no tyre trouble, and the roads were in good condition. The Duke said that he had been extremely fortunate in regard to the weather. The Duke was very tired when he reached Aberdeen. The average speed of the Duke’s journey was nearly 40 miles an hour over the. whole distance—a journey carried out over public roads and through many towns. It will be remembered that Jean Chassagne, who won the motor car tourist trophy race in an eight-cylinder Sunbeam in the Isle of Man last month, only covered 1302 miles of the course at an averag speed of 55.78 miles an hour.